Well Thailand has gone from being the scariest place on earth to feeling alot like home already. Everyone is so friendly and fun, once you work out who isn't trying to scam you! We did go to the Snake farm, the 2nd largest in the world (Brasil is the biggest) they farm the snakes for their venom to make the anti-venom. They have a show with the most amazing and animated man to talk about the venomous and dangerous snakes, and they bring out the snakes, piss them off a little so they look impressive, then try not to get bitten while they put them back in their boxes! (impressively all the handlers have been bitten at least 3 times, seems to be a status thing, kinda like an asbo i guess!) We got to hold a python, was really cool. I was amazed how strong they are. Aine was ok untill it wanted a closer look at her! We wandered around the museum and watched the snakes eat dead frogs! was really good and learned alot.

The hostel in On-Nut was great, met Heather, lovely irish lady who joined us for a day to sight see all the Wat's and markets and things we could find in one day. We did very well and explored most of Bangkok that we had on our list. WE saw theEmerald Buddah, got a tour guide around the grand palace temple, Very impressive! The Buddah alone is worth 75million dollars! A huge carved piece of ...jade i think! We wandered around the markets, then got the water taxi back along the river and back to the hostel to promptly collapse with exhaustion and start on the Chaing beer for the second nite. ( James, i totally understand the value of a chaingover now, wow does that hurt in the hot weather! ) It is surprising just how knackered you are just walking around. the heat is overwhelming at first but you do get used to it, air con rooms now feel very cold!

So 'chaing-over' mastered we pottered about the next day to look at the price of trains to Chaing Mai. We booked the overnite sleeper train, which was amazing, they give you dinner and breakfast if you want it, waitress service, it's clean, air conditioned, the beds were comfy if a little cramped, we had the top bunk, not an awful lot of space up there. but to be honest, wouldn't have expected more from home! It left on time, arrived early, had a good nites sleep. the air con worked and we got nothing stolen! We then got picked up from the station (courtesty of the guesthouse run by Pon and Annette who are really friendly and helpful) and delivered to the Eagle guesthouse, which is so lovely. there is a fan instead of air con but we are slowly getting the hang of the hot weather, and the strange substitute of loo roll for a hose pipe! The thai way! apparently things don't flush as well!

So what have we done in Chaing Mai? Seen 5 of the 6 Wat's (temples) that are supposed to be the best to see. spent very little but got loads at the night market, the best way to barter is to pretend you don't want it and walk away, they chase you along lowering the price every time you say no thanx, then let you tell them how much you should pay! If anyone wants clothes, wood carvings, pottery, paintings, burping frogs, hats, bags, silk you have till the 17th to put in an order! The night market was followed by a few beers in a pub, Aine had the cocktails, and the lovely barman, EJ, taught us how to speak a little thai.

We went to a dinner and dance show at the cultural centre last nite, all you can eat thai ceremonial banquet, called a 'Khantoke' i think, lots of different dances, then the hill tribes show off all the different dances they have, a few stalls, some adorable little thai children all dressed up, and some fireworks. Not bad for a fiver! Today was a cooking course where the lovely excentric Visutt let us pick our own menu, took us to the market, then showed us how to cook 5 meals from scratch, with time to eat them all along the way. A really good day, and only 4 of us doing the course so plenty of time to chat and ask questions along the way. Fantasticly good fun and a doggy bag of all the food we couldn't eat.

Tomorow is a trip to Chaing Mai to the golden triangle (the boundary of thailand, Burma, and ...Laos?) then a trip to the zoo followed by a massage. then 3 day/2nites in the jungle to ride elephants, meet tribes people, build rafts, and try not to get eaten alive! We have decided to Fly to Phuket after that to play on the islands and chill out. We thought a short flight was more expensive but the 2 days travel that we save is worth more to us than the £40 we would save going by train.

We will keep you updated with the adventure as often as pos but internet is less accessible here than we are used to. Lots of love to all of you from both of us. xxx