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266--Thailand: My Raft-house is your Raft-house @ CherieSpotting     Jan 03 2005 - 14:50 PST cherie writes: We left the treetop houses for the more adventurous raft-houses. The treetop houses may be high, but at least they stay in one place. The raft houses are neither like a raft or a house—they are more like a floating hut. On the boat ride over to the raft houses, we were fortunate enough to receive a complimentary Thai Jungle Mist Treatment. Some of us got more misted than others (always choose the back of the boat) and arrived at our huts looking like wet cats. After we put our things in our assigned huts, we got back into the boat in search of caves with bats. After finding a cave, we put on our orange-life-vests like diapers and jumped into the water. The air was laced with rank bat guano and as we swam into the cave, the stench grew stronger. We doggy-paddled deeper into the dark cave and our guide switched his light on. Poof—thousands of bats swarmed above us. When the noxious fumes became too much, we paddled out of the cave. When the sun set, the locals took us on a “Night Safari” which should be renamed “Bug Safari”. Basically we found different creepy-crawlers, spiders and even stumbled upon a tiny snake. We learned that many snakes in Thailand are poisonous. If you are 100-years-old and you get bitten by a Thai snake, you are likely to die. Sleeping in the raft-houses is like being an ant in a tin can being shaken by a crazy toddler. Six-floating huts are tied together which means if one person turns over in the middle of the night—everyone wakes up. I’d like to say I was woken up by the screaming cicadas, but I don’t think I ever went to sleep. It was if some Thai was conducting an animal symphony all night. “We’ll start with the cicadas…now the chirping birds…enter hooting monkeys…screeching Gibbons on A-sharp…buzzing crickets enter now….and let’s finish it off with a burping fat frog.” Click on each picture to see it full size. read comments (0) | write comment| views: 4803    | rated: 0.0    printer-friendly version   Cherie at a small fishing village near the raft-houses. Heading to the raft-houses on a long-boat. Diane smiles on the boat-ride out. There's no way you are getting Kirsty out of that life-jacket. The first sight of our new "homes." Cherie and Hilda. Does your home float? Cherie in floating-hut #1. Hilda and Leighton. Cherie and Hilda on the balcony. Leighton feasts his eyes on paradise. Leighton, Diane and Hannah. Those slits are big enough to welcome all the bugs on the island. Diane and Cherie. Those are the bathroom huts. At such a young age, Leighton is already affected with plumber-butt. Time for a canoe-ride to explore. Our friends wave good-bye. Hilda, the pro-paddler. Where should we go? Is this what it feels like to be in the middle of nowhere? Hannah and Cherie. Hilda and Leighton. One minute on the canoe, the next minute in the water. This is called: Diane gets into the canoe. Photo #2 in the Diane-canoe series. She made it! Roughing it back on shore. Life at the raft-houses. Kirsty makes friends with the locals. We explore a near-by fishing village. The village. Life is simple here. Laughter and fish are abundant. Look what I caught today! Exploring. We buy fish from the leader of the village. The village. Peaceful. Cherie and the twins. Kirsty and Hannah. Heading into the bat cave. The twins--Hilda and Diane. Leighton tries to master the inner-tube. It's not working! Evening acrobatics by Leighton. Does that count? Finally Leighton gets a lesson from a local. This is how you do it! Right before we go to sleep we go on a bug safari. A little snake skitters through the grass. Some bugs jump...some bugs slither. No shyness allowed at this toilet stop. Another creepy-crawler. Even the branches move.