Chang Mai

Leaving Bangkok we braced ourselves for a 15 hour train journey to Chang Mai. We had booked a sleeper carriage and to our surprise when we got on there were double deck tiny beds and we were on the top!! Ari was terrified she was gonna fall as there was only a small strap attached to each side.
We made it through the bumpy, noisy ride and at 5 am we arrived in Chang Mai! We liked the place instantly. It was a lot less crowded, the streets were wider and the old town was surrounded by a river with fountains. It still had the same vibe though. In the evening we headed straight for the night market which was massive! One long street lined with stalls either side, with shops behind and then malls behind that. A shoppers paradise.

There was just enough space to walk on the pavement and explore the fake goods, crafts and much more, getting stopped every other stall with “yes sir”, “you wanna look” “i do you special price”. Ari made the mistake at browsing the frog lady's items. Basically a lady from the hill tribe who sell wooden croaking frogs. She followed us for 15 mins with us even running to get away. Eventually we shifter her and found an amazing food hall.

We booked our selves on a jungle trek and the next day we were off being driven a few hours away in the mountain. Our guide was awesome, he was a little ex monk called Chip. We treked for hours through rice paddies and jungle with Chip pointing out weird creatures and plants including the famous opium on the way.
After that came the elephant sanctuary where we had an amazing ride on the back of the elephant through the jungle and a river. Our elephant had a baby who did his best to keep up with us, but kept getting stuck in the mud and slipping! We rewarded our big friends with some banana's. I played with the baby who must have learnt Thai boxing already as he was pretty good at fighting!!
Later after arriving at camp we cooled our selves down in the waterfall, then sat down around the camp fire and had a meal cooked by Chip. We talked, exchanged stories and listened to Chip telling intresting stories about Buddhism and meditation with our new friends from all over the world. We went to sleep sometime in the early hours in our jungle huts. It was a perfect day!
The second day of our trip we ventured through the jungle again and arrived to a river where we got on a bamboo raft which was brilliant fun.

Our next trip was at the Tiger Kingdom and playing with baby tigers was an amazing experience. Later on we made our way to Doi Suthep, a little mountain village with a massive temples with views over the city and beyond. On the way up we were surrounded by thousands of school kids making a small pilgrimage to the temple for holy day.