Hello Everyone,

Dan is feeling a bit under the weather today (sicky) and so i have left him in the guesthouse with sky tv and air con (needless to say he's quite happy!). I will therefore be writing the blog on my own today, and i've decided to write my own little entries from now on in addition to our joint entries on more of a spiritual topic and what i'm learning while i'm out here as a kind of journal that may also be insightful for others, so look out for that.

But now a bit about what we;ve been getting up to for the last few days...As you know we have been in Chiang Mai for exactly a week now. There is still loads to see and do, we have barely scratched the service. Fortunately we have 3 weeks before we fly to Jakarta so we are not rushed to leave and will be calling this place home for at least another week.

We have been wondering around the last few days (in between naps and collapsing in pubs for a drink and a game of pool because its hot), and we've seen lots of things. We have visited the night market 3 times, which is the place to be! We tried out some new dishes in the food court there, where you buy tokens and then go around and try as much as you like until you get full (or your tokens run out!). It was good for me because they had photos and descriptions of every dish so i knew what i was ordering! It's a good place to get clued up on Thai food although we both managed to order the hottest things on the menu it seems, and spent the rest of our tokens on water!

Also inside the night bazaar is a boxing ring where amateur Muay Thai Boxers have fights after work. Its free to watch and you can make a donation after each fight to help them fund it. Plus you get ring-side seats because it's surrounded by bars. we figured this better than paying 400baht plus for proper tickets so we watched three fights while drinking beer and got rid of all our pesky pocket change on contributions. I couldn't help people watching and absorbing the situations around me as well, with seedy old men in the adjacent bar surrounded by what looked like 16 year old 'hostesses' helping them spend their money and have a good time, while dogging their kisses. The other side to us was a pub run by 'ladyboys' (which really are everywhere!). To be fair they looked pretty good and its criminal that they have better legs than me! and one was clearly very pleased with breast implants he/she had just had, although they weren't fooling anyone and the bar remained empty.

I'm finding it all a bit hard to get my head around (i know i'm quite naive!) and i'm trying not to judge coz each to their own and all that... but it seems very sad and it slightly infuriates me that the crappy attitude of western men is to come over here and utterly disrespect women and exploit the fact that these people are desparately trying to make money anyway they can. They are taking advantage of the friendly and generous natured Thais for their own greedy benefit, and i cant help being ashamed of them all. I saw a German guy the other day who had got himself a Thai wife and had brought his son over for a holiday, while the Thai lady had her own son the same age. Neither of the boys spoke a word to each other and the way that thai son looked at that man said it all. The guy was throwing money at everything and showering his own son with gifts, and using his wife as a translator to get what he wanted instead of trying to learn the language himself. There was no compassion or relationship there at all apart from with the thai lady and her son, who would give him an encourgaing smile every now and again. I guess if you can buy everything you want, why not buy a wife... i just find it ludicrous.

Anyway, the Muay Thai was kick-ass! these people are crazy! but you can see how much they love it, as they turn up with their work uniforms on, get ready, have their one fight of the evening, give it their all, collect their money and then meet their friends all buzzing and relaxed. i definitly recommend watching a fight but try to watch the amateurs as it makes it more real in my opinion, the professional make it look easy! (The pictures didnt really come out coz it was dark but we saved one, which if you squint looks kinda arty farty!)

Mum i bought your present last night, its not very Thai but is very 'you'. hope you like it will be posting itin the next few days. We have had a pretty relaxed week really just soaking up the atmosphere. I still have a long list of things to do here which include: Yoga classes, Meditation (on tuesday), volunteering at the local dog shelter whom i'm emailing in a second, have a Thai massage, do a trek to see the village people and have an eleflump ride, and do a cooking class. I'm on a budget on 10 pound a day so can only do one thing every day (lucky we are not rushed for time!). We saw two people come out of one of the thai massage places the other day walking like they'd been taken apart and put back together! They were only saying good things about it tho so i'm quite excited at what an experience that will be!

We did manage to go to the zoo but as Daniel didnt get up till 1 in the afternoon (!) we only got half way round and didnt see the pandas, but dont panic..its just an excuse for us to go again! Georgia we will get you a photo of the giant panda, and Tom we didnt get a picture of a Monkey picking its nose, but Dan, quite disrespectfully took a picture of some tortoises 'doing the deed' for you! (he thought it was hilarious). so immature honestly. We also got a really good video of a gibbon (lol), which we will put up as soon as we can as it will take a long time to download. These guys were sticking their arm out requesting food. there was some fruit on the floor so we obliged as no one was around and we new it was their proper diet. This fella looked at the less than adequate morsel we had given him, turned it over a few times and then dropped it to the floor like it was dirt, and the look on his face was just to say "and what the @#$# was that!". we did it again to video it so i hope it captures what we saw. We nearly wet ourselves, the cheaky little monkey. He he.

I bought 'The Tenth Insight - An experiential Guide' by James Redfield yesterday as it pretty much is the same thing as the secret. I'm working my way through it and putting it all into practise so my little journals are going to be about what i discover on a personal journey.

Well hope that wasn't too boring without Dan's influence, as soon as we have done so more stuff we will let you know all about it. oooo nearly forgot, Mum i tried custard apples! yum! they have more stones than a watermelon though! Dan forced me to eat it on the balcony outside coz i was 'going to attract ants!' it was very yummy but very hard to eat with just a pen knife!

speak to you all soon, thanks for the message becs, write to me when you're in Cambodia and let me know what its like! If we had the anti-malarials we would cross the border on a day trip and meet you but alas we dont.

Bye for now, will have to upload the pictures another time as i took too long and Dan gets worried if i'm gone more than hour! (awww). God Bless.

Hayles xxxxx