Back to Bangkok...next stop Chiang Mai

After a long 10hour journey from ko chang, we made it back to Bangkok despite out driver going over every bump necessary on the high way to wake us up and disturb us from our lack of sleep we had due Lizard Central hotel (lazy republique). We stepped out of the taxi into the biggest city and was ready to make our next plan, spontaneous comes to mind! We went to the train station to try and buy tickets to get up to the North as we didn't want to buy from the tourist informations shops in Bangkok, as they try and sell you a whole package deal, and we were in luck! We managed to buy our tickets for the next sleeper train to Chiang Mai which is North of Thailand, we had about twenty minutes to grab a bite to eat and get onto the sleeper train! We made it... And overall the sleeper train wasn't all that bad, we were fortunate to share a cabin with a friendly American couple on their travels too, we grabbed some tips and advice off them, which gave us a couple of ideas of what to do in the north (however didn't catch their name). The journey was a long 15 hours however we managed to get some sleep! (Kynton: despite the rather alarming moment at 5am when I was woken up on the top bunk by Emma's floating head moaning about air conditioning).

We arrived in chiang mai around 10.30am and were hustled and bustled by Thai people selling their accommodation, we ignored the first three and then caved! We booked into SKhouse 1 which was a guest house in the city, room was ok and reasonably priced 6pound each per night, and it had a pool.. Woop!

We dumped our bags a went for a wander round the city to grab some brunch! And then we spent the afternoon in the pool and got ready to go out for a bite to eat and some Thai Boxing fun! On our way to the boxing we booked in to go to tiger kingdom for the next day which is where our excitement kicked in!

Thai boxing was an experience to say the least. After getting some cheap tickets for the 'stadium' we headed in to see what awaits us. Now when they say stadium they really meant a boxing ring with loads of plastic garden furniture around it. With beers ordered we placed our own bets on who was going to win each fight. And so it begun.

Now for those who have never seen Thai boxing properly (myself included until tonight) it's a strange mix of kickboxing and ceremony, with each fighter having their own pre fight routine and a group of guys sitting on stage playing a flute like instrument (the kind you see people play to a basket of cobras), a drum and a tambourine.

At the half time break Emma was leading in correct predictions 2-1. And after a round of mayhem with six guys taking to the ring blind folded and fighting, it was back to the main action. We headed home with Emma winning the betting 4-1 and being rather smug walking back. Just what I needed.

So day two was the moment Emma had being looking forward to for months, and one I was openly bricking it about, tiger kingdom. Picked up at our hotel we got there and was greeted straight away by a large open pen with tigers and tourists posing for photos. Something didn't seem right about the whole thing but we did it anyway and paid to go into the cage with the small and large tigers.

So with a deep breath and trying to show my brave face (it wasn't very convincing) we headed into the cage with the small tigers. Now again I think it's a Thai thing but when they said small these things where anything but small. Now it's worth adding that at this point (about two feet from the first tiger) the tables turned. Whereas I was openly nervous about it all beforehand, on seeing them I was relatively calm. Emma however was a complete bag of nerves an despite being told that if you stroke them too softly it tickles them and they kick she continued to nervously stoke/tickle until getting hit in the face with its tail.

We then moved onto the big tiger enclosure. Now these tigers were huge, and about two years old. Again whilst posing with them my personal highlight was watching the largest tiger kick Emma off a table. If only the camera was primed.

We paid for some photos and headed back to Chiang Mai where we took a stroll for the back streets of the city! We came across some temples where we met two Thai men who told us that today was a special day, it was where all the monks come together to pray! Unfortunately we missed out seeing them pray however the highlight of my day was when we came across a monk, and finally Kynton managed to man up and ask him for a photo for me (as I was too scared to approach him myself after hearing stories that women are not allowed to approach them or pass them anything directly) sexist! However my day was made and myself and Kynton had our photo taken with a Monk... That's another tick for the Thailand Bucket List! I stood next to the monk to have a cheeky photo and he took a step further away from me, obviously didn't want to get too close, anyway day was made! Next stop... Tree house!