OH MY BUDDHA!! The last few days in Chiang Mai have been awesome and will definitely take some beating.

After finding somewhere to stay, we got some brekkie then crashed out for a couple of hours, standard after getting a night bus! The rest of the day we put to good use by booking onto a cooking course for the next day, a trip to an elephant park the day after, and a bus to take us all the way to Vientiane in Laos for the day after that (we skilfully managed to avoid the 2 day long-boat journey). We also visited the first of many Wats (there are hundreds in Chiang Mai).

Then we decided it was high time for a Thai massage, well at £3 it would be rude not to! It wasn't the most relaxing experience though, with a little Thai woman jumping all over you pulling your limbs around! I kept wanting to laugh, and Jonny was worried at times that a cheeky little pump may be forced out in her face, but at least she didn't tell me I had a hard body this time (although she was probably thinking it ha)

That evening we went to a restaurant I went to last time in was in CM called Riverside. It hadn't changed a bit and whilst it is a bit more up market than places we normally eat, it was nice to go somewhere posh for a change! Afterwards we went over the road to the bar, where there was a Thai band on playing western songs which was really cool. Being a Friday night it was packed with locals, one of whom befriended us. He didn't speak much english (Jonny: "he only knows the barest of bare smatterings") which was charming and quite funny at first. Then we realised how hammered he was, and after he spilt his drink down me for the third time (ahhhh... solly!!) the novelty started to wear off a bit!

Next morning it was time for the cooking course! We had a small breakfast in preparation and it was such a good job we did because during the day we ate sooooo much, it was like Christmas! We started off with a trip to the market where we learned about all the weird and wonderful ingredients in Thai food, and also that you're not supposed to eat lemongrass (always thought it was a bit spiky). Then it was time to start on the five courses of the day! It really was the ideal way to cook, because all the shopping and preparation was already done for you, they told you exactly how to cook it, and then they washed up for you as well, so all we had to do was eat it. And even that was becoming a challenge by the time the dessert came out! It was cool to learn how some of the ingredients like curry paste and coconut milk are made from scratch, even though you would never bother to do it at home. All in all, a brilliant day!

After the mammoth eating session we had a nap to sleep it off then went out to the night markets where I finally bought some baggy pants and a handbag, only after walking round pretty much every stall. Good practice for my bargaining skills though! Needless to say we didn't need any dinner but there is always room for a banana chocolate pancake!

Sunday we set off on our trek to Mae Tang Elephant park. The day started with feeding the elephants and a leisurely trip down the river on a bamboo raft, followed by watching the elephants having a shower and performing tricks like painting pictures and scoring goals! We then went for a ride on an elephant which was really good fun and the highlight of the day. This was followed by a ride on an ox cart, then after lunch on the way back to Chiang Mai we visited an orchid and butterfly farm. This was slightly disappointing as we could count the number of butterflies we saw on one hand and the orchids weren't that great either!

After squeezing in another couple of wats for good measure, that night it was back to the market for some more bargaining whilst Jonny watched the match. Afterwards I tried to cheer him up with a bit of retail therapy by trying to persuade him to buy a watch but he was having none of it!

On our last day we went up to Doi Suthep which is a big temple on top of the hill on the outskirts of town. Even though we have become somewhat templed-out (pardon the pun) it was still impressive although the monk wouldn't bless me because my shorts were too short (even though there were loads of other people with shorter shorts than me getting blessed, can't help but feel this is a bad omen!). Jonny however did get blessed, and I think it went straight to his head as he then went and bought a book on Buddhist karma!

Once we got back to town we went on a quest for a Chiang Mai sausage, which sadly was not successful! Before we got on our incredible uncomfortable overnight minibus to Vientiane there was just time to go for another massage! Although this time we both opted for back neck and shoulder instead of a Thai massage, it was still a bit too rough and almost made me cry!

Thailand had been so good, and can't believe the next time we will be here we will be only a few days away from flying home :-(. So until the next time, ka!!