The bus from Sukhothai to Chiang Mai was non stop for five hours. Chris and I had been accustomed to the Myanmar buses which make short regular stops, so this was a little uncomfortable!
We arrived to the bus station in Chiang Mai which was a couple of kilometres from the Old city. After some persistence, we managed to barter for a Tuk Tuk to take us directly to 'CS guesthouse' where we had pre booked a nights stay. It was located just on the outskirts of the Old city. A clean simple room but a mosquito fest in the garden area.
Since we had been caught out by not stopping for any food stops on the bus we were both incredibly hungry, having not eaten since breakfast. So first on our agenda was to find some street food, which is never too far away in Thailand. We stumbled across a friendly lady busy cooking away so decided to try her food. Unfortunately for us she was a one women band, so it was by no means fast food, but it was definitely worth the wait. Plus we bought a couple of beers and played cards to take our minds off of our hunger.

We had every intention of eating noodle soup for breakfast but having not spotted any before we reached 'The Salad House', it was hard to resist a western breakfast. It is an extremely rare treat for us to eat a western style breakfast out in a restaurant, but having been sent some Christmas money to spend on food it was the perfect way to start our Christmas food day! I happily tucked into an egg's Benedict, whilst Chris ate a pan fried egg concoction.
We spent the remainder of the morning cycling around the city and running errands before finding a seat at 'Archers' for a Sunday roast. Much to Chris' delight they even had Old Speckled Hen on tap and of course we had to order red wine to help wash down our roasts. Inevitably I opted for lamb, and Chris chose pork as it came with crackling! I have to say that it was a very decent roast, still not as a good as our families' home cooked ones, but it ticked all the right boxes. We were well and truly stuffed so retired to some cushioned seats to finish the wine and recover from a food coma.
We did a little more cycling around before recovering further back in the room.
Unsurprisingly we were not particularly hungry for dinner, but before it became too late in the evening we wandered to a nearby food market and picked away at a papaya salad and some pork satay. We also couldn't resist the mango sticky rice, but we took that back to our room for later.

As soon as we were awake we were up and out and cycled over to the Women's Prison Massage Centre. Based on a first come first served basis we managed to book in for an hours Thai massage later that morning. This allowed us time to tuck into our favourite chicken noodle soup for breakfast.
During our previous visit to Chiang Mai we were able to enjoy a Thai massage from the ex-convicts in one of the many massage centres around the city. However, we were intrigued to how the experience would differ, anticipating a jail like interior. I guess when I read 'Women's Prison Massage centre' I imagined a massage in a prison like environment, which seems weird to want to experience that! Luckily my thoughts were proved very wrong and the interior of the building was just like most other parlours. A large room filled with massage beds and various drapes sectioning off areas. I was pleasantly surprised and more so when we had our feet washed before the massage started.
Having had rather a few Thai massages during our several trips to Thailand over the past year, we know that it is not a relaxing massage. Especially when you can hear other customers wailing and crying out in pain before your massage has even started. However, Chris and I have become accustomed to them and in fact this massage was excellent and we left feeling as loose as a goose!
We checked out of CS Guesthouse and walked over the moat into the Old City to 'Juniors guesthouse', where we would spend the next three nights. We returned to a favourite pork satay eatery which we had found during our previous visit. Always bustling with locals and with a quick turnover, it is not a relaxing place to eat but it definitely has an atmosphere. It was difficult not to purchase some refreshing coconut ice cream for dessert as we remembered how delicious it was. It was exactly how we remembered and the best treat for a hot afternoon.
We spent the afternoon at the guesthouse doing admin before taking an early evening stroll around the Old City. We ended up back at the street food market for dinner and had an early night as we would need the energy for the next few days.

We returned for a hearty chicken noodle soup for breakfast before making the half hour ride out of the city on a rented moped to the 'Care for Dogs' shelter. With a few days to spare we thought it would be really nice to give something back to the country we love. Often with volunteer work you have to pay a considerable amount for various tools, materials, maybe food and accommodation, and for the experience, but it doesn't make sense for it to be a huge expense.
After much research Chris found 'Care for Dogs' who were more than happy and grateful for us to volunteer at their centre for three days.
We could hear the howling and barking from the centre a couple of hundred metres before we found it. The centre manager greeted us along with a few young dogs roaming the reception area and a cage with a litter of five week old puppies! I already knew that this was a great decision!
We were shown around the site, explained why certain dogs were in certain areas, from the main yard, to the shy dogs, to the "dangerous" dogs, to the puppies. The centre had nearly 200 dogs in their care and were quickly running out of space. By no means is it like at home where each dog or a few dogs have their own kennel. The main yard had about 80 dogs in it, and had formed packs within packs. So when feeding time was due it was important that as many volunteers were present in the main yard to prevent any fights breaking out due to protectiveness over food.
Next door to the rescue centre is a clinic and veterinary training centre where operations and treatments for the dogs occur. Everything at the centre is funded by donations.
As soon as our orientation had finished, one of the long-term volunteers Sheila was straight over wanting our help to walk the dogs.
We had hoped that we would get to do some dog walking but had expected to be doing a lot of cleaning out kennels. So we jumped at the opportunity to walk some dogs.
It was the shy dogs that we walked first and they were definitely not shy about going for a walk! As soon as the gate for their kennel opened they charged down the walkway to try to be the first to reach the lead area. Six dogs at a time were allowed into the lead area where volunteers put leads on them and take them out. The shy dogs are shy towards other dogs, not to humans, and there was a definite sense of "pick me! Pick me!". Somehow we both managed to lead up three dogs and off we went. Well off they went with me being dragged behind! One of Chris' dogs pulled so hard that the lead snapped off the collar and off it went! A loose dog is never good but thankfully he made his way to the socialisation area where all the dogs are released to play. It was wonderful to see all the dogs off lead and playing together. Some loved the doggy paddling pool and some even played fetch (just about!).
We did a few walks back and forth to the socialisation area with various dogs which was such a pleasure.
For lunch we were shown to a fancy resort across the road by some long-term volunteers, where as volunteers we were given a considerable discount on their lunch time menu. The food was really nice and we had a lovely relaxed lunch getting to know some of the other volunteers. It was admirable to learn that a few volunteers return year after year to help out for a couple of months. We felt inadequate volunteering for just three days, but we were absolutely given the impression that every minute of our time was appreciated.
Back at the centre we had been asked if we could help give a medical bath to some s***zus. Four poor little things looked incredibly scabby due to a skin infection and were covered in faeces. Of course I picked up the smelliest dirtiest one which was a nightmare to bath. Chris managed to pick one that loved standing up on its hind legs and having its back and belly rubbed. It took some time to bath and hair-dry them but hopefully it was worth it for them, and we had a lot of fun, despite the poo!
Most other volunteers had left by mid afternoon but we weren't ready to leave. Along with Annika, a returning volunteer from Finland, we took the final few dogs out that hadn't been for a walk yet. Little did we know that one small rascal of a dog would try to escape from the socialisation area! Within seconds she had jumped over a 6ft fence, choosing her spot very wisely as there was a tree trunk to help her climb the final peak, and she was off! Sh*t! Another loose dog! Quickly we put the leads on the other dogs and briskly walked around searching, but it was going to be near to impossible to find her. We reluctantly made our way back to the shelter trying to work out how we would break the news, when we noticed she was back in her cage in the reception area! What a sense of relief that was to see her back.
We had arrived back in time for the evening feed and cautiously climbed into the main yard to help keep the peace. It was extremely nerve racking being in there with 80 dogs snarling, barking, and snapping all over the place. Many small fights broke out but with a flick of water they soon calmed down. This was not my most favourite task of the day but it was better than having to clean out kennels.
We had such a fantastic first day at the shelter and left feeling fulfilled and eager to return.
Later that evening we found a popular street food vendor serving Northern Thailand's speciality Kao Soi, a curried chicken noodle soup with a garnish of crispy noodles.

We decided to return to a family eatery we had eaten most of our breakfasts at during our previous visit to Chiang Mai. We both opted for one of our favourite dishes, Pad Kaprow (minced pork with basil and chilli), which was as tasty as we had remembered. We made a brief stop at Tesco Lotus on our way to Care for Dogs to purchase some dog treats.
We arrived at the centre just in time for the morning feed so both helped keep the peace in the main yard. Much to our delight we spent the entire morning walking the dogs. Taking two to three dogs out at a time and along with all the other volunteers we managed to walk all of the shy dogs at the same time. Chris however was approached by a blind dog called Fritzi that morning and instantly felt as though he had to walk him. The downside to walking Fritzi is that he has to be walked solo as he uses his nose to guide the way. He spends a lot of time sniffing and scenting to help find his way. Despite the slow walk, Chris found it very rewarding as Fritzi dips out on a lot of walks due to the time and effort needed.
After a quick lunch at a local street food vendor it was back to walking and cuddling. Annika introduced us to the "dangerous" dogs, who are only aggressive towards dogs outside of their pack but not at all aggressive towards humans. In fact we were licked to death by some of them!
Chris and I then decided to walk some of the puppies, taking three each, which as you can imagine was a challenge. One of mine was whimpering the whole time and just wanted cuddles. Another, the youngest puppy, wasn't too sure about being on the lead and would walk a little bit but enjoyed being carried too! I didn't mind of course. It took us quite a while to reach the socialisation area but we were rewarded with them all playing together, enjoying the paddling pool, and spoiling them with the treats we had bought along.
We helped supervise the afternoon feed before heading back after another extremely rewarding day. Every single dog in the shelter enjoyed a walk that day thanks to several one day volunteers lending a helping hand. Sometimes due to lack of volunteers a dog can go a few days without a walk, which has a knock on effect of bad behaviour in the yards. It really goes to show that even one day's volunteering can mean a lot.

We had one final day helping out at Care for Dogs. As a way of donating we both purchased t-shirts from the centre and put them straight on to save another one of our tops getting dirty. After supervising the morning feed it was swiftly on to walking the dogs. During the dogs breakfast Chris was approached by Fritzi again, who obviously recognised both Chris' voice and smell. Clearly Chris couldn't leave him behind, so took him out for another leisurely walk. For me it was back and forth to the socialisation area trying to take out as many dogs as I could. Chris and I, along with another longer term volunteer lady took all the puppies out together. I took charge of the youngest two again, carrying the smallest one every so often to help her along the way. It was wonderful to have them all at the open field to play together.
All the volunteers stopped by the local street food eatery for lunch. Chris had been asked by the centre to take some photos of a dog called Romeo. Unfortunately he had been dumped at the centre as 'apparently' he was aggressive. This meant that Romeo had to be in a kennel on his own. But no one at the centre had seen his aggressive side and they were keen to advertise him for adoption.
Chris grabbed Romeo and I was handed Alma, a lovely b**** from the main yard, to keep him company on his walk. We had one of the most pleasant walks over to the field and had loads of fun trying to take photos of Romeo and make him look as adoptable as possible! He was such a wonderful dog and was just a big softy! He was more than happy for me to force him to sit and lie down to pose for pictures. I didn't once feel that he might snap. Unfortunately due to him being a big black dog, he is both unlucky and too much work for Thai's, who see black animals as unlucky and prefer small dogs. We did our best and it was heartbreaking when we approached the centre and he suddenly used all his force to not go back inside. Chris had to literally carry him back to his kennel and watched as he moped into a corner, ignoring his dinner, and looked incredibly sad.
A big fight had broken out in the main yard during the afternoon feed and one dog had a chunk bitten out of her bum. But the peace had been reformed and whilst things were under control we said our goodbyes.
It had been a really wonderful but emotional experience. The centre was fantastic and to allow us to just feed, walk, bath and play with the dogs and puppies was amazing. We made some immediate connections with some of the dogs making it difficult to leave, but they won't be forgotten.
We checked out of Juniors Guesthouse and moved to the north west section of the old city, to 'Twenty Lodge'. It was a lovely small boutique hotel and such a treat from the rooms we usually stay in. They even had a small swimming pool, which of course Chris was straight into - way too cold for me!
Being the final evening of 2015, we treated ourselves to a bottle of Thai Whisky - Hong Thong, and enjoyed a few beverages in our room whilst getting our glad rags on for the evening. We didn't have anywhere in particularly in mind to go for NYE, instead we decided to walk around and see what we could find.
We returned to our favourite street vendor lady cooking up delicious food, both tucking into her incredible stir fried red curry. We left her a nice tip as she had cooked for us three times, and was working hard on NYE.
The surrounding sky was a picture I won't ever forget. The sky was scattered with lanterns and all along the canal people were setting them off left right and centre. It was truly beautiful. For environmental reasons Chris and I decided not a light a lantern. The paper used to make the lantern is of course biodegradable, but the thin metal wire used can take nine months to biodegrade. This is plenty long enough to pose considerable threat to many animals. Instead, we found a spot along the canal, sipped away from our water bottles filled with Hong Thong and Coke (classy!) and absorbed the incredible atmosphere. It was buzzing and we didn't feel the need to go anywhere else for a little while. We were sat next to a Thai family, which photographic evidence shows that I ended up bottle feeding their little girl at some point during the evening. Chris also nearly lost his flip flop in the canal. It fell off his foot and somehow managed to balance exactly right so as not to fall in the water.
To see the new year in we headed to the East gate of the old city, climbed up some steps and watched over an incredibly impressive crowd below. As we clambered back down after all the commotion of counting in 2016, Chris took the opportunity to take a selfie with the police - why not!

Unintentionally and not ideal, we both awoke feeling horrendous! This was not supposed to have happened as my mum and Ron were due to arrive mid morning. Somehow we both managed to pull ourselves together and make it down to breakfast to try to sober up. Before we knew it mum and Ron had arrived, but we were both definitely still drunk and stunk of alcohol.
It was amazing to see them and so nice to start the new year off with family back in Thailand. We caught up for a couple of hours and exchanged gifts and various other goodies from home (mainly chocolate!). Unfortunately Chris took a turn for the worse so had to go back to bed. I was just about feeling okay enough to plod around the city and show mum and Ron a few sites.
We stopped by Wat Phra Singh, one of the most popular temples in the old city, and even more so on the first day of the new year. I couldn't believe how busy the temple was, but mainly with locals.
With the go ahead from mum and Ron, I took them to our favourite satay eatery. We had to queue for a table it was that popular, but again with locals. It isn't he most relaxed place for lunch but the food never fails to disappoint. I think mum and Ron were pleasantly surprised by the tasty food.
We strolled along, allowing for mum and Ron to soak up the atmosphere, and visiting a few more temples. Ron couldn't resist stopping for mango and sago, providing the opportunity for me to sit down with a mango smoothie and recuperate.
Being a nice girlfriend, I picked up some chicken and rice to take back for Chris, who was still struggling back at the room. He did manage to join us by the poolside late afternoon and for a soft drink and nibbles. But sadly he was not up for joining us at dinner.
The three of us dined at 'Rachamankha' hotel restaurant, which had raving reviews. An upmarket restaurant who decided to inform me that they didn't have my dish whilst serving mum and Ron's main dishes. I was appalled, especially as the waiter didn't even bring the menu over for me to choose something else. So being stubborn I just said forget it. We left feeling very disappointed and Chris and I went and ate some reliable street food later that evening.

We had pre-organised a couple of motorbikes to hire for the day to show mum and Ron some of the sites out of the main city. We returned to 'Tony's Big Bikes', the company Chris and I had used for our northern Thailand motorbike trip back in May. Always taking longer than expected, we finally set off at 11am, with the two motorbikes we would also take on our trip to Pai the following day. Ron and mum on a Kawasaki Versys, and Chris and I on a Honda CB500X.
Our first stop was a little out of town, up a windy steep road, to reach Doi Suthep temple. This experience was such a contrast from mine and Chris' previous visit. The road up was incredibly busy, and as we approached the temple there was a queue to enter the car park and traffic jams all over the place. When we visited in May the car park was empty! Eventually we parked up, stripped out of our bike gear, and wandered up the steps to the temple. The views over Chiang Mai from this temple are incredible and it was a different experience seeing crowds of locals worshiping and praying at the temple.
Due to the crowds, everything was taking longer than we had anticipated, and by now it was mid afternoon and we were all a bit hangry. The busy roads and detours didn't help our situation, and our choice of restaurant for lunch also backfired.
The setting of 'Galae' restaurant was idyllic, set in pristine gardens and next to a lake. However even at 3pm we had to wait nearly half an hour for our table. The service was shocking and three out of four dishes were served cold (even cold curry). It was very disappointing.
We made a final stop at Wat Suan Dok temple before returning to the hotel. It was nice for us to revisit this temple as previously a large gathering of monks were occupying the main temple so we were not able to see inside.
Being a Saturday night it was only right to visit the weekend night market. I had completely underestimated the crowds and when we arrived it took about 10 minutes to move 20 metres. So we ducked out and went for dinner at a family run cafe type restaurant around the corner. It was nothing fancy but they served cocktails, drinkable red wine, and really decent homemade food. Suitably full, we walked back to the night market, which much to our relief, the crowds had massively reduced. We mooched along for an hour or so, of course picking up a few goodies along the way.

Bags packed, panniers full to the brim, bike gear on, we hit the rode at 9.30am for our motorbike trip to Pai....