Livin' on the edge

This time I will write in English so that my many international friends I already met during this trip can enjoy it as well. For the first story I say: 'Google Translate is your best friend.'
After I finished my introduction week in Singburi with a visit to the monkey temple, a temple inhibited by wild monkeys and many bats, we went with the whole group to Kanchanaburi, a place at the river Kwai. The next morning we visited the Erawan waterfall, a very beautiful waterfall with seven different levels. We had to climb to every level. First there was a road to walk on, but the paths were getting smaller when you got higher. At the last few level you had to climb over rocks and fallen trees. At the top we swam in the most clear water. At lunch, I ate a cheeseburger, because I was not in the mood for yet another curry. The day before I had the Burmese curry, since I was leaving for Burma within a month. It was very spicy and I still think a part of my digestive system died that very evening. But afterwards, you feel your body is thoroughly cleaned. After lunch we went to visit the bridge over the river Kwai. It's just another railway bridge but with a lot of history. We wondered if the bridge was still in use or not, and almost if thunder struck there was a train.
Later that evening we went to the city and had a sort of mini-pubcrawl. It was my first night out in Thailand and I liked it.
When we got back to Singburi on that Sunday, I almost immediately left with Daisy, another Dutch girl, for a ten hour bus drive to Chiang Rai, where Tho, our coordinator for the week, picked us up and took us to the Akha village in the mountains. Before we got there, we stopped at a market and restaurant at a beautiful lake with a power dam where we went swimming a couple of times. There we eat deep fried dog. It was a little sweet. In the afternoon, we went on a Akha village tour and learned a bit about the local culture there. Akha people are not Buddhists, but the have three spirits. It's almost like the band Earth, Wind and Fire, but they have a spirit of nature/jungle instead of fire. That evening we drank 'happy water' (Thai whiskey) with the teachers at the local school. I'm gonna be honest with you, it smells and tastes like pure gasoline.
Teusday we had to build a brick wall for the Akha culture center, for preserving the local culture since the young Akha people are leaving for the city and sometimes don't come back.
Wednesday there was a little jungle trek on the program for us. A jungle trek they said, it would be fun they said... We spend seven hours walking in the mountains. It really pushed my limit, livin' on the edge! Sometimes literally, as the paths were very small. Our local guide was 'happy man', the crazy person of the village, and Tho. We had lunch in the mountains with self made bamboo cups, bamboo bowls and chopstick. We made them there from bamboo with our machetes, and I don't mean the movie but the real knife-like swords. After the seven hours we finally reached the natural hot spa. I enjoyed the cold shower more than the hot spa itself.
Thursday morning we did a little teaching. After that we played a little football and had lunch with the kids. That evening, we had a culture exchange. Daisy and I made broccoli and there was a whole buffet with different food. To be part of the Akha traditional ceremony was also very impressive. Because I would leave and Daisy would come back after the weekend, I got an egg that symbolizes my soul and I had to eat it the next day when I reached the village gate. We both got strings on our wrists to protect us from the evil spirit outside the village.
Friday we left for Chiang Rai where we visited the White Temple, really beautiful. Than we left for Chiang Mai where we would spend the weekend. Now I'm still in Chiang Mai and I will go to Chiang Rai again later this week to meet the people with whom I going to travel to Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia.