Date: 13th May 2011 Place: Phuket, Patong Weather: Sunny and HOT HOT HOT! After a very late night last night, I wasn't feeling the best today. Think it's all starting to catch up with me. Me, Lucy and Neil's started the day with yet another Starbucks, no wonder my budget is well over! We headed back to the hotel to meet Simon and Aimee, they decided they wanted to rent jet ski's, something I would normally be well up for but I just didn't have the energy, so I headed back to the room and caught up with my blog and watched a couple of weird gruesome movies, this was at 1.30pm, I don't know what impression the Thai have of us Brits to like blood and guts at that time of the day. After a nap and toasted sandwich I met up with the others, they had a great day and I am slightly gutted I missed out, but I am sure I'll get to Jet Ski at some point during my trip. We spent our last night in Phuket having a quiet meal, seems as we'd already seen everything there is to see in Phuket…Ping Pong…Pang! We went to a lush restaurant and all our meals's were awesome, I had Fettuccini Carbonara with garlic bread and chicken satay's to start, and trust me it was good, probably better than any Italian restaurant. We paid the bill but Neil's bill wasn't on there, so he was super happy, skipping down the street and jokingly said he was going to treat himself to a Willy Massage (joking, yeah right)…until the waitress came running down the street after him,lol. Date: 14th May 2011 Place: Phuket, Patong Weather: Sunny and hot again… So it's just me, Lucy and Aimee. Neils left this morning, there were a some tears, I will miss him loads, he is the happiest, bounciest most active 18yr old I have ever met, he was wake boarding the other and me and the others were sat watching him saying "I bet he's bored" lol. We just left Simon too but we will see him again in Chaing Mai. He's getting a flight to Bangkok, taking the easy way out, me Lucy and Aimee are about the take a 5 hour mini bus drive followed by a 10 hour coach trip…then a 4 hour wait for the next coach to venture up to Chaing Mai…another 12 hours on a coach, cant wait!! But at least we can say, "We're proper traveller's now" We've just been to the 7 Eleven to get some goodies for the journey Date: 15th May 2011 Place: Bangkok Train Station Weather: Heavy Rain!! Well we got to Surathani in one piece after the bumpiest ride ever! We pulled up at the tourist shop (travel agent) where some of the people on the mini bus were getting picked up from to go the Bangkok, we needed to get to Bangkok to get to chaing mai. The tour guy offered us a coach for 200Baht (£4) really cheap for a long bus journey ( I couldn't get a taxi to Blackwood for that,lol) but one of the girls said she wasn't happy with going on the bus because she heard that people get robbed. In the end we decided to bite the bullet and go with it, taking all our expensive belongings out of our big bags and keeping them on us in our hand luggage. The bus was really nice, reclining seats to sleep, air con, and even a TV, well all I can say is if anyone knows the ending to Road Trip, Beer Pong, can you tell me please, they put it on twice in a row and failed to play the ending both times, no wonder it was only 200 Baht. 6am came and we collected our bags and I instantly knew some one had been in my bag. I opened it up and everything had been moved around and taken out of its place. I remembered after taking everything out (inc my straightness and my Joules hoody) and locked it up that in the bottom of my bag was a secret compartment, which I had kept $150 dollars with a copy of my passport and insurance in case of emergency's….this had gone! These people know what they're doing! This wont be the last time it happens either no doubt. Its 7am and Lucy and Aimee have had a KFC, lol, I had a bacon and sausage Danish thing. We arrive in Chang Mai at 8pm (in Thai time I'll make that 11pm, they're always late) When we finally got to chaing mai, we got picked up by the Thai guy who runs the hostel we're staying at called Jeffrey. I was a bit concerned as he had a large can of chang in his cup holder whist driving which was empty, after asking how many had he drank, he said maybe 5-6, he couldn't remember….. We got to the hostel, S.K House 2, and we were soooo pleased, it's got a swimming pool, roof terrace the lot, all for £4 a night. After drooling over what was going to be our new home for a few days we headed out to the Night Market, what a market! Clothes, shoe's, bags, jewellery, food food and more food, just amazing, I could've spent a fortune, but instead I spent 70baht (about £1.40) and had some chicken skewers, a load of the best sushi I have ever had and some sticky rice with mango (its amazing) what a feast, washed down with a Gin and Tonic and then we headed to our new pad for a much needed sleep! Date: 16th May 2011 Place: Chaing Mai Weather: Rainy, Sunny After an amazing sleep but still only about 6 hours, we decided today we would go to Tiger Kingdom to see the little and big tigers, they're not chained up or drugged (so they say) but to be honest I don't think they were. Yet another amazing experience. After the tigers we went down the road to see an elephant show, wow! They're such intelligent animals and so beautiful. They played football, darts, danced and even painted pictures with their trunks, the one did a sunset, I couldn't have done better myself. The show lasted about 45 mins, then we had some pictures taken with the elephants, they're such posers. On the way back from the elephant show we text Siobhan, the Scottish girl we met in phi phi, she was also in chiang mai so she came to join us. We got back to SK house and got our daily supply of vodka coke and sprite from 7 eleven then got showered and had food at the guesthouse. We drank all the vodka and had food before heading out to The Reggae bar; about 5 min walk from where we were staying. At the reggae bar, I met back up with Bjorn, who gave me an eastenders update, lol. It wasn't supposed to be a late night as we all, including Siobhan had to be up and out at 8am the next morning, ready for a day of trekking and camping with a hill tribe….but we got in at 3am... Date: 17th May 2011, Weather: Rainy, Heavy!! We woke up at 7.50am, it was hammering down with rain, just our luck for a day of trekking. We had breakfast and set off for with 4 french girls and a french guy, and an amercian couple called jodie and claudio. On the way to the jungle we stopped off at a market so that the tour guides could get our food to cook for us that evening at the camp. We all bought some pretty coloured ponchos to protect us fro the rain and with that the rain stopped and the sun came out. Me, Lucy, Jodie and Cladio decided we would travel the rest of the way to the jungle on the roof of the truck. Only in Thailand could you ride on the roof of a truck at a ridiculos speed and think it was safe and normal to do so. Within 2 minutes off driving off it chucked it down, just typical! We were travelling so fast it felt like staones were being thrown in my face, but all the time i sat there laughing and smiling to myself loving every minute, and took in the amzing views around us, whilst ducking and doging the trees. We stopped at a temple for some lunch, then travelled the rest of the journey inside the van. It pretty much chucked it down the whole way through the jungle, slipping and sliding everywhere, stopping to look at some amazing spiders and other creepy crawlies along the way to the camp. After a 3 hour treck we reached the camp and it was sooo cool, i loved it! Jeffrey made us a camp fire and pong and another cooked our dinner. We all sat together for dinner and it was delicious, veggie soup, yellow curry and rice and vegetables. After we ate the boys played us some songs on their guitar, a famous thia song " do do do do da dum" We played few games and were all in bed by 8pm! Date: 18th May 2001, Weather: Sunny/Raining I woke up at 8am, lovely12hr sleep, even if it was on a hard floor in the jungle. Jeffrey and the boys made us scambled eggs and jam on toats then we set off for another 3 hour teck bakc out of the jungle, this time a little dryer. I really loved the treck funny quotes of the day were "which way to 7 eleven" and "ants in your pants" and any other childsih saysing that just amused us along the way. We got out of the jungle alive and the next stop was to go elephant riding. Ive done this before, but these elephants were huge! We had lunch at the elephant camp and it was lush, it was noodles and veg all wrapped up in abanna leaf, simple things please simple minds and all that jazz, well we even ate it with chopsticks that jeffrey made us out of bamboo, theres nothing these guys cant do. After the elephant riding we went bamboo rafting which was pretty good fun. Within 2 minuts id fallen off and flaoted down the river with the current, scraping my butt on the rocks on the way, eventually i was saved by jodie and claudio. We rafted for about 30 minutes and afterwards we stopped in a shack and drank a number of bottles of Samsong and Tonic water, Jeffreys fave, before heading back to the Guesthouse. We all went out at around 8pm but i only lasted until 12am, just call me Cinderella. Date: 19th May 2011 Place: Chiang Mai Weather: probably half raining half sunny but I cant actually remember. Today was our Thai cooking class.I had been loking forward to this since we arrived in Chiang Mai, as we had heard nothing but good reviews and I have missed cooking my own food. The guy who took us, called Sim, was hilarious. Every so often he would say something in a super high pitched voice. Our first stop was a market where he showed us some things used a lot in Thai cooking. We were given a bit of time to explore the market by ourselves. Lucy and I spent most of our time looking at some packets of dried fruit and trying the samples. We ended up getting a deal of 6 for 100Baht but getting three each. We then had an explore and came across some fried chicken heads; beaks and eyes still intact "/ When we left the market it was a little drive up to the guys house where the cooking class was held. There was a menu that we chose 4 dishes from. First we chose a soup; I chose Chicken and Coconut milk. Next was stir fry and I chose Stir Fried Chicken and Cashew Nuts. We then chose a curry and anything we wanted from the whole menu. I chose Phangan curry and, since I love it and its only right to have desert at the end of the meal, I chose Sweet Sticky Rice and Mango. To cook we were taken outside and had a chopping board each with a huge knife and an apron. The ingredients were all laid out in the middle and we were told what to take and how to prepare it one at a time. We prepared both the soup and the stir fry first and left one plate under a cover since there were sooo many flies there; they were so annoying! Cooking the soup was pretty easy, the water was already there for us and we had to add the ingredients in a certain order, as we do at home. It was just different when it came to the spices to add and how much of each. We all were told to test them to see whether or not we liked them. Mine was lovely so I left it how it was and took it to the table under a cover to eat later. We then went straight back to cook the ingredients we had prepared earlier for the stir fry. He showed us all with Siobhan's first, and for good reason it turned out! The oil in the wok had to be really really hot before we added the chicken, and when we did at the chicken the pan went alight and it was a huge flame!! When it came around to my turn to put it in I was soo nervous. After that it was just stirring quickly as we put everything else in. Sim was telling us to shake our hips as we stirred, as you do. It was then time to eat!! Everything so far was soo tasty! I was a bit worried about eating it all though because I knew there were another two courses coming. I finished off the chicken and cashew nuts though because I love that, just didn't add to much rice to bulk it up. We then sat and spoke to another guy who lives there and he made us some Thai tea which he said is good for women at their time of the month because it stops them being as stressy. We started preparing the next two dishes then. The mango came first, we just had to prepare the sticky rice and since three of use were all doing the same dish we worked as a team J. When it was finished they took the sticky rice away and we started to prepare the curry. When it came round to the chillis being added Sim asked Siobhan how old she was and then started adding that many chillis! It turned out her curry was majorly hot! Everything needed to be made into a paste in a pestle and mortar and Sim said that was how Thai guys saw if a woman would make a good wife (think of how you use it). We had finished cooking it all so it was time to eat!! The curry was amazing…not too hot and really peanutty. They bought our sticky rice out with the mango on top but we got that packaged up to take with us because we were so full. I managed to finish my curry though because it was so tasty. A woman then came over and asked us to write down our names and she copied it in Thai. She then came over with a certificate and recipe book full of thai recipes that look awesome!! When we got back we finished off the mango and rice. The guys in the guesthouse are so nice, they said help yourself to any cutlery and if we need more mango just ask. They then said we can put on a film if we want so that's what we did for the night. Aimee found Leon which was a really good film and I put two chairs together so that I could put my feet up. Half way through the film Nick came up to us and asked if we would join in singing happy birthday to his Niece. We all went to her room and surprised her with a cake. She then wanted a picture with all of us and handed us all some cake and whisky. They have to be the friendliest Thai people I have ever met. Date: 20th May 2011 Place: Chiang Mai Weather: a bit cloudy but not raining Today was the last day of our activities L It was Zip lining for Aimee and Lucy but because Im not great with heightsI decided to do quad biking instead. I had to get up and leave a lot earlier than the others because it started at 8.30am. When they picked us up we went in an actual car! Facing forwards! It was amazing, nice change from a rammed bus or a tuk tuk. I loved the Quad biking, and definitely made the right choice not to go zip lining after the girls said they didn't like it much as it was really high up.I think I did well not to fall off or crash the whole day, I drove through mud baths and main roads and saw the best scenery and stopped off at water falls.I didn't out any sun tan lotion on and ended up burnt to a crisp, lesson learnt!! We were all quite drained after our exciting and action packed day so didn't end up going out in the evening and just sat with Simon and his new friends who had just shown up and chatted all night. Date: 21st May 2011 Place: Chiang Mai Weather: sunny J Aimee went to an Elephant camp today, where she will look after them, clean them, feed them etc. I got up the same time because I wanted to get my last few lengths done in the pool before we left that day. I did it before having breakfast and we then went off to find the women's prison to get a massage. It's not your everyday place to go and get a massage but we thought it was for a good cause and since these women were not exactly really dangerous; they were in for things like drugs, then it would be good to help them out. It was actually a really nice place to get it done. The setting was a lot better than most of the massage places on the side of the street and we got to wear cool pink outfits. The massage was really good, it was a Thai one so obviously included all of the clicking and cracking motions. We left feeling very chilled out. We went to get some lunch then and actually found a place selling baked potatoes!! They were yummy. After that we decided we would head to the market for a browse. We unfortunately found a Starbucks on the way though, and since this would probably be the last one we would find it would be a crime not to go in! I had a lemon iced tea and a carrot cake it was lovely! And in Thailand they bring you round samples of other drinks and cakes, it's great, so I also had a green tea frappaccino and chocolate brownie! After a long walk to the market, which burnt off our Starbucks hopefully, and a little cheeky stock up in Boots (our 2nd western splurge of the day), we decided we didn't like the market because it made us feel sick with the smell! So we went back to the guesthouse. All that walking had worn me out, and we had nothing but another long bus journey to look forward too. When we got back to the guesthouse we decided to get something to eat. The bus actually came early this time, that has never happened before they aren't normally even on time! We were still finishing our dinner so the driver said he would come back for us. He came back for us, and our 'VIP' van turned out to be the most squashed mini van ever. I didn't even have much leg room. It was a painful journey,but somehow I did manage to get some sleep. On the plus side I treated myself to a Cornetto when we stopped at a 7 Eleven. Little did I know that would be the last 7 Eleven I would come across for a while L