Well just a short note to keep you up to date. I was to have written out my whole Chiang Mai narrative but sadly on my cooking course i have sliced the end of one of my fingers off which makes typing a little harder! Therefore I shall tantalise you with the first day or so and then fill you in on the rest later when hands are fully operational again! Oh and I have finally managed to upload my Andaman pics and some others too.

I arrived in Chiang Mai (Thailand's second city) a darn site fresher than the other backpackers around mne as I actually flew from Phuket where the normal route is to get the overnight sleeper train or a 10hr bus journey. Thankfully, I had to endure 2 lovely airline meals and surprisingly enough no large breasted german women this time as I flew the length of the country in an afternoon. The only saga I had was after arranging to be picked up by the hostel (Eagle 2 - noisy but cheap) I was told to wait by the hostel staff by the green sign outside that said Eagle 2. Sensible i thought. Could I find this sign - no. Eventually I saw the Eagle minibus arrive so rushed over only to be told that there was no sign and that the eagle 2 bus had the sign on it! Oh the joys of the language barrier.

My first night involved the obligatory trip to the famous Chiang Mai where I restrained myself - well almost - from buying too much. I am now the proud owner of a very nice bedside lamp! The place is much the same as the Patpong market though - tacky, knock off watches and the odd handicraft stall that actually sells something worth having.

I woke up in the morning (5am due to the noise) and like in Bangkok was determined to put the miles in pounding the streets seeing the wats and other important cultural sites. Sadly, 2 hours later I had walked the sites and then some (it is significiantly smaller than Bangkok) so decided to then hire a motorbike and head a bit further afield. My my, what a scary decision that was. I knew the drivers were a bit mad from my experiences in Kanchanaburi but this was something else. The old town of Chiang Mai is surrounded by a moat in a square about a mile long on each side. Crossing the moat are small roads that link the inner and outer squares and the motorbikes seem to use all lanes, any direction and have no sense whatsoever of self preservation. The pollution is horrendous sat in traffic (I actually struggled to breathe) and the cars appear to have no awareness that you are on a motorbike. A good test of the nerves.

Anyhow, I got on my motorbike (and for those of you who know me, I am not good with corners on motorbikes either) and set off on the STRAIGHT road to the mountain top temple of Doi Suthep. This apparently was sited because a white elephant carried some of Bhuddha's remains to the top of this mountain and then died so a temple weas created to celebrate the remains being there and the elephant is honoured there also as you can see from the pics.

The road immediaely I left the city became winding and uphill (obviously) and I had several seat of my pants moments as a cliffside loomed and i wasnt entirely convinced I was going to get round the next corner. Thankfully I did and was rewarded with a 362 step staircase to climb whilst battling the sheer number of street vendors who lined both sides of the stairs and were all over the temple. The view however was something else and the photos really dont do it justice. The whole of Chiang Mai laid out beneath me like a model - the very same model i took a picture of in the culture museum in the morning!

I then wound my way down the moutain and went off in search of my 1st English food - Steak and chips which amazingly I found right next door to my hostel in the UN Irish Pub. Splendid!

As I said, sorry it is short and sweet, I am off to Laos on the slow boat tomorrow for 3 days so shall be updating the rest of the exciting stuff then. Crikey, its nearly Xmas! Had better work out where im staying!