Right then, Im falling really far behind in this blogging malarkey so am going to have to work hard to catch up - Im actually miles away from Chiang Mai now - not going to tell you where quite yet - would want to ruin the suspense but suffice to say, I have seen an awful lot in the past couple of weeks. I am also still suffering with a pretty nasty bug which has seen me being quite ill for the past 36 hours but Im on the mend so promise to get back to it asap.

So after slicing my finger open on the cooking course, I need to tell you all what happened in Chiang Mai and this was actually some of the best fun I have had so far. I enrolled myself on a number of organised activities in order to a: meet some people and b: to experience the delights of Chiang Mai and its surroundings.

My first day out was to a white water rafting place. I really didnt know quite what to expect when I woke up that morning as I had been out drinking with a group of Kiwi guys the night before and booked it at about 11:30pm in good faith on their say so. I woke with heavy head and forced down a couple of waters before waiting for the transport which picked me up. I was told we would be going in an air conditioned minivan - not too bad to deal with a hangover. When the transport arrived I was slightly taken aback to see it was a songthaew. Now for the uninitiated amongst you (as I was) this is basically a pickup van with a roof cage welded/superglued/tied loosely on that you get in and hang on for dear life. I wasnt actually aware that these things were allowed to leave the city limits as they seem phenomenally dangerous. However, in good faith and with dutch courage aplenty, I jumped aboard for the 2 hour journey into the jungle/mountains and off we went. Thankfully all the people in the back of the pickup were as hungover/drunk as me because they too had been on a session run by Intrepid travel the night before and we all had a great time getting to know one another on the way so by the time we arrived, we were all the best of friends!!

The rafting was excellent fun - not death defying as I had been led to believe but nonetheless, we had a great time, di some rapids, some canyoning (jumping into rapids without a boat) and some games on the way down. The guides were great and as we headed home tired but elated, it seemed the only sensible thing to do was to find more beers and enjoy them in a sociable way. Sadly the way back meant us sitting in a trailer as the songthaew was now full of people from another groups so health and saftey were completely abandoned in favour of Chang Beer and waving at the crowds.

We were also really happy to note that it was the King's bday that day and despite the law prohibiting the selling of alcohol, it seemed as long as people werent too blatant in their drinking, anything went. I was also happy to learn that drinking it wasnt an offence - just selling. The subtle drinking contined apace and some members of the group attempted surfing on the sides of the trailer's benches as we sped through Chaing Mai's suburbs. Im afraid to say that at this point the old Burroughes risk assessment kicked in and I had to remain seated. It was also a better position to consume the rice whisky the guides insisted that we drink in celebration of the King's bday!

The next day saw me start a 2 day trek whch invilved tris tp local viallges and markets and then 2 days hiking through jungle and hills with a bit of camping. I cant say I was deeply impressed with the whole thinking - whilst it wasnt contrived (or not as much as it could have been) I just felt I wanted a bit more wilderness and a bit less tourism. I shall be doing this again in either Cambodia or Laos. As it was, we got to ride elephants, bamboo raft and have a few drinks of local moonshine around a campfire but I think there is more to be had later.

And so on to the highlight of my time in Chiang Mai: The Thai Cookery Course. This was so much fun and I really, really enjoyed myself. Not being the most domestic of people, I thought learning a few 'impress your friends' cookery skills might be useful and I signed up for 3 days wit the Thai equivalent of Gordon Ramsey (except without the swearing). The course involved 2 days at his house and 1 day at his school with a number of other honeymooners, tourists and singles. We basically had the joys of shopping in the market, carving vegetables, learning about all the Thai ingredients and then cooking 6 meals a day (all to be eaten there and then) whilst dying of chilli overload and thoroughly enjoying oursevles with the amusing and easy to follow demos then practice sessions they had. I can thoroughly recommend anybody to do this course as they had complete novices (me) right up to qualified chefs on the course and everyone loved the presentation and learnt something.

And so my time in Chiang Mai drew slowly to a close. I had made a lot of new friends, including a girl on a massage course who I got the benefit of being practiced on twice by (excellent but not nearly as nice as Swedish massage - quite painful to be honest) and I have had an amazing time but my 1 month visa is nearing its end and I have to head off to Laos now. Next stop, the Mekong River!