sleep considering we are in a tent in a tropical forest with lots of noises, especially the crickets which were so loud, they sounded like drills!
Breakfast was good - pretty much everything you could want (as long as you didn't want a full English) including really, really good bread.
We got ready for 9am start for a day out on the nearby Cheow Lan Lake. It was an hour's drive in the truck. The lake was made by the Rajjaprabha Dam. Usual story that it flooded a number of villages - but the scenery was stunning - lots of sheer limestone cliffs covered in trees and jutting out of turquoise water. You do wander how the trees manage to grown on such an extreme landscape. We got to a viewpoint first so we could take in the scene - it was magnificent and the viewpoint was planted with lots of gorgeous scented tropical flowers. We walked up a tiny hill to see a buddha and within seconds were sweating big time - it was hot, hot, hot!
We then went down to the banks of the river and got on a long tail boat for a lake cruise. I had forgotten just how loud they are - conversation is impossible. However, it didn't matter, the scenery was magnificent, and every now and again we got splashed with water from the lake which was just marvellous. Tom likened the scenery to being in a James Bond film - it really did feel that way - I wonder if there are any secret installations amongst the mountains - we did see some solar panels above a cave...
Towards the end of the cruise a second boat broke down - so we had to rescue them - managed to get all the families with young children aboard. We then sailed on to Elephant Hill's Lakeside camp - floating tents. Once again an amazing place to wake up - although you wouldn't want to be a sleep walker.
We arrived, got ready for a swim, then had lunch - oodles of curry and some amazing tamarind pork ribs with brown rice and some interesting Thai desserts - one called 'Tom Mudd'. Once lunch was over we jumped off the pontoon into the lake - such a relief to be in the cool water - we were made to wear life jackets as the lake was 20 meters deep. This meant that really you didn't need to swim at all but just float - was lovely.
There was also the chance to kayak around the lake shore, so we all got ourselves in one for an explore. However, it was very hot and very sunny, and we could feel ourselves beginning to burn, so we decided to go back and swim. It was the right decision, one lad didn't put on any suncream and didn't appear the following day because of sun burn!
We did some top bombing - I of course was thinking I was 20 something again, joined in and 'bang' one of my ears went! Being old is no fun! I used the ladder to get in and out for the rest of the day.
We got the Long tail boat back - much shorter distance this time, then an hour back on the truck - both Tom and I fell asleep! We had some pop corn on arrival and then had an hour to shower etc before the next documentary (about elephants) more Thai dancing and tea - more excellent Thai food: creamy coconut curry, tamarind. Passa fish being the best.
We played our evening game of cribbage - Tom won, then Uno - Tom won!
We went to bed very tired!
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