Day 11 After the elephants - hut in a village

After our brief stop to refresh we piled back into the trucks, one of the usual pick ups and the resort owners shiny new truck which was more comfortable, except perhaps for those perched in the back!

We set off through "town" and then out into the countryside, along boggy dirt roads. Our smiley drive offered us sweets and put on a Dolly Parton cd. He pointed out many of the houses, waved at everyone and stopped to chat to a women carrying a new baby, he was obviously a bit of a head honcho!
After about an hour on some very dubious tracks we reached a village next to a river. We piled out next to hut very similar to our previous night's accommodation, but at it wasn't raining and it was right next to a picturesque river to us it seemed glorious. Then the porters unloaded our rucksacks and led us into the village proper to our actual accommodation. A large solid wooden building, with steps up to a balcony and a large room with nets and bedding already set out. You'd have thought we'd been presented with the Ritz, we were so excited. Even the squat toilet in a hut near the pig pen didn't phase us. The excess of chickens and cockerels even made it feel more homely.

We divvied up the beds, Stephens, Turnbull and Rose taking the net nearest the door and Peter and I taking the net outside on the back balcony, standard precaution to protect the girls from viking style marauders!! As we were harassed all night by dogs, cats and lots of creepy crawlies I wish I'd left Pete out their alone!!

We spent a pleasant afternoon sat chatting, playing cards, paddling in the river, dealing with our bites and scratches and generally just chilling out.

At dusk we were called over to the porters hut for dinner. They had laid out the mats with candles and food. We were in good spirits and were now used to the rice, omelet and tomato ketchup combo (most of us ignored the carefully prepared chicken dishes).

Supper was completed with lashing of Ovaltine lovingly prepared by Steph, now qualifying for an advanced hostess Brownie badge.

We had had far too much good luck, so the rain started as we were due to head back to our house. We were now proficient at walking in the rain, mud or dark so all three posed no problems.

We settled in to our luxury accommodation; 2mm mattress on a wooden floor, in a windowless room with no air conditioning or fans, with animals scrabbling under the floorboards, bugs everywhere, it was pure heaven!