Getting eaten alive...literally!

On Saturday it will be Children's Day in Thailand, which we are looking forward to.  It causes a few rolled eyes for those Farang (foreigners) that live here.  It was Father's Day not long ago, then Christmas, then New Year, then it will be Lunar New Year.  Somewhere in the midst of all this, the bike riders will come in, which is one of the biggest days on the calendar of BTN.

To help with the preparations of Children's Day, we spent a few hours packing up 250 presents of blankets, shampoo, toothbrushes, pencils, rubbers etc.  These will be handed out at the local village, ITV, at a big party.  This village was set up after the Tsunami and sponsored by ITV, the Thai TV station, from where it took its name!

We worked until 2pm and then Maya took us on a wonderful adventure to see some waterfalls.  And these were SOME waterfalls.  There are about 5 levels and you climb up higher and higher into the rainforest, accompanied by the high-pitched shrill of cicadas and tree frogs.  At each level you stop for a dip to cool off, surrounded by beautiful butterflies.  It was one of the most magical places we had ever seen.

Each pool is inhabited by Gara Rufa fish - yes the very ones in the tanks in the big cities, where you pay money for these hungry little fish to nibble off all your dead skin.  And here they were in the pools and we were up to our shoulders, at times.

The children (and we) shrieked and squirmed as the fish feasted.  Tom was rather concerned that they would swim up his shorts and was more cautious!

We showered under waterfalls, never tiring of the refreshing, soothing sounds.

Tom rolled his ankle on the way back down, which resulted in a slow descent, mainly piggy-back on his mother.  He is fine today and back to playing soccer.

In the evening, we went out for dinner with Alison and Maya to the local seafood restaurant for delicious local fare.  The tamarind prawns, black pepper squid and lemon fish were all to be recommended.

The kids enjoyed their ride home in the back of the truck and are getting used to the new mode of travel.

Tomorrow we are booked into the small craft factory to assist with the production of some amazing rice bag handbags and shopping bags which they sell in the shop here.  We are going to bring some back to NZ to sell there for fundraising, so here is a sneak peak!