Soppong - Hill Tribes

The long and winding road from Chang Mai took us up through some of thailands deep Jungles, right up to a small tribe that lives near the Burma border. The place, Cave Lodge attracted us because of its relaxed attitude to "here is a map, there is the jungle - have fun!"

The area had many rivers, caves and hill tribes to explore and we loved the freedom and the social atmostphere.

We will miss the long bus trip up here, the HUGE spiders, trying not to get lost hiking, and amazing views!

Chang Mai

Up to the north of Thailand! Chang Mai is an amazing city. It's temples are complexes made of a bigger temple and some smaller very beautifull ones a bit diferent to those in central Thailand, with centres for teaching and studying and something going on all the time. They are very welcoming and gave us the chance to chat with a monk and talk to him about his life in the temples. We were lucky and got there for the weekend so we could explore the saturday and sunday night markets in the centre of the city, full of people nice shops and delicious food! We were also there a few days before the Lantern Festival so the city was full of lanterns, getting ready for the big festival the next weekend. Although we didn't get to see the sending of all the lights up in the sky we did see a few people sending them at night. We also visited the Elephant Conservation Centre, a few kilometers out of the city, were we had the chance to ride one of the trough the jungle anp play a bit with these amazing animals!

Ayutthaya

Thailands old capital of Ayutthaya has been a great place to ride bikes and sweat out all the beer! - The many temples were amazing and the city turned on some super hot weather for us.

Kanchanaburi

After an interesting train ride from Bangkok, Kanchanaburi was our base for the next few days. Famous for the bridge over the river Kwai - and an important place for Kerrin ( His Great grandfather was captured during WWII and sent to work on the railway under the Japanese army). We were able to use the local Museum to help gather some information on his death and where his unit worked thanks to the amazing research centre.
We hired a motorbike for 2 days and seized the opportunity to explore the surrounding areas including Erawan waterfalls ( 7 tiered waterfalls with clear waters and HUGE fish that suck on your feet), and Tiger temple ( a refuge centre that gives an up close experience with these beautiful animals.)
 

Train from Bangkok to Kanchanaburi



The view from our room

Kerrin's great grand father's grave (a prisioner of war who worked on the construction of the railway)

The bridge over the river Kwai

Erawan waterfalls



Our room!