The Capital of the Northern Territory in Thailand, with a moat running around the perimeter & the remains of a once huge City wall. It's so much more laid back than Bangkok here, less hassle, more smiles & more tourists!

The 10 hour bus journey from Bangkok went fairly smoothly, despite making us walk all around Khaosan with our backpacks on picking up other travellers. We met a few other Brits before & during the journey. A couple from Leicester travelling for 4 months & some friends from London, one of whom has been travelling solidly for 13 months.

We arrived at a service station a few miles outside of the city & our transfer was nowhere to be seen. We jumped in a taxi with 6 others & they dropped us at our Guesthouse. Or so we thought. See, we booked this trip in Bangkok & the guy (Dave Samui - surely not a genuine Thai name!!) showed us our accommodation with a/c. But the lad on the desk had no idea who we were & rang the tourism company in Bangkok to see where we should be. Turns out we should have been in a hole of a place up the road with no a/c, a wet room with mains sockets & switches at head height right where you stand to take a shower. It's surely a matter of time before someone gets fried.

We used some negotiation skills to change our hotel to Panda House (where we should have been) for a fee of 200 baht (£4). So much nicer here & it's a far cry from the Ritz. The Thai's don't believe in refunds or exchanges, they just charge you more to get what you originally asked for! All this while Carly was regurgitating her malaria tablet in a public toilet next door. Eventful & stressful morning so we decided to get into the heart of Chiang Mai & take a proper look around. There are so many little side streets full of bars, restaurants, tourist information centres, temples & banks they look so similar you can easily lose your way. We never get lost though, not with Carly on map duty......

We did book on to a 1 day cookery course for Tuesday & it includes a veg market, a trip to their farm to collect certain ingredients & then into the kitchen to make our own curries, rices, spring rolls & noodle dishes. Best part is we get to eat it all too!

On the evening we went to check out the night bazaar, a massive open air market selling every item of fakery you can think of. Right down to those stupid oversized headphones that boys wear on bus stops. You know the ones!

With no space for a flea in our luggage we left empty handed & headed back to the guesthouse. We dropped in to a bar on the way back, the only one without 'ladies of the night' sat in the entrance calling you in. It was supposed to be a quick drink & head off but we got chatting to an Aussie & several Brits & ended up staying a while. One guy recommended a bar with live music on the way back to ours so we dropped in there for one too. The band were brilliant & our game of 'Guess the Nationality of that table' kept us entertained!

I woke the next morning & quickly went to vomit. Must have been something I ate ;-)

By the afternoon I was better so we headed out to get a couple photos & a bite to eat. It's so muggy here that just sitting in a restaurant takes its toll. A chill out evening watching some films & eating dinner at our hotel is our way of preparing for the day of cooking tomorrow, can't wait!

So we woke up nice & early this morning ready for our Thai Farm cooking experience & we were picked up on time & in the correct place!

We were joined by 3 other couples from China, Brazil & USA respectively & we headed to the local market for an education in Thai ingredients. It was a huge place selling fresh produce & cooked food also. However, with no refrigeration there were lots of flies on the various meats & guts!

From here we headed straight to the farm where we were handed aprons, cooking equipment & our pre-chosen menus. We had a cooking station each in the kitchen & one teacher for the 10 of us. It worked really well & everyone got along great despite a few language barriers.

Carly cooked 'Red Thai Chicken Curry, Shrimp Tom Yam Soup, Chicken & Cashew Nuts, Spring Rolls & Banana & Coconut Milk as a dessert'. I cooked 'Green Thai Chicken Curry, Shrimp Tom Yam Soup, Sweet & Sour Chicken, Pad Thai Noodles & Mango Sticky Rice for dessert'. It was epic!! We were seriously stuffed afterwards & even got to take home the spring rolls & pad thai noodles for dinner.

We chilled in the room with our take away on the evening as it was a full on hectic day.

This morning we head North to Huay Xai in Laos. It's a long bus journey again but we have plenty of books & music to keep us entertained. We should be out of action internet-wise for a few days but hope to catch up with you all soon. Keep working hard & enjoying the traffic, etc.

Leaving Chiang Mai is sad as we love it here but heading North to a new country for both of us is exciting.

Lots of love from Thailand,

Barr & Berg x

Modes of transport so far: 2 planes, 1 coach

Countries Visited: Thailand

Miles Travelled: 6,517