So we arrived in Chiang Mai around 8am the next day and headed straight for breakfast. We had both decided we would like to go to a cookery school to learn how to cook Traditional Thai food! We know...slightly odd choice for us but we were very excited! So we rushed to the guesthouse had a quick shower and got dropped off at the local market. This is where we met the rest of our group and our cook 'Bong'. We all had a little basket each and we wandered around the market learning about different food and collecting our ingredients for our class.

The cookery school was lovely, we all had our own prep station and cooking station and there were lots of students around the help Bong teach us. It was such a fantastic experience, we cooked Pat Thai, Thai Green curry, Banana dessert and a sour/spicy soup.. all 4 dishes were delicious and we both ate banana for the first time in years! That afternoon we met up with the rest of the group and went to see Doi Suthep a temple on top of a giant staircase which Dara said was a suprise! We took lots of pictures, listened to the monks chanting and were blessed by a monk too! That evening we were so full from our class that we skipped dinner with everyone and found an internet cafe so lisa could say happy birthday to her brother on skype.

The next morning we had an early start and a long drive to the Laos border in a mini-van. We made a couple of stops, one to a cashew factory (not great for Lisa!) and we had lunch opposite a gorgeous white temple which was very strange inside. There was a painting of Buddha and then below it looked like the rest of the earth represented Hell... so there were mobile phones, Keanau Reeves from Matrix and spaceships incorporated into it.. very odd! We finally got to the border in one piece after a very speedy and eratic drive! Jumped on a boat to cross the river and there we were...already in Laos!