Although we arrived late to Chiang Mai we were pleasantly suprised by the guesthouse we had booked (Green Tulip House) although Ash had done the trip advisor check on the place and forgot to mention to me about one of the mad owners 'Stella' who people had mentioned on the reviews. Although lovely and very helpful she was very loud for a thai lady and broke out in air guitar and random singing and dancing everynow and then! She had a glass of red wine in her hand at 4pm...says it all. Our first evening we visited the night bazaar and ate over there using the coupon system which was nice and cheap. Everyone in the hostel really friendly so a great start made.

Onto the trek. WOW WOW WOW. We have had the best few days doing the hill tribe visit and trek. After much research we decided to go with our guesthouses deal of a 2 day 1 night trek and a cooking course for 35GBP. We had lunch with a nice candadian couple Mike and Angie we met whilst discussing the pros and cons of the deal the guesthouse were offering. It seemed a great deal from the start but the value for money just got better and better the longer the trip went on. We were also pleased to be joined by another irish girl Denise wed met in our hostel who was lovely and told us many stories on the way to the elephant ride about her 18 month experience in Australia and her plans to teach in Thailand for 6 months.

6 of us were on the trip in total (2 germans, 1 polish, 1 irish and us) with 2 Thai guides Tee and Moon. We visited an Orchid farm on our way to the Elephants and although it was OK to ride on the elephants we were all glad to be getting on with the trek. Although we only hiked for 3 hours the first day to reach the Lahu tribe, it was hard work to say the least 100% accent all the way, we all commented on what hard work it was climbing with the rainfall in the past few months. We kept each other going though with interesting conversation and snacks from the market. Ash had bought some deep fried banana and a water bottle holder so he was well happy. Also at the market were frogs (live) in bags ready to be boiled up into a classic Chiang Mai dish...Frog Soup. The German guy Ludger had also been working in Australia as a personal instructor and did sports sciene as his degree so him and Ash had lots to talk about.

On arrival to the camp we were pleased we didnt have to climb any higher and was greeted by some of the Lahu people. We sat and chilled around the fire for a few hours before a wonderful meal prepared by our guides around 6:30pm. By this time it was getting dark and we couldnt believe it was still so early. We all enjoyed a can of beer and sat round the camp fire (indoors!) playing games with the guides and cards later on. Tee also told us about the tribe and allowed us to ask questions which was nice as they sat around with us. Moon was the shy one out of the 2 guides and eventually we managed to persuade him to play cards with us later on. He loved it as he ended up winning and couldnt stop laughing. When it was time for bed I asked him were we should brush our teeth. He explained what we should do whilst showing us his gleaming white sparkly teeth. On a number of us questioning how come he keeps his teeth so clean (considering he is from a tribe too) he suddenly piped up "colgate'! We were all in fits of laughter! An ideal ad for toothpaste.

It rained all nigh as we laid on the floor in the bamboo hut, I didnt get much sleep but was in high spirits the next day looking forward to our descent and white water rafting. Ash slept much better and enjoyed the chickens 'cockadodaldooing' to us in the morning from 4am. After tea and toast we headed off walking down to a waterfall which we did in about an hour and enjoyed standing in the waterfall and cooling off with the high humidity in the jungle. Moon also used his maschette (yes Eddie we thought of you!) to cut us some bamboo walking sticks to help us get down as it was really slippy due to the rain the night before.

On arrival at the white water rafting site, both me and Ash felt a bit nervous after looking at the torrent of brown water that was swirling and gushing in front of us at some ridiculous speed. Some of the others had done rafting before in NZ and said this was particuarly strong. Ash kept constantly checking whether i was in the right position at the back with my feet tucked under as he still remmebers what my Dad said about looking after me. The irish girl thought it was hilarious how he kept checking! With commands being shouted from the thai man at the back we paddled down some great white water and came out wishing we could do more after. Both shattered but looking forward to our cooking course tomorrow and going to a buddhist meditation session this evening at a local temple.

It has taken me nearly 2 weeks to truly realise where I am, the amazingness of what me and Ash are doing, the adventure that we are living and feel SO excited about everything that lies ahead! I feel like ive finally chilled out and stepped out of our UK box and we both feel ready and excited to make the most of what we will do this next 6 months. Already we feel grateful for what were doing and the interesting people we are meeting.