Here we are again :) This picture was taken in the train station at Ayuttayah, were the Buddha's sculptures were. We were waiting for the train to Chiang Mai, a night train were I believe I caught the awful Flu :/

Some of the decapitated Buddhas. One of the things you should never do is to put your head where Buddha's one is supposed to be... though once you know is quite tempting...

 Flower power and rasta man!

The famous cocks.

Karen Villages in Chiang Mai.  Chiang Mai is a town in northern Thailand, and its very curious as it's surrounded by water. This water was intended for protecting the city against the Burmese (yes! you can see how much Thais and Burmeses have loved each other throughout the years!) We had the big pleasure of visiting this little villages with our Couch surfing host Samart who is actually from one of those villages.

Eddie impressing the villagers with his accurate aiming skills!.
You can see the houses in the background which are built by the villagers. The roofs are made out of natural leaves and have to be changed ever 3 years, but believe it or not, it is 100% water resistant (including monsoon torrential!)

Long neck ladies. The tradition of this neck rings came from a long time ago, when villagers where attacked (probably from the Burmese!) so the ladies avoided being decapitated by wearing these rings. Nowadays is just a matter of beauty and tradition. They increase one ring every one or two years. They also wear rings under their knees!.  

Starting from an early age, here is an eight year old girl. We were told that the long neck tribes are quite 'recent'  to northern Thiland (Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai) They come as refugees from Burma and is thanks to the kindness of the Royal Family that they can have a peaceful live there. Although they have no papers, they are allowed to build their own houses and sustain themselves within restricted areas. 

 

This was quite an interesting experience!!

















Just because they were asleep!! He he They sleep 18 hours a day!

Picnic in the lake with Samart and the guys!. Samart is sitting nest to me and cooking one of his many delicious Thai specialities. About Samart, well we can only say is a next door Buddha!, a guy with a massive hurt who will share anything and everything with you and ask for nothing in exchange.Thanks a lot Joe!!

Closer picture!

My hospital card. Now check out the left hand top corner, and yes! we are now in 2553 no 2010!! This is because in Thailand the Years started to count when Buddha died, and this was 2553 years ago! And about the VIP, well I guess being a foreigner in a hospital here was a big plus as I was treated better than in the Hilton! I managed to get over the flu in about 2 days :)

In the hospital bed, as you can see it wasn't that bad! :) Thanks to Chiang Mai Ram hospital staff!

One of the many examples of Samarts' kindness!. He came to pick us up from hospital and drove us to an amazing Bungalow surrounded by rice fields and waterfalls with other couch suffers. I could not yhink of a better way of recovering than this one!. Here we are with a British and Polish couple and a girl form Canada, out travel companions for the next couple of days!.   

The kitchen bungalow with Samart preparing dinner for all of us.

Ok! We will continue soon, for now Sbadee from the beautiful lands of Laos :)