Up to Northern Thailand and Chiang Mai -

So...as we chose neither of the boat options and couldn't get a flight we embarked on a journey taking a number of buses upto Chiang Mai. The journey wasn't too bad and as we were transferred from a bus station in Nong Kwai to another bus station to take us to Chiang Mai we met our bonkers tuk tuk driver! Now having travelled for many months by now I did have a bit of a beard and moustache which this guy thought was hilarious. He kept looking at me in his mirror and pointing and sticking his thumbs up. He also tried to race a few other tuk tuks and generally just had us in stitches for the 15 minutes we were with him. So...we 'rewarded' him by giving him my Everton shirt (Ok, maybe not a reward I'm sure some of you will say!). He was chuffed and showed all the women around the bus station his new shirt...

We arrived in Chiang Mai safely and after having done extensive research before leaving Laos headed for a guesthouse we'd heard great things about...especially the owner who seemed to be the font of knowledge for all things Chiang Mai. The Blue House was a bargain and had cable TV. We were happy and the owner Jimmy promptly sorted us out with a cooking course at an organic farm and an overnight trekking trip. He also gave us the local info and a map to get us started...we began by visiting the Sunday markets.

These markets just can't be missed if you're in Chiang Mai. They had absolutely everything including my favourite Pearl Milk Tea which I hadn't had since Bangkok. We devoured spring rolls, chicken and pork skewers, ice cream, pad thai and much more as we wandered the streets looking at stalls and buying bits and pieces of local handicrafts. That lunchtime we also had the best fish ever...with a salt crust on barbecued on a skewer on the street...it was fantastic! We ate a lot and the next day proceeded to eat even more!

This time though we put much more effort into what it was we were eating...our Organic Cooking course was a great experience. There were cooking classes advertised all over Chiang Mai but we definitely reckon this one was the best. We were taken out to the organic farm (about 17km outside of Chiang Mai) where we were shown around the farm and educated on all the different herbs and vegetables that they grew in the gardens. We used all the fresh ingredients as we cooked.... - Thai Chicken Green Curry, Chicken with Cashew Nuts, Pad Thai and Mango with Sticky Rice. All the food was amazing (if we do say so ourselves!) and we were stuffed by the end of the day. The cook who taught us was very friendly and funny as she teased a few of the slightly dumber and older American women who kept mistaking soy sauce and fish sauce and putting the wrong amounts of everything into their dishes.

The day after cooking we went trekking! We packed up our stuff and left the bulk of it with Jimmy (at our guest house) and set off in a Songtaew (kind of like a truck taxi) heading up into the hills to visit the hill tribes - the Karen people. First stop was a waterfall...not quite as impressive as Luang Prabang but not bad nonetheless. It didn't have the pools surrounding it but I got in for a photo anyway. The force of the water was immense and it was bloody freezing as well! We carried on up to some hot springs where the water boiled and steam was everywhere...it was kind of like when we visited the Volcanic region in Japan but must have been even hotter given the average temperature in Thailand. Our trek started in earnest here as we started walking up..and up..and up..and up! The teva's we'd bought in Bangkok were being put to good use, but inevitably Vanessa 'I've got a blister' Toutounji soon needed to stop to apply cream and socks...yep, Sandals and Socks! That night we arrived at the village where instead of trying to take a shower in the makeshift bathroom I ran down to the river and jumped in with a bottle of Johnson's baby shampoo. It was the most refreshing shower I've ever had... The Karen people didn't speak any English of course but were very friendly..considering they've always got travellers coming through their village. Our guide Bobby cooked us a great Green Curry and then we sat down around the camp fire drinking beer and singing songs with the rest of our group...Divyah, Cornelius, Monica and two English girls who at 19 made us feel very old. That night...it was freezing! We slept on a mat on the floor and despite the sleeping bag and numerous blankets we were given it was still difficult to sleep. For me, more because of the hard floor. So when 7am came around we were all glad to get up, have brekkie and get on with our trek down to the elephant camp.

We jumped on the back of an elephant and casually rode along the river for about 2 hours on the back of our grey, leathery transportation. It wasn't that comfortable but the scenery was beautiful. Although the seat was hard for us, the mahouts had no problem sitting on the elephant's head and guiding us along. In fact we passed another mahout coming back along the river...asleep on the back!

We arrived at another village down river where locals had built us a bamboo raft. We had to float down the river and negotiate rapids with long bamboo poles. Unfortunately, after hitting a number of rocks the twinings on the raft started to come loose and at the back of the raft I suddenly started to notice gaps appearing between the bamboo. As we hit one rapid and I lost my balance my foot and 'chicken' leg went straight through and left me with a nice gash and bruise for the next week or so. Still, we had a really quality time on our trek and we all were thoroughly exhausted by the time we arrived back in Chiang Mai.

Now here is when the great Jimmy and Blue House lost all our faith and goodwill. They promised to keep us a room - but now we'd spent all our money with them on trips - they transferred us to another guest house because they were 'full'. We were too tired to argue and when we got to the new guest house sat down and instantly started getting bitten by bugs in the bed. Not happy we stormed out and found somewhere else...This seems to be the problem when travelling...if you're not spending they don't like you...if you've spent, they've liked you and left you - hunting for more like you! Ahh well!

After the trek we decided to chill out for a few days and headed up to a place called Chiang Dao. Here we relaxed, read books, chilled out and ate fantastic food. We stayed at Chiang Dao Nest 2. The setting was idyllic...beneath a mountain and the thai food was scrumptious. Unfortunately, the lady running it was a bit grumpy and not very friendly at all. So, one night we decided to visit another place up the road - that we'd hoped to stay in the first place. We met Malee who was a fantastic host and extremely friendly. One night we took some new friends (Jeff and Becca) over to Malee's where she cooked us a fantastic BBQ and we had a great night. Jeff and Becca are on a year tour taking in almost 40 countries. An amazing feat if you manage it guys.,...keep us posted!!

Chiang Dao caves were a must see and we were escorted around by an old man with a gas burner who pointed out all the little crevices and names of the different rocks - usually arrived at based on what they looked like. The cave was much bigger than we expected (although after, Vanessa realised she had been there before!).

With one week to go...we set off for Bangkok on the overnight train and left Chiang Mai having had some really good days and an overall mixed experience. Compared to the rest of South East Asia it felt as if Thailand is a little too geared up for tourists...