The bus to Chang Mai was (relative to other bus rides) quite eventful. After months of being very vigilant with regards to looking after our belongings, we (like idiots) only checked whether we had our passports while on route. Our passports are normally left in our hand luggage which can easily be keep on hand at all times but staring us in the face was a passportless bag! Very little conversation took place in that painful hour and a half and without saying much to each other we mentally went through how much s*** we were actually in! We sat stressing our balls off and at the first stop, I checked my big bag for the missing items. Thank the lucky stars they were there and I'd completely forgotten that I'd transferred them while in Sukothai. 2 moments of forgetfulness: 1) to check for passports BEFORE leaving and 2) remember where you put them in the first place!

A local baby brought up her lunch one seat away from us which left a stench in the back for the rest of the trip.

We arrived at the bus station and took a Tuk-tuk to the Tip guesthouse where we were greeted by a friendly guy who said that we had been upgraded for 1 night (before our trek the next day) to the Buputara Guesthouse which we were lucky enough to get a room with a TV, aircon and fridge! Small luxuries that make the difference between roughing it. We had made plans with the 2 couples in Ayuthaya to meet each other on new years eve and we left right away to explore town and look for potential bars for the occasion. We were located in Chang Mai's old city which is an area of a couple square kilometers surrounded by a canal (almost like a massive moat) in the shape of a square. We walked for around 2 hours and came back for the trek briefing at 6pm. There, we were told what to pack, the details of where and when we were going and we had a chance to meet some of the group. Adam (a shiny headed brit who plays the Celo and works in Canary Wharf in London), Eli (a constantly smiling but friendly American from Michigan who met Adam at a music camp in Florida and became friends - he teaches music), Carina (another friend of Adam and Eli's) and a French-Canadian couple who were only on the trek for one day so didn't get her name but he was Patrice (and home-brews beer for a living).

After the meeting, we went to the bright night market down the road, ate and came back for an early night before our trek the next day.

We set off at 9am and met the rest of the group who were staying at the Tip guesthouse. There was Ryan and Gaby (the Australian couple from Ayuthaya), Nick (a big american guy who teaches history in Jordan), Mai (a sweet Indonesian girl on holiday) and the "other" couple from France who didn't speak that much so don't know their names although the boyfriend was a big fan of birdwatching and schlepped a massive Swarovzki monocular and chest-high tripod with him on the trek for who knows what reason.

We were taken to a local market on the way where we could pick up small items that we might need for the trip like mosquito repellant and flashlights. Unfortunately, Carina had some really horrible side-effects from her malaria medication and was not able to come with us. We had a small snack and headed to the Elephant riding! We were able to buy some bananas to feed them while on their backs and set off in groups of 2's and 3's. On our girl it was Me, Rome and Eli. We got onto them from a purpose-built wooden structure that allowed us to walk onto the top of their heads and then onto a seat that was fastened to their lower backs. The first thing I noticed was how prickly the long individual strands of hair was on their backs. Once walking, they would flick back their trunks in a gesture that indicated a request for a banana (please) and we would start feeding them bananas one by one. They are amazing to watch from the position of sitting on their backs and how they never lose their balance when walking up the steep mountain inclines. The were very graceful and it was a great experience!

From there we drove to our starting point and didn't lay about much till we started walking. Rome and I (very fresh after having fallen off our scooter in Sukothai) kept to the back of the group anticipating a slower pace than the rest. We found a rhythm and enjoyed beautiful views of the Chang Mai mountains. We arrived at our first camp site after around 3 hours of walking and picked our beds in the large communal room for the night. The camp site was a couple wooden huts (for sleeping, cooking and eating) next to a river. We all washed ourselves clean in the icey cold water and changed into clean clothes. Dinner was later served and a bon fire was started where Rocky (one of the tour guides) whipped out his guitars and we played and sang for a couple hours. We headed to bed for the night and woke up to fire warmed hot coffee and tea the next morning!

The second day was a walk next to the river through a series of waterfalls where we were able to swim. The French-Canadian couple split from us to in the morning to finish off their day and the 3 day trekkers went with Tommy who we all got to know a bit better. He was a tiny little man of 30 who was always smiling and laughing and had his key phrases like "What you say you!" or "What you do you!" in his joking voice. We were his first group with the trekking company which was for him very important considering that his future employment relied on the outcome of his upcoming appraisal from us. He was great.

We vistited a village along the way who were all ex-Burmese citizens who now live in Thailand because of the political turmoil over the last years. We hiked and swam and talked and ended up at the 2nd night's camp site at around 4.30pm. The same as the day before, we bathed in the river and ate an early dinner. The ozzy couple and ourselves played a 4 handed game called 500 which is loosely based on bridge. We ended off the night with some beers around the fire and had another early night.

The 3rd day was a very late departure (around 10.30am) and didn't involve much trekking at all (an hour and a half or so). We were taken to another local village (equiped with satelite dishes and electricty) and then went on to a large rockpool 10min drive away. The rock pool is well know because of the fact that it's very deep and has a series of onfacing cliffs that one can jump off into the water. The highest was 10m above the pool which doesn't seem all that high until standing off it looking downwards. Never-the-less all the boys from the group gave it a go and we had fun. The day ended with slow bamboo boats down a more quiet river for an hour or so and then a trip home.

Again, upon arrival at the Tip guesthouse (where we were meant to be staying), we were all taken to another location very close to the bar area (which suited everybody). We went our seperate directions for dinner. Rome and I headed to where the local New Years celebrations were going to take place at one of the old city walls. There were hundreds of food stalls whith all the local delights and a stage set-up with entertainment to start off the new years celebrations. The group made plans that night to meet at 9.30pm on the 31st on the top level of the guesthouse where we would start the night off.

The day of the 31st was spent mulling around the city, calling our friends and family and getting ourselves ready for a big night ahead. I had gotten into contact with our good friend Jeff who we had travelled with in Argentina and who has been in South East Asia for the last 2 months. We had made plans to meet up for New Years and we went out for dinner with him and his girfriend (visiting from Holland).

The group on new years eve was 10 people strong. There was Jeff and his girfriend Sonna, Ryan and Gaby, Stefan and Rose who we met in Ayuthaya, Nick, Mai and ourselves. There is a custom to release lanterns on new years eve and from our balcony we saw hundreds of them! We drank our make shift infamous buckets - samsung Whiskey, red bull syrup and Sprite in a 1litre 'big gulp' cup from the 711. We chatted and saw some fireworks from the area that we had been the night before. We headed to the old city wall at around 11pm and each sent up our own lanterns to join in with the local celebrations. We all learnt how to say "sawadipimai" which is Thai for "happy new years" and enjoyed our first new years eve in South East Asia!

From there we headed to a local club/bar for a couple hours and ended a late night at 3.30!

We agreed between Rome and I to stay an extra day in Chiang Mai and then head to Pai on the 2nd to join Jeff and Sonna. The day was a very lazy one and we both managed to sneak into the four star hotel next door to relax at the pool area and read and swim and use their towels. We went out for dinner with Ryan and Gabs who were leaving to Laos that night and booked ourselves some transport to Pai.

Pai is only 3.5 hours from Chiang Mai, but I can say that it was one of the more painful rides we've had. Half the road was hairpin turns and steep inclines and everybody got a little car sick. We arrived there late afternoon and booked ourselves into a nice bungalow and hooked up with Jeff for dinner. We made plans to meet the next day at the bike rental place where we would rent a scooter for the day.

We got ourselves a very similar scooter to the one we only fell off one week earlier, but the only way to really explore the surrounding beauty of Pai is on 2 wheels. We filled the tank up and set off following a map that we'd been given by the rental place. We explored temples, waterfalls and small coffee places along the way and we went out till the late afternoon. That night, we all went out for a local Thai barbeque which was pretty cool. It's basically a bowl full of coals with another upside-down sieve looking bowl put ontop of it. Everyone sits around this. There is a tray around the sieve that is filled-up with water. What happens is the sieve is heated-up by the coals and this is used to cook whatever meats one wants to use. The surrounding tray with water collects the fat from the meat and heats up with the water to form a soup. It was more fun than it was tasty, but never-the-less a nice experience.

We said goodbyes after dinner and headed home to watch "How I met your mother" on the computer. An early morning was ahead to get to Chiang Rai with a bus leaving at 5.30am.