Well it seems ages since I've put anything on here so I will try and remember!

After leaving kanchanaburi we went to Ayutthaya. The old capital full of ruins. As we were struggling to get any where booked we booked into the Youth Hostel there.

Following the sore bum incident on the death railway I wanted to take a mini bus instead of the train. I thought air con, soft seats and comfort. Well... The mini bus did turn up and the air con was on when we sat down. However as soon as we set off that was turned off the driver drove like a mad man. I was not too happy and for the people that have had me as their passenger they know I do not make a good passenger! However we did eventually make it to Ayutthaya in one piece. I was just relieved not to of wet myself.

When we got to Ayutthaya there was a gorgeous guest house with cheap rooms but with us having moral's (don't worry they have now gone!) we thought we would walk the 2 miles to the youth hostel. Well it was right out of the way and even though when I look back it was kind of quaint it was a right hotch potch.

As for Ayutthaya it's self I found it really boring. I should not have taken the advice of my trusty Rough Guide book! It was just all a bit quiet, dull and boring. I should've known - the place is full of ruins and one or two are ok but when all there is to do is walk round hundreds of the things it can get very boring.

Anyway we left Ayutthaya and traveled by sleeper train to Chiang Mai. I had my own little curtained off pod that I could sleep in. The gentle clickety click of the train and the heavenly air con ensured I had a good nights sleep. There was even the smallest smoking section crammed between two cars that made it even better.

So about 15 hours later (4 hours late!) we rolled into Chiang Mai. First impression was good - the place had some life and a buzz to it. We had booked in to a guest house but somebody was flogging their guest house as we got off the train. Same price but had a pool and a free ride into town. As I say my morals went in Ayutthaya and so the fact I had emailed another guest house went out the window.

We are now staying in a great place - big room, almost hotel quality public areas and great but freezing pool. Heaven.

Chiang Mai apart from the surrounding countryside and old temples is famous for self improvement. Numerous day and week courses are on offer to learn new schools or find nirvana. Saturday we went on a cooking course out to an Organic farm. It was really good fun. However sometimes the instruction was a bit quick and you have to be fast when stir frying so I sometimes felt a bit like a contestant on the generation game - I'm sure I would've got a 10 though.

Chaing Mai is hot in the day but at night it cools just lovely. It is still warm enough for shorts and T shirts but the humidity is not as strong as in the South.

Today we thought we should explore some of the old quarter and visit a few temples. The first we visited was kind of cool but you start to feel a bit of temple fatigue. I was going to go to a talk on Buddhism to try and find a bit of inner peace but I got too hot and decided to drink beer instead (there really is not hope for me!).

After all this so called culture I was really craving lazy bring me entertainment so after reading good things about Chiang Mai Zoo thought it would be good to have a visit. The simplest sounding things in Thailand can become complicated. We flagged down a tuk tuk to take us. In my clearest loud voice I asked to be taken to the Zoo. Even Big Andy was doing his best Lion impression to make sure the guy driving totally knew where we were going.... So we set off confident. Twenty minutes later we ended up at a Thai Silk factory!!!!! Totally the other side of the city. So in my louder voice I kept repeating "The Zoo" and Big Andy through in a few elephant impressions. The poor driver got back into his drivers seat and drove to his friend's tuk tuk to try and make sense of us. Luckily the friend understood "The Zoo" and so we were on our way.

Well the zoo was rubbish. Enclosures that had seen better days and more slopes and steps then are humane in the heat of the sun.

Tomorrow we have something planned but apparently Big Andy has said in his blog it is a surprise so I can't say anything about that (He has to be so dramatic).

We have booked train tickets to take us back to Bangkok on Tuesday night so we are planning to spend Wednesday night in Bangkok again and then a Thursday night train down to the South. So fingers crossed on Friday we will be in Koh Samui laying on a beach and sipping cocktails.