Haven't been able to blog since we arrived at Spicy Villa. That place was amazing and really everything I'd hoped to experience in Thailand. I have been keeping notes as we go do I can summarize some of our experiences.  The Spicy Villa, is bamboo huts built in the middle of an organic farm, and it is everything I wanted to experience from Thailand and then some.  We all helped prepare amazing meals. Best food we've had yet. We cut up cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, eggplant, onions, basil, green beans, shallots cauliflower .... All grown right here. We made a paste with pestal and mortar made with peppers garlic shallots some kind of paste ginger etc. I got to cook over their wood stove.  They prepared 7 main dishes out of all the veggies we chopped. Then all guests arrived and we all dined together. The people hear are amazingly friendly. Folks from the US, Peru, France holland and Thailand.

We started our journey by trekking though the jungle and the beauty is undescrible. Along the way we picked bubble leaves. You break them in half and can blow bubbles into the air. We ended up in a little village where we met with the locals that were weaving blankets, drying rice and just hanging out. Stopped at a market that you couldn't even tell was a market. There were a few candies cookies and other snacks and local drinks (super surgary). I bought several packs of cookies filled with chocolate and Carmel for 6 cents a pack. It seemed that each family had at least one pig several chickens and of course dogs. We learned that the family trades their daughter and a pig for a husband. The more pigs a family has the higher trading power the girl has.  Once they we'd the husband must stay with the girls family for one to two years and work for the family.

After the village we continued our trek to a gorgeous waterfall where they cooked lunch for us consisting of sticky rice  Steamed in bamboo over a fire, noodles, sardine stew(needless to say not my favorite) and a vegetable soup. We trekked another couple of hours back to spicy villa to finish the afternoon with a brisk cold shower.

Again we helped a little with dinner prep and had a fabulous dinner. We then played a game with the owner and some of the other guests in the main hut. The game was a thinking game where you had to name either a state in alphabetical order or a country in a particular region. If you missed on your turn you got a black smear from the cooking pan on your face and a shot of moonshine. Lots of fun and laughs. The owner is such an awesome guy!!

The next day we started by going deeper into the jungle and wound up at a temple that was quite intriguing. There was a large staircase encased with a large snake, which again was very intricate. The stair case rose quite a distance where multiple Buddhas terraces and a temple rested at various levels at the top. We learned that there is a Buddha for each day of the week. They each have a different pose and different meaning.  There is the story of Buddha from his birth to his enlightenment presented in art work at the top.

We then boarded a long bamboo raft and floated down the Mae wang river. What a hoot. Of course our guide was a joker, as many Thais seem to be. He certainly made sure we got wet and made us believe there was a crocodile in the river. The river and surrounding rocks and fauna was gorgeous. We had dinner riverside then off to the elephants

When we got there we were all so excited to see the most adorable baby elephant. She was a real rebel. It was so cute!  We then boarded our own elephant, bare back, and rode thru the streets of a small village. We then went to the river and the elephants brought us in. They obeyed every command the handlers said, and of course the handlers picked on the young girls. They commanded the elephants to lie down and drea's dipped her head in and drea went into the river. The fun was on. All the kids elephants were dipping the kids in. My elephant only layed in the river so I sat on top with my legs dangling in in river. It appeared the handlers made sure the moms were handled more gently. It was great fun!

Tonight's guests around the "table" consisted of folks from France , China, holland and some of the originals that we have partied with for the last few nights. Samaritan then sat with us and told riddles for about two hours. We laughed, drank tea and beer until we were all too tired. Another awesome day at Spicy Villa.