Thank you for your comments on previous blogs. It's the only way we know if they're being read! So keep them coming.

Yes Pauline, in answer to your question, I am putting on weight. Don't think there's any way I'll fit into the dress I was going to wear for Shellys wedding in April!

The blog continues

Tuesday 10th February - 4th leg Chiang Mai

30 mins in taxi to airport 600bht (£12) Flight with Bangkok Airways Samui to Chiang Mai £140 each approx 2 hrs.

Samui airport is really beautiful with gardens, flowers and a river running round it, full of lotus flowers which look a bit like waterlilies on long stems. Inside there are nice places to sit where you are surrounded by gardens and there's also complimentary coffee and soft drinks and snacks. If all airports were like this we wouldn't mind having to be there 2hrs early! Our plane was 30 minutes late but in such beautiful surroundings we didn't care.

We arrived at our accommodation Wiriya House and it's fine for a place to lay your head. We have aircon and a shower a TV and a fridge and there is also a pool so not much different from Fairhouse really hahahaha. Hahahaha!!

Dropped our bags and went to explore. Chiang Mai

We had our meal in hot chilli which we found earlier in the day. And it looked really nice. I was a bit peckish around 6 so suggested we go to eat then. Sam thought it would be empty so early but when we arrived it was packed with a queue outside.

We had a mixed nibbles plate to start which was a mistake as then we didn't have room for our main course. They have a strange way of serving here too. The menu lists appetisers and mains, but when you order you're most likely to get them both together. We've sussed this out now and just order the starter and when we've finished that, we order our mains.

After out meal we walked to Walking Street where the night bazaar is. There's loads of stalls and then a part which looks like you're going indoors but most of it's still outdoor once you go in! If that makes sense.

We will go back there as we spotted a bar with live music when we were on our way out.

Going on adventure on the bus tomorrow!

Wednesday 11th February - bus ride, hilltribe village, palaces and temples.

The woman in the hotel mentioned we could get a bus up to the temple past the university. So we thought we'd give that a try today. There are red van like vehicles with a roof and a bench on either side. You flag them down anywhere and tell them where you want to go and negotiate a price. If they're going your way you jump in. There's room for 10 people in the back so they can carry on picking up en route.

We jumped in heading for the university which is near the zoo, which gets good reviews and is supposed to be nice. 30bht each in the taxi and 40 minutes later we arrived at more or less the same place we started from! He looked around a little surprised to see us still sitting there so Sam jumped out to show him again where we were going. He started laughing, ushered him back in and we headed off again and came to a stop further on. He ushered us back out and we were looking a bit perplexed as we knew this wasn't our destination but he directed us to a small group of people near some more 'busses'. The driver comes along with a picture board and asks which of the different sights you want to see. 90 bht to the top (tribal village) 60 bht to the middle (palace and gardens) 40 bht to the temple. Originally we were just going to the temple as we didn't know there was anything else there but we decided to go with the 3 stops for 180 bht £3.60 each return. We had an hour at each stop.

We're really glad we did as the Hmong hilltribe village was beautiful with lovely gardens and a waterfall and market stalls. After speaking to someone else after the trip, I believe you can also go past this part into the village itself to see how the people live. Which he said was really interesting. Never sure how I feel about doing these kind of things though. Can you imagine going about your business in your garden and a bus load of people trail through and start taking photos? Or go to your local market at home and start taking pictures of the people behind the counter. Imagine what their reaction would be! I was a bit gutted though, as in our way up we saw a guy with a crossbow which you could try for a few baht. I really wanted to have a go but we were walking with another person off the bus so decided to do it on the way down. Unfortunately we came down a different way so missed the opportunity :( You could hire the hilltribe costumes and walk around the village having your photo taken. Two girls and a young man had them on and they looked great. We took some of their photos for them so they asked if we wanted our photo with them so we did.

There was a huge bamboo plant with stalks (or maybe trunks, don't know what you call them really) about 9 inches in diameter. So of course I had to climb up to get my photo taken. Ah, then I had to get down. This proved a bit more difficult and I obviously looked like I was stuck, as one of the girls in the costume helped me down as she was going up. Ah these knees just aren't what they used to be!

The museum was also quite interesting telling us about how they came to have settled high up in the mountains following many battles with the Chinese. And we went in a typical hut with partitions made of strips of bamboo making a living area and two bedrooms on the ground floor and a fire in the middle and another sleeping area upstairs. The ladder tickled me. It was basically a log with notches cut into it. The hut seemed a surprisingly comfortable space but having said that, I don't know how many people lived in it.

Then there was the Bhubing Palace. Apparently the king used to stay here sometimes but he is in hospital at the moment. The people here all seem to like their royal family. There are pictures of them everywhere and when they speak of them, it does seem like they really do like King and Queen. He is in his 80s not unlike our queen and, when he's well still seems to be busy.

The palace itself was closed for refurbishment but the gardens, wow they were something else. Think they were the most beautiful gardens I've ever seen. There was a reservoir too with fountains and of course flowers. There was a rose garden and the rose heads were massive and they smelt divine. I could have buried my head in it all day. Our roses at home don't seem to have much smell but these, heaven.

Next stop the Wat Phan On temple. That was pretty cool too. There was over 300 steps to get up there and it wasn't until you got to the top of the stairs they had the sign saying you had to pay but at only 30 bht it was a bargain. The thai people don't have to pay to go into any of these places. You took your shoes off, as you always have to when going into a temple, and when we got up the steps, yes there were more of them, we thought we would be going into the temple but it was like a massive court yard with views over the city.

In the evening we went to the Riverside. You could eat in the restaurant /pub or for an extra 150 bht each you could go on the boat along the Ping River. We opted to go in the boat which was really nice but no fireflys this time. There was a family on the table near us and We had noticed a couple of small lizards on the ceiling. We don't really mind them being about and they keep the bugs down but don't think they had noticed them. They almost jumped off their seats when one fell off the ceiling onto the table next to them. Good job they had finished their food!!! We thought it quite funny but then again, it didn't fall on our table!

We had a really nice day. Cooking class tomorrow

Thursday 12th February - Cooking Class

Picked up at 8.30 this morning for our cooking class with Asia Scenic Thai Cooking School. There were several schools to choose from but we liked the sound of this one as it was on a farm.

We were taken to the food market first where our teacher, a young girl named Meow (yes, like the cat) told us about all the different types of rice, different spices and fruit and vegetables. The market was amazing. Everything looked so fresh, even the meat which I have to say, when we've seen it on the stalls, hasn't looked quite as we're used to. They had a big barrel of pigs heads which they were boning out so the pigs faces just looked like a mask on the counter. Wouldn't be surprised if that's what they use for pork scratchings so beware what you eat. Next to the skinned pigs faces they had the head with the meat on (and the eyes still intact) which is probably what Sam's dad would have used for brawn. Then there were the tongues in another tray. All sounds horrible but looked nice and fresh. Then there was a chap with a chopper, chopping the nail part off the pigs feet, think they went in the bin, then he chopped through the feet leaving things that looked a bit like those little pork ribs. This was all in the preparation area so then we went into the main area where everything is on display. One counter had fish, seafood and frogs for sale to name but a few. The prawns were enormous and the crabs too but the fish couldn't have been fresher. I kid you not, they were still flapping and jumping on the ice on the counter! The frogs where huge, like big bull frogs and yes, alive. They were all together, side by side and one on top of the other in a net bag. I was videoing them and the flapping fish when a frog suddenly made a bid for freedom and lunged forward nearly taking the bag with it. At about the same time a big fish started flapping and bits of ice were splashing in my face. Needless to say, I jumped with fright and ran off squealing. Thought I'd saved the video but must have just turned the camera off instead so no film. They also had s****s have to leave the word out as Susan doesn't like them. They were alive too. Aparently they keep the things alive as long as possible as it helps them to stay freshers longer as not many people have fridges. That's why livestock can be seen being carried on the backs of motorbikes. Ducks strung upside down on a pole by their feet with their wings flapping and 2 or 3 pigs on their backs on luggage racks on the back of the motorbike, with their feet sticking straight up in the air. Shane our guide with G Adventures said he's even seen a water buffalo strapped to the back of a bike.

So Back to the cooking class. It was extremely well organised. Tables with a wok and a gas burner for everyone and a work station next to it for putting your food plate on prior to cooking. On a large long table there was a chopping board each and a chopper. You kept the blade of your chopper under the board when not in use. After Meow took us around the garden to show us some of the ingredients growing, she talked us through the menu of what you could choose to cook with 3 or 4 choices from appetisers, soup, spring roll, curry and pudding. You chose 1 dish from each course.

Sam cooked, chicken spicy salad, pad Thai, coconut milk soup, spring roll , red curry and deep fried banana.

I went for, hot basil stair fry, glassnoodle salad, spring roll , tom yum soup, which is a hot spicy soup with prawn, green chicken curry and sticky rice with mango. We also ate what we cooked so more calories!!

We didn't have to peel or chop meats or veg as this was all prepared and put on plates in the required portions when you had said what you wanted to cook. The only real prep work was making the curry paste. Sam and our team made the green curry paste which involved bashing the green chillies in a pestle and mortar until smooth (Sam did this part) while me and a partner had to chop the other items (will have to check my book to remember what they were). We had to make them finer than breadcrumbs. We would chop and chop and Meow would walk around saying 'more more' so We chopped and chopped. Then we had a turn doing the bashing too. It was quite hard to keep it up. Meow also suggested that if we had glasses, sun or otherwise to put them on as it was likely that you would splash yourself I'm the face or eyes and the chilli would burn. Quite tiring! Eventually we were ready. All the dishes looked delicious and most of them were. The people in the back kept up with the washing up with clean woks and dishes appearing each time we arrived at the table or cooking station.

All in all we really enjoyed the day and got dropped off back at our hotel. The price of the class was 1200 bht each £24. We didn't want anything further to eat so we headed for the market hall to see the ladyboy show.

I had a mooch around the stalls and Sam had a beer then we went into the show which started at 9.30. It was 400 bht to get in which included a free beer so Sam had mine and I got a cocktail. The show was very good and some of the performers looked lovely as girls with perfect bosoms and bottoms! The costumes were excellent. They did plant themselves on some knees and I think one bloke even had his photo taken kissing one of them, like a proper kiss on the mouth! If you then went on to take a photo they asked for a tip which you put down their blouse. One bloke they got up on stage, removed his tee shirt and did some rather rude things to him but he was up for a laugh. The show was only on for an hour so then we headed home. When we were coming out of the performance space a few girls were singing. A woman, who must have been in her late 60s joined in with them. Should have seen her shake her booty. Couldn't believe it. And she was from Yorkshire and was backpacking round Thailand and Cambodia with her friend. Think she would have been a fun companion.

Good day all round.

White temple tomorrow