Chiang Mai

We flew into Chiang Mai in another crash free Laos Airlines flight (I don't know what we were worried about!). A quick taxi trip into town and we checked in at our guest house. We took the chance to have a quick look around, Lianne was most excited about the really nice coffee houses we found!

That evening we took our first (of many) visits to the night bazaar to stock up on hookey DVDs, T shirts, watches, shoes, etc... We also indulged an urge by having the first Big Mac we'd had for 4 weeks!

The next day we planned on walking around the old town and visiting the temples and other sights. However, once we'd got up and had breakfast we just couldn't face it! I think we were a bit travel weary so instead we went to the Mall, looked at some shops, had Pizza Hut for lunch and then went to see Ocean's 13. The cinema in Thailand was entertaining as at the beginning they ask you to stand in honour of the king and then play the national anthem. You don't get that at the local cinema at home! That evening we arranged our Hill Trekking for the next day which was going to be a lot more energetic than today!

Next morning we packed a small overnight bag each and were picked up by our guide in a covered truck with two bench seats in the back. It was just us and another Canadian couple, Norman and Jill. We drove for a couple of hours and arrived at small village in the hills about 100km or so from Chiang Mai. At one point in the journey the heavens just opened and torrential rain came down, the truck had open sides so we got a bit wet at this point but it didn't last too long.

We had lunch then got given life jackets (for tomorrows rafting) and then jumped in the back of the truck. Just 15 minutes down the road this time, until the track became too muddy for the truck to proceed, then we jumped out and started walking.

It was pretty hot, mid 30s probably, and it was sweaty work walking along. We started off along a road, stopping at a couple of small villages (well a couple of grass and wooden huts each). At one we met a guy who makes home made guns to sell at the market. They are old-school breech loading guns that look like something from the American revolution (but I still wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of it). Shortly after this stop we turned off the road and started to walk cross country. There was plenty of up and down to the walking and we were all very, very sweaty as we progressed. It was about a 3 hour walk to our destination which was a small hill tribe village of about 11 families.

The village is very isolated with the walk that we had just done the only practical way to get in and out of the place.

Once we had stopped the four of us grabbed a warm beer (civilized enough to have beer, not enough to have ice) and wandered down to the river to cool off our feet.

Our guide was cooking dinner for us and as we waited for it we had the now expected hard sell from the locals trying to get us to buy some of their locally made goods.

Dinner was good with a curry, stir fry and lots of rice to fill us up. That night we spent in one of the bamboo buildings sleeping on very thin mattresses under mosquito netting.

The next morning we woke up and had breakfast waiting for the next part of the adventure, and sure enough they soon arrived walking down the river. We were going elephant trecking.

Norman and Jill were on one, with the guide, and we were on another behind. Lianne was looking forward to riding on the elephants but was also terrified of the things, especially when getting on (which involves the elephant walking up to a platform and then you step on its head and then on to a platform strapped to its back). We rode them for an hour up along the river and then back down the river itself. Great fun.

After that we were then going bamboo rafting, which involves riding a raft constructed out of about a dozen large pieces of bamboo all lashed together. At a distance it didn't look that sturdy and to be honest it didn't look much better close up. But it did the job and was very stable as we rode back down the river to where we started. It was great fun riding over the small rapids as the water splashed around our legs.

After that we had lunch and then headed off home via a waterfall on the way. It was a great couple of days with a rewarding walk through some great scenary and lots of fun on the way back made all the better with a great couple to share it with.

We met up with Norman and Jill later for a quiet drink, however the drinking was far from quiet and we made it back to our hotel at 2am after watching Lewis win the F1 and a few games of air hockey and pool.

The next day started at about noon due to the previous nights excesses and didn't really get going after that! We made another visit to the night markets to finish up all our shopping and then headed to bed, for the last time on our holiday.

The next day we were off to Singapore ready to catch our flight back to the UK.

We're writing this from Singapore airport and we have to dash off to board our plane. To everyone in the UK, we'll see you soon; to those in NZ, all the best and stay in touch!

Tony & Lianne aka Foxy & Shirlz!