We left the Perhentian Islands and shared a taxi to the border with some Danish girls who had been on the
islands too. We walked across the border and into Thailand, and a further 1.5kms to the train station. There
was a train leaving at 11.30am but we were worried that it would get us in to Bangkok in the middle of the
night, in which case we would prefer to wait around the town and catch a later train so as to arrive at a
reasonable time in Bangkok. When I asked what time we would arrive in Bangkok I was told it was 10.30am the
next day so no worries about arriving in the > middle of the night! We knew it would be a long journey but
23 hours was a bit of a shock. It actually wasn't too bad. We have been on enough overnight buses to be used
to sitting down for ages and we both ploughed through our books! The only problem was just feeling absolutely
disgusting by the time we got there, which turned out to be 24 hours after we had left the border. That is
definitely the most I've ever wanted a shower in my life!

We were staying on the infamous Khao San Road and spent the day wandering through the street stalls and shops.
We had dinner whilst people-watching on the bustling street. The next day, Phil hired a tuk tuk driver who
took him to several temples, including the tallest buddha in bangkok at 50 metres high. In the evening we met
up with Duncan and Heidi, who we had met in Brazil (and again by chance at Iguassu Falls). We had emailed to
see how their trip was going and they replied saying they were in Bangkok, staying near Khao San Road! We
met up for a few drinks and some pad thai. We had hoped to see a ping pong show out of morbid curiosity but
it was nowhere near as cheap as we wanted - we just weren't curious enough to pay 15 pounds to see something
we thought might make us feel sick anyway!!

We enjoyed several cocktails and a few games of doubles pool (in which I shocked everyone in actually
potting some balls of our colour for a change to win 2-1!). We headed to Chiang Mai in the north next,
which was a comparatively short journey at only 12 hours. The first afternoon we headed to Tiger Kingdom,
which is a small centre where you can get hands on with tigers and lions. We opted for the baby tigers and the
adult tigers package because we couldn't decide. You had a 15 minute session with each type and we started off
with the cubs. There were 3 cubs in the room and another couple left, leaving us with 3 to play with between
the 2 of us. They were so much fun. There is a keeper in with you, who keeps the cubs in check if they start to
play too roughly. They have very sharp teeth and claws, even at 1 month and so their rough playing has to be
controlled so they don't think it is okay to bite. They were similar to kittens in the way they play but were
already so much more powerful. We were worried that they may be sedated for people to play with them but they
seemed really alert and happy. The time went all too fast but it was amazing. We had a stroll around the
enclosures looking at some of the bigger cats and began to wonder why on earth we would want to go in with
any of them. We watched another couple have their session and they came out in one piece so we decided to
give it a go. They were nowhere near as much fun as the cubs because you have to be a lot more careful of
where you touch them and to make sure you don't get cornered or go near their heads, whereas you could do
whatever you liked with the little cubs. They were really impressive though and we were both a bit scared
- whenever they moved their heads quickly we would dart off in the other direction! Better safe than sorry
when they are that big and strong I think! They like having their tummy rubbed and they aren't fed raw meat
in a bid to minimise chances of them attacking people! It was an amazing experience and though there is
lots of controversy about the way the animals are kept in these types of places in Asia, we were both
confident they were not badly treated or drugged.

We went on a 1 day trek from Chiang Mai in to the surrounding hills to see the native hill tribes. We saw 2
different tribes and were told about the way they lived and made a living. It is crazy to see people who live
with whole families in 1 room/hut. They have one corner for cooking, one corner for storage and two corners
for sleeping a whole family in. The huts were made from bamboo and leaves for the roof. They wear traditional
clothes which they weave themselves and the colours/patterns determine the marital status or age of the wearer.
They used to make all the dyes from natural resources nearby but now they send someone into the city to buy
readymade dyes and it means they can have a wider range of colours so they are quite happy about it.

On the hike between the 2 tribes, we passed a waterfall in the jungle but it was too fast-flowing for us to
swim in it,which was a shame. In the afternoon, we went to an elephant camp where we had an elephant ride
through the jungle. Halfway through, I switched from the bench on its back to sitting on its neck. I bought
some bananas beforehand and spent the hour ride flinging bananas to my elephant and the one behind. It is
so cool watching them use their trunks...we hand-fed them and the suction from their trunk is really strong.
The guide let them stroll free for a short while (while we were on them!) and in a matter of minutes they
had virtually stripped a tree bare...as far as a form of transport goes they are definitely high maintenance
and not as comfy as a car either but they can stomp their way through dense jungle without even trying!

We headed further inland to a river where we were going bamboo rafting. Phil and I had a raft to ourselves
and he punted us down the river. There were a couple of fast bits and drops but we managed to stay on it for
the duration. It was really scenic and at some parts there were elephants working by the river, or washing
in it. It was a great day - we were worn out and pretty grubby by the end of the day.

The next day, I had a nice long lie in but Phil had to get up early to get to his Thai cooking course.

Over to Phil!.....:
We were picked up from the hotel and driven to a nearby local market to be given a lesson in how to buy fresh
fruit and veg (what to look for, how it should feel etc). Our teacher for the day, Permpoon Nabanian, explained
to us all the different types of rice and noodles and why they are used for certain dishes and not others.
After picking up the produce we would need for the days dishes we headed to the cookery class about 20 mins
outside of Chiang Mai.

We washed up, put our aprons on and all got our own spot with a gas hob and cooking utensils. We each got to
choose the dishes we wanted to make, and the process for making the variations was pretty much the same, just
the ingridients changed so eg. I chose green curry but now know how to cook green, red, yellow and panang.

First off we watched Perm cook Tom Yang Soup with prawns, then we went back to our workstations and he ran us
through the process, quite quickly until before you knew it we'd made our own. It was absolutely delicious -
definitely my new favourite soup. We then got the chance to make a spring roll each, with plum dipping sauce.
Next on the menu was a papaya salad with sticky rice (probably the tastiest of the day) eaten with fingers only.
For dessert we had sticky rice with mango - really nice. Then I made Thai green curry and chicken with cashew
nuts (amazing). As a short break Perm showed us how to carve flowers out of various fruits and vegetables.
The last dish of the day was Pad Thai, a staple over here and delicious but apparently the most difficult
to get right. The best part of cooking the pad thai was heating some oil in the wok, pouring water over the
chicken then tossing it in to get a gigantic flame like you see on the TV!!

Once we had finished all our dishes we headed outside and all sat down together to eat. There was so much food
it was ridiculous, I ate about 8 different dishes that day and did not need dinner that evening! For pudding we
had a selection of different thai fruits such as lychees, rambutin and several others I can't remember the
names of. All in all it was a really great day and I feel confident I can reproduce these dishes when I get
home. A big thank you to Yvonne (Ali's mum) who kindly paid for me to do this for my birthday.

Next stop: Udon Thani, to make our way into Laos.
xxx