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Today was a day of tourist activities. After breakfast, Laura and Angela did some shopping near the border with some of the other people they know here while Alex napped and I got ready for our afternoon. At noon we had a driver take us to a few places including a gibbon sanctuary, two waterfalls, and a wat. Gibbons were first (and the drive was about 45 minutes) – this is a place that helps gibbons who are injured or who were raised by humans who can’t take care of them anymore, mostly. There were quite a large number of them in many cages, including some very cute babies, one wearing a diaper and drinking from a bottle. This is all in an area south of Mae Sot. Then we went to a waterfall who’s name I don’t know. It was a many-stepped waterfall and really a nice soothing kind of thing. Alex was in the backpack, but the climb to the top was too treacherous for him, so we took turns waiting with the backpack at the point where it became treacherous while others went to the top, where you were greeted with giant bamboo that grows 8 or 10 inches in diameter, with shoots coming out of the ground that are 4 feet tall. I took some photos, but the scale isn’t visible – too bad. The noises were strange, too, including some insect that makes a noise that really sounds like a jet engine. I think it’s some version of a cicada – I saw one and it looked like a skinny cicada. Then we went to another waterfall which was also very cool, but more accessible/less dangerous. Then back in Mae Sot we went to a wat, which was in preparation for a big Karen celebration tomorrow (hand-tying celebration), and we were able to see the preparations in progress. The best part was seeing 1000kg of food being prepared! Then home and Angela had to go to a dinner meeting while the rest of us went to the Canadian restaurant again – for the last time! Tomorrow we leave for Sukothai for a night, then on to Chiang Mai. The person that drove us around today is taking us, which will be really good.

Most of the pictures from my camera were not good, so we have to wait to get the ones from Angela's and hope they are!