Greetings from Thailand! Well I'm now into my second week since departuring home and I have to say I'm reeeeeeeeally starting to enjoy myself now (thank god), now that I have travelled North to Chiang Mai. Bangkok was gross, too much traffic, pollution, jaded thai people and mangy dogs to deal with. But Chaing Mai is a delicious refreshment - the people are friendly, easier to get around and the weather has been fantastic! After a rickety ride North to Chiang Mai, I embarked on a three day trek from last Friday to Monday. I had a ball, better than I could have ever imagined. There was always going to be an element of risk NOT liking what I was about embark on, but no worries about that now. So, a group of 12 of us trekked through the jungle and stayed with the hilltribe people villages, we ate an unbelievable amount of delicious thai food prepared by our trekking guide \"Ken\" and had a blast. The second night we stayed near a water fall where we all showered the jungle sweat, dirt and blood away (just kidding no blood). You have no idea how good that felt after 2 full days of heat, wearing the same undies and squat toilets :) Trekking on the final day was made complete with trying on an elephant ride on for size, which was really cool. The day was topped off the day with bamboo rafting, so refreshing and relaxing! My legs are covered in bruises and scratches, so I\'m breaking in slowly.... The last two days I have been in a thai cooking course (the final day tomorrow) which has been amazing. Yesterday there were about 30 people attending, so kaos reigned supreme! Today it was just myself and a Canadian guy I trekked with, so much better than a class full of bus tours. We are taught about 7 dishes a day and eat the lot, but funnily enough I haven\'t put a kilo on since I got here, don\'t think there is that much fat in the diet here, apart from coconut. I have learnt soo much and even made my own red curry paste from scratch today (its a very good workout with mortar & pestle) so I can\'t wait to show off my new culinary skills! I will also attempt to load pics on this site! But as you know my patience to peruse instructions is somewhat limited, so I\'ll teach myself the ins and outs of this website one day at a time. Thanks to Mike & Eric who introduced me to this website!