yo!

The overnight train wasnt as bad as expected, and felt quite fresh in the morning. As I am trying to fit a lot in to a short space of time, I only had one day and night in Chiang Mai so set off about midday to go Elephant trekking. These beasts were huge!! They were also very graceful, and very cheeky, constantly demanding bananas and sugar cane. The 2 hour trek took us through the hills outside of Chiang Mai taking in some breathtaking scenery and even stopping for some fried rice half way through!

In the early evening our guide took us up to the Doi Suthep temple, which has been there since 600 AD, and the temple apparently contains part of Buddah's leg. I would by the way, like to challenge anyone to find a word that is harder for a Thai person to say than "relic"..r's and l's just dont wash well with their tongue, but I understood him in the end! Chiang Mai is far more chilled out than Bangkok, so in the evening we wondered through the extensive night market before having dinner. The Canadian girl I am travelling with looked slightly disturbed when I pointed out to her that the crabmeat used in her salad had just come out of a tank where the crab's brothers and sisters were still busy snapping away!

Today we took about a 5 hour drive through the Thai countryside up to Chiang Khong. It became clear very quickly that a Thai Red curry the night before a 5 hour journey in a confined space is not the cleverest idea by me!! They must've though it was Vietnam all over again...Napalm!! hahaha

I am staying at a wondeful guesthouse right on the Mekong River tonight, before setting off on an all day boat journey down the river tomorrow, which will take me in to Laos. I am preparing myself for a culture shock

xx