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Claires Story

Well...where do I begin... I am 22...although I may not have ventured into the wide world, I have visited the beautiful Thailand. Thankfully my trip was about 4 months before the Tsunami so I got to experience the beautful country without the horrible damage. I flew into the Bangkok airport to spend the night, without booking a hotel of course, floating about the city looking for somewhere to rest my jetlagged body.

To begin with, we visited Chang Mai, a main city to the north of Thailand. We were spending 5 days, trekking, elephant riding, water rafting and at that point we did not know what else would be in store.

To start with we started trekking, through the "JUNGLE"...a few hours here and a few hours there, stopping for food, photos, and to visit people in the local villages. It was amazing...washing clothes in the river on rocks...pigs tied up, chicken running around...so unbelievably real.

We had a beautful dinner, they had to tone down the hotness...they had to remember we were not locals and could not handle it...and we had some local beer, which I still drink to this day.

We slept in little huts on very thin mattresses with Mosquito nets over us...each night for 4 nights...I welcomed the hotel bed when it came.

We trekked for a few hours again before we came to a steep incline which led up to several Asian Elephants and a few water buffalo washing in a river. I was so excited!! They did a few tricks here and there with their local "owners"...they were gorgeous.

Few hours on a elephant does hurt the old behind but it is easily forgotten due to the amazement of the beautiful creatures. They had seats on the elephants, but I chose to ride behind his ears before I felt as though I was going to fall off and then moved back hahaha.

THe next days was water rafting on bamboo water rafts. Several long pieces of bamboo tied together is all we had - scary at first and then just a heck of a lot FUN!!! Was not exactly hectic white water rafting...but it was rough enough for a bamboo raft. An hour and half later we were done...and a little bit relieved with wet bags and wet bodies...it was time for lunch at a small...what you could call a cafe I suppose.

Our trip to Chang Mai ended with a little shopping and a plan trip to Bangkok and then to Phuket...ah...Phuket...so much shopping so little time.

We stayed in a gorgeous hotel about a 10 minutes walk to the beach with about 7 pools (or maybe 2), a delicious restaurant and shopping just around the corner.

Mainly our days were spent sun baking, relaxing, shopping, or walking along the gorgeous white sandy beaches, meeting new people, even running into a few Australians.

Our nights where spent in restaurants or pubs hanging out with the locals, and again, drinking some good old local beer and meeting new people, and perhaps a midnight swim here and there - it was always warm enough.

We spent about a week in Phuket, it may not seem like long enough...but it was fantastic.

Soon before we knew it, we where on an 11 hour plane ride home...trying to sleep but so excited to get home aswell - having bought presents for everyone and being excited to see their little faces when they looked at them.

I loved my trip to THailand and would do it over and over again, the shopping, the trekking, the elephants, the rafting...everything was spectacular.

And that is all I have to say. Thanks.