Hey everyone! Since we last updated the blog we've been quite busy...

We visited the Bridge over the River Kwai, where we got to visit the museum and walk across the bridge, and had a lovely train journey on the original train track, winding through the jungle and mountains. That afternoon we also visited the "tiger temple" where we got to sit next to and touch some (massive!) tigers who were nice and sleepy after having had their lunch. It was a great photo opportunity and was amazing being so close to them! They even had baby tigers which you could sit with. That evening we had ringside tickets to some Thai boxing which was also really good fun, although we didn't get to see any knock-outs, much to Simon's disappointment! :-)

We arrived in Chiang Mai yesterday after a 14 hour sleeper train journey here from Bangkok. The journey wasn't too bad, we got a bunk bed with curtains that pulled across it and the train was pretty quiet. Chaing Mai is a city north of Bangkok, and it's pretty popular with tourists who come here for the trekking and massage courses. It's also near the "Golden Triangle" which is the border between Myanmar, Laos and Thailand.

We are staying at a place called Eagle House, which is only costing us a fiver a night and is pretty nice, plus they arrange lots of activities here like cooking lessons, treks etc.

Yesterday we visited the night market which was good fun - the guidebook recommends going with no money because it's so tempting, and we can see why! Within about ten seconds we'd already bought some stuff and for the rest of the evening we had to be very restrained!

Today we've been doing a Thai cookery course which has been really interesting, we've made yellow and green curries, chicken with cashew nuts, pad thai noodles, chicken and coconut soup, stir-fried vegetables, spring rolls and bananas in coconut cream. Yum!

Tomorrow we're probably going to do a trek into the jungle which should be good fun, with Sunday left to chill out, and then on Monday night we head back on the train to Bangkok, where we're meeting up with our friend Tara for a few drinks, before heading down to the islands for some serious relaxation!

Hope you're all well and keep leaving messages as it's great to hear from you all :-)