Hello All! It has been a while since we have updated the blog as we have been on the move non stop! After leaving the islands we arrived in Bangkok. We spent four days there and enjoyed a mixture of shopping, sight seeing and partying!

On our first day out we caught a boat along the river to see the Grand Palace, and the renound reclining Buddha. The temples were beautiful, an array of golden statues and jewels! After a day of sight seeing we hit Ko San road, where all the night life takes place. We enjoyed dinner and cocktails, and made friends with a group of people staying at our hostel. The next day we took the sky train around Bangkok, checking out all the shops and markets. We have to say, the spring rolls they sell on the food stalls are the best we have ever eaten!

Leaving Bangkok we caught the night train (14 hours) to Chiang Mai. It is a lot less hectic here, we have been staying in a hostel called Spicy Thai. It is set just outside of the town in its own mini community, and has become like a second home to us! Similar to Bangkok our first day was spent exploring the local temples, Lauren's map reading skills continue to astound me! After a long day of walking, we hit the night market. Unfortunatly for our bank account, the shopping here was to good to be true! Enjoying the the numerous stalls and busy surroundings, we barterd our way through, and made some good purchases! We even came back the next night for round two!

During a walk around town we stumbled across a temple which was home to Buddhist monks. We were lucky enough to be able to talk with them about their religion, and even have a two hour meditation session which was amazing! We came away feeling rather spiritual. We decided it would be best to have an early night as the next day we had to be up and out to begin our three day treck!

Leaving at 9am, we met our group with who we would spend the next three days. We drove to the north east of Chiang Mai where the heart of the forest begins. Our first day was spent walking through jungle and swimming in waterfalls, which were spectacular. Trecking up a mountain, we reached our destination for the night, a hill tribe village. The night was spent playing games, eating delicious food which was made from local rice they grew, and being entertained with a local mans magic tricks! Our accomodation was a hut with bamboo beds and mozzy nets! Not the most comfertable of sleeping facilities, but none the less an experience!

We were up bright and early the next morning ready for our 5 hour treck. All started well and we were enjoying the challange ahead of us. However, half way through it appeared that part of our walk way had been demolished, and our guide had to find an alternative route! This involved walking up vertical hills, wading through rivers, crawling through trees, being bitten by bugs, and slipping in mud! At one point it all got a little two much, Lauren slipped down a mud hill and cut her hand, i then procceeded to do the same, excpet i cried! (which i think is ok as i am the younger one!) Lauren took care of me though and made sure I was ok, where as the guide just found it rather amusing! Lauren continued to enjoy the treck, the Ray Mears character that she is! I however was still in shock from my near death experience and found it dificult to battle with nature! It was not long until we arrived our next port of call, and we were able to buy some chocolate which brightend the mood abit!

The second place we stayed at was lovley. The scenery was beautiful, miles and miles of mountains! They had the cutest puppies aswell which Lauren and I fell in love with! Our night was spent eating around a camp fire, with one of the guides playing guitar as we all sang along. His knowledge on english music was limited so we happily sat and enjoyed the Thai songs. One of the most amazing things of the trip was the sky that night, its hard to explain how beautiful it was. We sat and starred at the stars for hours whishing we could sleep outside (but realising we would get eaten to death by mozzies!).

We had a lie in untill half 9 the next morning and enjoyed toast and fresh fruit for breakfast. The group was slightly achy from the hard core treck the previous day! We were able to see another waterfall and then headed off to do some bamboo rafting. This was really relaxing, and we were even able to get off and jump into a a fast flowing rapid, which was great! Our last stop off on the treck was elephant ridding, which myself and Lauren hated. The elephants were treated really badly, they hit them on the head and shouted at them all the time to make them move. We couldnt wait to get off, an even felt a little sick about the whole situation. We are off to Pai today and have the opportunity to visit an elephant sanctury where we get to wash, feed, and take care of the elephants, which we cant wait to do!

Overall our time spent in Chiang Mai has been great! I hope this blog has been interesting, and has given you a snipit of our experiences!

Hope you are all well, and thanks for keeping us updated! Love Louise and Lauren. xxxxx