Wow Chiang Mai, just as we thought, loved it! Well loved it after the nightmare of getting there was over!

Left Kanchanaburi on a nice mini bus to Bangkok, easiest few hours travelling we've did. Once in Bangkok it all started to go horribly wrong!! Taxi from the centre of Bangkok to the train station should have been easy. The driver said he knew where he was going so we settled back for the drive. After being settled for about 25 mins we realised we were going WAY out of the city - he didn't have a clue where he was going! Now you can imagine how hard it was to communicate with him when he barely spoke any English, hand signals were being made, train noises were being made, he then said 'ah train' and about turned. He took us to a train station all right but not that one we wanted to go to! He just ditched us at the nearest skytrain station!! For that wonderful journey he expected us to pay about 300bhat (6 pound). Again more hand signals and noises, but this time a few raised voices saying the Police were being called. We told him to phone the Police but no way were we paying the taxi fare after he'd dropped us off in the middle of nowhere! I was freaking out, telling Dean I didn't want to go to a Thai Jail!!! The driver eventually sped off leaving us god knows where!

We finally got another taxi after a young Thai girl who could speak English helped us out and told a taxi driver where we were going. It seems in Bangkok none of the older generation can talk English, all the young ones can. Half of the taxi's just grunt at you then speed away if they can't understand where you're going. Anyway it just so happened that this drivers English was ok and he yapped all the way to the station!

It felt soooo good finally getting to the station, knowing we were getting a comfy bed on a sleeper train and the rest of our journey would be perfect. We couldn't have been more wrong!! Hm no trains to Chiang Mai for the next four days - great!! Now what the heck do we do?! We hung around the station deciding if we should stay in Bangkok until we could get another train or go with the second option, the bus. An 11 hour bus journey really wasn't sounding all that appealing but neither did staying in Bangkok for four more days after we'd just left about two weeks ago. So bus journey here we come! Actually let me rephrase that, rip of bus journey here we come! We paid 900bhat each (19 pound) for a 'VIP' bus. VIP bus our butts, the seats were uncomfortable and the blankets looked about 40 years old!! Thank god for the few beers that we bought for the journey!

Finally we arrived in Chiang Mai at 6am the next morning, it was dark and cold. We caught a tuk tuk to Julies, our Guesthouse, and waited there for two hours until eventually reception opened up. It was then another three hour wait until our room was ready. By that time we fell into bed and caught some zzz's for a few hours!

Like I said Chiang Mai was great. It's got a kind of hippy feel to it. Everyone is so friendly, the city seems to be the perfect size to walk about, and the weather was hot hot during the day but nice and cool at night so you weren't sweating buckets when you're trying to sleep! Honestly we did so much when we were here. Temple spotting, got the local seamstress-man to fix our clothes for 20p, a two day Jungle Trek, partied with our fellow trekkers, hired a Honda CB400 (a 'proper' bike), picnic'd in the local park and ate cheese sandwiches, caught up with Alysha and Keaton our lovely Canadian friends we met in Singapore, did the Sunday Walking Street Market (the most amazing market ever!), a Thai cooking course, oh yeah and don't forget we went to the dentist and got a clean & polish! Got to mention our favourite health food restaurant Juice 4 U! We'd been feeling like our bodies had been lacking in some veggies so when we found this place we loaded up on veggie juice and veggie pittas - yummy!

Our Trek was out of this world. Our Guide, Moonshine, was pretty cool. He kept us entertained with his guitar playing skills whilst we sat around the camp fire, outside our bamboo hut that we were spending the night in. One of the local tribe women also kept us entertained by supplying us beer until we decided to climb under our mosi nets and sleep with the spiders! The trek itself was hard going. A nice leisurely walk in the jungle would have been nice but this was majorly uphill! The sweat was pouring off of us! Felt like such an achievement when we finally got to the village though. A freezing cold shower in a bamboo hut shower cubicle was definitely needed! Tea time and all the trekkers sitting crossed leg outside our bamboo hut talking about elephant riding and jungle trekking, munching on the gorgeous yellow curry cooked by the tribe - we definitely felt a long way from home!

What goes up must come down and day 2 of the trek was getting back to where we started! Trekking downhill hurts your knees! Paragliding down or something along those lines would have been much easier! After two hours walking it was time for the white water rafting. The moment Dean had been really been looking forward to, but the moment I had been dreading! I just knew I was going to come pinging out at some point. I stood and listened soooo hard to the instructions given by the guide, did everything he said whilst in the raft, but just as I said, I came pinging out into a scary looking bit of white water! Good job I had listened and knew to keep holding on!! I actually surprised myself with how calm I was. Think there was maybe a wee bit of adrenaline pumping around my body, but I actually enjoyed the rest of it! I'm not sure if me, Donna & Scotts paddling were doing anything. I've got a feeling Dean did all the work on his own!!

We ended up staying in Chiang Mai for eight days, by about day 6 I had a really bad bout of homesickness. Our Guesthouse, Julies, was great, but the beds had springs popping out everywhere! I think the tiredness set in and I wanted to get my own bed for just one night! I cried for about two hours one morning, I wasn't a happy bunny! We decided that a good night's sleep was needed before our trip back to Bangkok, so on our last night we checked into a nice hotel (The Castle), with a big comfy bed, cozy shower and mirror you can see yourself in! I knew one good night's sleep and I'd be back to normal! Woke up feeling fresh and properly clean!

No bus companies were ripping us off this time so we tuk tuk'd it to the bus station to buy our tickets back to Bangkok. Our tuk tuk driver came in with us and we checked out a few buses before we parted with any cash! We finally booked a VIP, knowing that it was actually a VIP, and not some clapped out old thing! All was going well in our day until, whilst having a coffee in Black Canyon, we were booking accommodation for Bangkok, and wait for it........the bank card was missing!!! Argh it'd been left behind at the bus station! Tuk tuk'd it back and thank god the women at the desk still had it. For once luck went our way!!

Lots of Love

Chelle & Dean xxx