Welcome to the penultimate blog of our travels 2007/2008, can't believe our trip is almost over now, we will be home in 3 days time........

Although we are sad that our trip is almost over, as you all know we have good news to celebrate so we are looking forward to seeing you all and doing just that!! Will come to that later though....

Ok when we left you last we were heading up to Chiang Mai, in the North of Thailand, that evening on the overnight bus. Spent 5 days up here and it was a lovely city, Thailand's second largest. We were impressed with Chiang Mai as it is much more chilled out and seemed much cleaner than Bangkok. The town is in a pretty location next to the river with the mountains all around. We stayed in the lovely old town area, which is situated within the old city walls and surrounded by a moat.

There has been some sad news in Thailand recently, at the beginning of the year the King's sister died. The Royal family is loved so much by all Thai people and there has been public national grieving. In Chiang Mai there was a huge memorial by one of the old city gates with a book of condolence that we saw many people signing. There are black and white ribbons all over Thailand, the grieving colours, in remembrance of her. I think it is lovely how much they show they loved her.

We had a walk around the city and visited a few of the many temples which are dotted around Chiang Mai. In one temple we were approached by a group of school children who wanted to interview us for a school project. They were so sweet and asked us, in English of course, about our visit to Thailand and in particular Chaing Mai. We were happy to help them, they were so friendly.

For 2 days we went trekking in the mountains. We'd been expecting Chiang Mai to be very cold but it wasn't. It was still so hot during the day, in the 30s just like Bangkok, but a little cooler at night and our trip into the mountains was no exception. The first stop on our trip was to a minority village where the 'Long Neck' people live. From the age of 5 the females in this tribe have to wear gold coloured heavy metal coils around their necks. It is wound round the neck and secured in place with a heavy base over the shoulders. Over the next 20 years the number of coils is increased which gradually stretches the neck/pushes the shoulders down. Hence the name Long Neck people. We were able to hold a full neck coil and it was very heavy, about 4kgs. It's amazing to think they have it on their neck all the time, even when sleeping. We've learnt about and seen many different cultures around the world but this is the strangest that we've seen.

Next up was an elephant trek! Our third one in Thailand (2nd one was a short ride near Kanchanburi) and it was really good as usual. We were in beautiful countryside with mountains and many banana trees around us. Our female elephant walked us up and down hills and then through a river. I got to sit on her neck here and I got splashed a lot as she decided she was too hot and needed to cool off! Didn't get to bathe with them here but we've already done that on Koh Chang so we didn't mind. Phil sat on the neck too on the return journey, we are pros now!

Then it was time to start walking and what a start it was. We were thrown right into it, climbing higher and higher in the 30 degree heat! Phew! Were glad when we were able to rest. By this point we were in a bamboo forest, so it was a bit cooler. There were 11 of us on the trek with 2 guides. Walked for about 3 hours through bamboo forests and open countryside, where a lot of cabbages were growing on the hillsides. Also got a chance to eat ripe, wild bananas picked straight from the tree! Delicious. Bumped into a group of drunken local men who were playing spinning tops. A popular game amongst the people living here. One guy was really drunk (this was mid afternoon) and as he had a Liverpool top on Phil wanted to talk to him and get a picture. The guy didn't know what was going on but happily obliged!

Spent the night staying at a tiny hillside village. Our accommodation was in a big bamboo hut, matresses laid out across the floor. Had the luxury of toilets and showers too, but very basic. Had to have a cold shower though as we were dripping with sweat from our hard slog up the hills! We had an outdoor bamboo patio too with a fireplace on it (was concrete underneath this bit!). Had a lovely supper then played drinking games by the open fire.

Next day we set off down hill, over a small stream, then up, up and up! It wasn't as strenuous though and once at the top we walked along flat and down the other side. Phil decided he would be tour guide today and raced off ahead. Our guide was calling out "Mr Phil, Mr Phil" which was funny and by the time we found him he was already swimming in a big rock pool at the foot of a waterfall, our cool down spot! It was freezing! But we all got in, so refreshing. Had a little go on a natural slide that had been carved out of the rock by the waterfall, wheeeeeeee!

Finished the day off on the water, rather than in it, as we went white water rafting. We have done this many times before and this was a joke. It was down a calm flowing river, our guide said it was grade 2 (6 is highest) but we doubted it. There were a few small rapids and even though it wasn't really thrilling we enjoyed it. It was so funny as our guide on the raft didn't seem to know what he was doing and we just kept getting stuck on rocks! He had to keep getting out and pushing us free, only to be caught again almost immediately, needless to say we didn't fall out! A short bamboo raft trip followed which was nice and relaxing. Then we were on our way back to Chiang Mai.

One thing we'd been looking forward to doing our whole trip was a Thai cookery course. We love the food and Phil has cooked it many a time back home. Did this in Chiang Mai at a wonderful cookery school and it was so much fun. The day started with a trip to the local markets to buy and learn about the ingredients we'd be using later on. We got to choose 7 dishes each to cook. Our teachers were so nice and very funny too. We would all stand round a table with our chopping boards and follow instructions as to how to prepare the ingredients then head over to very hot woks and cook away. What we made was so delicious and by the end of it we were totally stuffed! No dinner that night! They gave us all the recipes so we will be recreating our masterpieces when we get home (and when we get our own kitchen!)

Last day in Chiang Mai was fairly lazy with just a quick dash up the mountain to visit another temple. It was very high up and very impressive, the north's holiest shrine. We saw evidence of this when we arrived and were surrounded by many Thai people coming to pray. There was also a great view over the city and of the distant mountains. The borders of Myanmar and Laos were out there somewhere, maybe we'll get to those countries one day......

Flew back to Bangkok (we were originally due to fly home on this day so would have awaited our connecting flight) then left the city by bus and headed south again. Destination Koh Samet, a small island with national park status. We arrived there by speed boat in the dark and it felt like we were being smuggled onto the island! We were dropped off on the beach and from there looked for somewhere to rest our weary heads. We ended up at a very nice resort on a beach further down the island, away from the main resort area. It was so pretty. The sea here was a gorgeous turquoise colour and the beaches were brilliant white sand, so soft to walk on we thought it felt like you were walking on flour!

This was our bonus week away and we'd picked the perfect place to chill out and catch some more rays. Had a walk along the coast exploring many more beaches and bays, all beautiful but some a bit busier than others. After 2 nights at our first resort we moved down to the main area and got another nice room, this was time to treat ourselves! Did a snorkelling trip around the island (it is about 10kms long, so not that big) and also did some fishing off the boat. Phil and I didn't catch anything, although Phil did have a few bites and keeps going on about the one that got away! Other people caught some though so we had fish on the bbq for lunch, yum!

The best day of the week was when we decided to hire a quad bike to go exploring. It was a brilliant day anyway made even better by Phil's proposal of marriage! There are no private vehicles on Koh Samet and the roads are mainly bumpy dirt tracks - perfect for a quad! We made a full day of it. Took it in turns to drive, Phil thought I looked funny in charge of the bike cos I'm a girl! I was a good driver though, except at one point when we went skidding down a sandy hill and almost crashed, oophs! We were having fun whizzing about the roads and following the coast south. Decided to have a couple of hours chilling out at the best beach on the island which we'd discovered previously on our walk. I settled down for some sunbathing while Phil went off round some rocks to find a totally secluded bay. He came back and said we should go round there as it was really nice, so we bought some drinks and headed off......

.....Phil went off ahead and told me to walk up onto the rocks above the tiny beach, little did I know what was about to happen. I looked down and he was down on one knee next to a message he'd written in the sand earlier 'Kim, will you marry me? I love you!' I burst out crying as I was so overwhelmed and he did a speech for me, it was so lovely. I said "of course i'll marry you!" and went down to his side where he put a ring on my finger. It was so sweet, it is a temporary one which he'd borrowed off his mum "just in case he asked me!" so I have ring shopping to look forward to when I am home! We sat in the sun having our drinks and grinning a lot! We'd just got engaged on a beautiful beach in Thailand, in the sun and in our swim wear (!), was perfect. Then I went for a swim with my new fiance(!) in the warm sea. This was all in the middle of the day so we got back on our quad and went down to another beach for a celebratory lunch. We had so much fun and ended up on another beach to watch the sunset and have another dip in the sea. Called my mum later on and she was just as happy then the word spread......

That evening we had a seafood dinner sat on mats and low cushion chairs on the beach watching people set off fire balloons. These are so pretty, like mini hot air balloons that float away into the night sky. They are very popular in Thailand, we'd seen them on Koh Chang aswell. I was in a daze that whole day and it felt funny but lovely when Phil kept calling me "fiance"!

Had a couple of days just lazing on the beach too and we had a go a para-sailing again as i'd loved it the first time (did it in Fiji before). Second time round it was just as much fun, we both did it one after each other and we kept getting dunked in the sea loads. Then we sunbathed and topped up our tans, we are not prepared for the cold weather next week and cannot imagine it being so cold at home when it's so hot here! How will we cope?!

Head back to Bangkok later (we've spent a lot of time there on this trip!) for 2 nights. We are staying in the hotel we first stayed in when we arrived in the city on our first RTW trip 6 years ago, a trip down memory lane! Have a shopping day planned for tomorrow to spend up all our Baht then we have a long day of flights ahead of us on Sunday, what joy! Arrive home Monday morning and will be sure to do a closing blog next week.

So from half way round the world, see you all soon. Glad you have enjoyed reading our adventures over the past 7 months, we have enjoyed doing this blog! More photos will follow too....

lots of love

Phil and Kim Jenkinson-to-be!