Well hello there! I'd firstly like to say that I apologise, but my entry will not be quite as thorough, as insightful or as well written as big Colshys... Well, we're leaving lovely Chiang Mai tomorrow, on our three day excursion to eventually arrive in Laos. So, I thought before we left civilization it might be a good idea to write this before I forget... So, we arrived in Chiang Mai on another overnight train, which was very nice. We got a tuk tuk to a restaurant and I felt a bit sick...so we got a nice guesthouse sorted and I didnt leave my bed for 4 days with rather unpleasant stomach issues. However, Colin explored the city in a bit of detail and assures me its LOVELY. When I was feeling a bit better, we took a nice big walk around the city. Its moated and used to be walled. I'm not sure why you need a wall and a moat but its got both. We went to a really cool temple that looks after all these stray dogs and when they ring the bells to get the monks organised all the dogs start barking at each other. It was really funny. We also saw a class full of monks chanting, which was incredible. Chiang Mai has lots of hilltribe villages on the outskirts in the.. hills, so its a really popular place to do jungle treks. So we hopped on a van (?) with some extremely irritating Americans, a smiley Korean and three French women who pretended they couldnt speak English so they didnt have to make conversation (wish I had thought of that), and headed for the hills... Day 1: we went to a waterfall, which was lovely and then trekked through the jungle for a bit (which is a killer when you've not been out for bed in 4 days and have no leg muscles left). Saw a real live tarantula (if thats how you spell it) which the tour guide kept winding up... Then we walked through a Karen hilltribe village and left litter in their gardens, ate the fruit from their trees and took pictures of them. Its all very ethical this trekking melarky.. We then went to see a hilltop temple which was actually really interesting (after about 20 temples you stop being so impressed..) which had an amazing view. Plus there were these really mental hairy caterpillars everywhere that looked like one of my guinea pigs so that kept me entertained for a while. After that, we went to visit our luxury 10 bed apartment, with ensuite facilities and hillside view. A hut with holes in the ceiling and 20 year old foosty blankets. Grrreat. In order to sleep, many cans of singha were required. The best thing of the entire trip so far was the enormous football game on the top of the hill-the news seemed to spread like wildfire and within 20 minutes about 15 local men from the hilltribe came running from afar to join in. Colin's football skills were like something from Roy of the Rovers... his nickname became David Beckham because he kept doing the most remarkable tricks they had ever seen! I have never been so proud! His best was a flick over the head onto a header, which passed perfectly to his team mate, who scored! It really was amazing! He really looked like he knew what he was doing! Classic. After dinner (which was made by the guide 'Book' who randomely picked things up during the jungle trek like WILD MUSHROOMS and threw them in a pot..), we lit a campfire and sat round and sang songs about jesus. Or, the most annoying American, 'Sonny', took time out from shouting phrases like 'son of I SUCK!' and 'youve been PUNKED BOY!' to take over the proceedings and play the guitar BADLY (Colin was nearly sick) and sing emo from America that nobody else knew. It really was a coming together of souls. (This required more beer, then bed.) Day 2: Less than a great sleep in the hut and then a good hour trek uphill, in the rain, to really sink the knife in. A different waterfall for a shower which was amazing and then a trek along a rather hairy cliff-not the best time for Colshy to tell me he's been getting vertigo. Vertigo plus his normal clumsyness made that a rather hair raising journey.. We then went bamboo rafting, on funnily enough, a raft made from bamboo. It must be pointed our at this time that bamboo rafts aren't the most sturdy of vehicles, which makes it all the more fun and terrifying. I kept shouting 'I have my glasses on, if i fall in i'll be blind!'... Jack the smiley Korean was in charge of ours and fell off every two seconds, which didnt fill me with confidence. Colin was very brave an jumped off a 20 foot cliff into the river! (Vertigo my arse). We then went and exploited some elephants, which was delightful. Hmm, maybe I should rephrase that. We rode on some elephants. I just wanted to give her a big cuddle and take her home and dress her up, but I couldnt fit her into the taxi. After that it was time to travel back to Chiang Mai and make arrangements with the Americans to go for a drink that night....which we forgot all about... Yesterday we took it slowly due to our trekking injuries. On Sundays a HUGE market which takes over all the major streets in Chiang Mai gets under way, so we spent most of the day wandering round that. We also went to the Cultural Centre to see an exhibition about the Lanna empire and stuff... I dunno, I got bored so we left and got icecream instead. Then shopped some more :). I love this place! Then I got the best food of the trip so far, a barbequed fish for about a pound. Mmm. We then played a bit of pool (all this practice really isnt improving my game- I kept getting distracted by these gorgeous wee fluffy dogs who kept licking my feet..). And then it was time for Thai boxing. I'm completely opposed to boxing, I dont think trying to knock someone out should be considered a sport and I find the whole thing repulsive, however by the end I kept finding myself shouting 'KICK HIM IN THE FACE!! YEEEAAAH!! KILL HIM!!!'. It was really disturbing. After my bloodlust, I needed a strong drink, and they don't come much stronger than a Thai 'bucket'. While we were in this really cool rooftop bar, drinking the bucket, watching the monsoon, some b****** stole my shoes! I'm shoeless! So all in all, it was quite an eventful day.. Today we have been crap. The most exciting thing that we did was get our laundry back. Clean clothes! Anyway, this is an epic journal so I better be off. Look after yourselves and eat your greens. Lots of love, Jenny xxx