A simple border crossing at Chiang Khong and it didn't take long for us to get en-route to Chiang Rai. It was a proper little Thai town which, with what seemed like all Thai towns, had an element of Western influence in the air, sporting shops like Boots and Tesco Lotus. The night bazaar was the highlight, with a huge open-air food court, with live music playing to the diners. From Chiang Rai, we moved onto Pai, possibly my favourite place in the whole of South East Asia - a laid back little place up in the Northern mountains, full of restaurants and bars and with plenty within its vicinity to keep you entertained for weeks. On our first night we met some Ozzies and a Pole, forming a group for the next couple of days. We all rented out mopeds and drove miles through the scenic countryside, stopping to visit hotsprings and waterfalls. En-route we took a wrong turning, ending in a bumpy ride down a pot-holed dirt track and a couple of small-scale accidents (although 'small-scale' is debatable as the basket on my bike was mangled, the fork was cracked and I was bleeding in several places). Good job we took out that fully comp insurance for 50p!!

In Pai, we also met Dao - the lady who taught us all we know about Thai cooking. We spent the day with her, going to the market to buy the local produce and then bringing it all together to make some our favourites - Pad Thai, fried bananas, sweet n sour chicken, spring rolls, steamed fish with ginger and Thai red curry. The trouble was we then had to eat it all!! On our last day in Pai we met Bunma, the loveliest elephant in Thailand. Already in his 50's, he still took great pleasure in taking us down to the river for a dip and a roll around. He also liked to eat bananas out of your hand (a bit like a hoover) and spray water out of his trunk (getting you soaked). But eventually we had to say goodbye to Bunma and to Pai.

Chiang Mai was our last stop in the North, an alright city but without a great deal to do there. The night bazaar here was also very good, with a few food courts (the Northern cuisine was lovely - lots more tasty curries!) and miles of stalls - plenty of bargains to be picked up. We did manage to find our way to the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre about 50km outside of Chiang Mai which was great, except for the little boy sicking on us during the shared sawy journey there. The idea of the centre was to look after sick elephants form the wild, privately owned elephants who people no longer wanted and elephants which had been used illegally for logging. So the elephants do a show or two a day to show off their skills but you can also see them bathing in the river, at the in-house elephant hospital and for the younger/orphaned ones at the nursery. Waiting on the motorway for the sawy home, we got picked up by a young Thai couple in their air conditioned (very welcome!) jeep - they were really friendly, my attempts at conversation however were met with little giggles and awkward smiles as it became apparent that we just could not understand each other. So we sat in the back of the car, in silence pretty much, all the way back into the city.

We got our first sleeper train down to Bangkok overnight, and in the morning caught the train straight on to Pattaya. We weren't sure how long to stay in GoGo bar heaven, but once we'd arrived we decided to leave the next day back for Bangkok. After being sent on a wild goose chase around Bangkok, we eventually checked into the Khao San Palace Inn, on Khao San Rd itself but far from the usual rip-off, having a rooftop pool included. The climate difference between Bkk and the north was evident - the last 4 days in Bkk being uncomfortably humid at times.We walked everywhere though despite this, to avoid the annoying tuktuk drivers scamming tourists left right and centre. Neither did we make it to see the Thai Boxing because the local police were charging foreigners extortionate prices (10 times the normal price) so it just wasn't affordable. We did make it though to the Damnoen Saduak (the floating market), and Chatuchak weekend market, a busy, vibrant market filled with thousands and thousands of stalls. Other than going out every night for drinks and meeting lots of people (particularly German for some reason) and lying by the pool, we didn't do much else in Bkk except for go for a Thai massage. Something Jonny vows to never do again, it wasn't the most comfortable of massages but did make you feel better once it was over.

Before we knew it the best part of a year had passed and we were on our flight back to London. So…until next time…