We flew from Laos to Chiang Mai on the 19th, arrived mid afternoon, got to the hostel and checked in and then went to the station to book out overnight train tickets to go back to Bangkok. There were none available for the day we wanted so we had to stay an extra day (not complaining though!). We had ice cream and a drink and then decided it would be good to book all the trains we needed for the next week so we did that and got a tuk tuk to the night bazzar. Felt incredibly organised! We ate dinner in an English pub, which wasn't overly English but it did have Amaretto so we were happy! I ate far too much as I decided I wanted pancakes again. Seriously I am going to be the size of a house by the time I get back. We looked around all the market stalls, Kate bought a skirt and two bracelets, I bought two tops. Though I didn't barter for a better price, which I should have done apparently. We walked a very long way back to the hostel but I worked off my food!

The next day we decided to walk up to Wat Phra Sign and then go along to the museums near there, but when we got there a lady with a taxi somehow persuaded us to let her take us to this road where they make a lot of things like unmbrellas, gems and silk. She took us there and to the national museum for 100 baht which was good. We were very glad we did it though, cos we had a whole afternoons worth of stuff to do. Firstly we went to a place where umbrellas were made, we learnt how that was done. Kate got a butterfly painted on her top and bought umbrella/parasol and I bought a fan. From there we went to the place they make gems. At the end of the tour there was the biggest jewellery store in the world, which was perhaps somewhere we should have avoided as we both ended up buying rings (almost similar, we're actually going to look exactly the same if we keep doing this), then we went to Lacquer, Silk and Jade places (where we thankfully didn't buy anything). We went back to the Night Bazaar, though it was still daytime, had dinner at a place called The Rendezvous, which just had to be done in honour of our Rendezvous and then spent three hours on the internet! Not sure how we managed that!

Yesterday we went on a tour that we had booked through the hostel we're staying at, the tour started with a 40 minute trek up a hill, which as you can imagine was lots of fun in the blistering heat! Note the sarcasm! At the top of the hill was a hill tribe village, which basically consisted of wooden huts and a lot of stalls trying to sell us stuff! We both bought earrings (the same but in different colours) and Kate bought a bag, which she loves. The trek down the hill was much better! After that we went on an elephant ride, which was actually petrifying! I really really thought I was going to fall off! We felt sorry for the elephants, they really didn't look like they wanted to be there but we fed them bananas to make ourselves feel better. The tour supplied us with lunch, which seemed neverending, there was so much! After that we went to Karen Village, which was supposed to have the people that wear the neck things, but it didn't! The last two things of the day were visiting a waterfall, which was so nice after being boiling hot all day and going bamboo rafting, which is exactly as it sounds. Though we didn't do much except sit there while someone else moved the raft around. In the evening after trying unsuccesfully to remove all the dirt off me we went to the Night Bazaaar, to find somewhere to wash our clothes and then we had dinner in a German restaurant, though we both had Spaghetti Carbonara so that was a bit pointless! I made a vow not to eat Carbonara for a whole week as I eat it far too much.

 Today we are getting an overnight train back to Bangkok so the day has been a bit wasted. We didn't get up until late and had to pick up our washing so we are wasting an hour in an internet cafe. I've just had a nosebleed and caused a scene! It was quite amusing.