Tour Day

Well I survived. Yesterday was a pretty awesome day. We had a pretty jam packed itinerary, starting off with a visit to a butterfly sanctuary, where I got some really decent shots thanks to the mellow types of butterflies I found there, a very uncommon thing so far. Then we headed to do a ride on an elephant, or banana eating machine, if you will. After that we had a wicked white water rafting ride, my first time at it, and I am definitely a fan. We then headed to the biggest joke of the tour, a visit to a 'hill tribe', which I had been looking forward to. It turned out to be a short stroll through a village with sattelite dishes mounted on the roofs of the village huts, then being hoarded to their shops to buy souvenirs. I wouldn't have minded that so much, they have to make a living like everyone else, but there was absolutely no culture behind it. All I wanted to do more than anything was talk to one of the villagers and find out why they had come to settle here from southern China, and get a feel for their way of life. Sadly not even my tour guide could tell me that.



After lunch we headed out into the jungle to do a walk, which was about as uninformative as the hill tribe tour. The guide scared off a snake though, so at least we had some form of excitement. We finished the walk at a waterfall (with a resort next to it) and swam around for a bit. I can't wait to do that again, it was definitely something I'd like to make a day out of, with a few friends and some beers, and hopefully something not as developed and more secluded. The day was finished off with a tranquil river ride on a bamboo raft, which was an absolute perfect, relaxing way to end the day.