Hey all!

We are now in Chiang Mai, after a 13 hour journey from Bangkok on an overnight sleeper train - definitely worth the experience! We met some fellow travellers hailing from Essex, turns out they were on the same flight out to Bangkok as us. Unfortunately the girls didnt get much sleep but were kept entertained by playing Blackjack and then watching late DVD sessions on a PSP. They were however told to pack in there mobile entertainment centre and shut up by the girl sat in the seat next to them. Woken up after 3 hrs of sleep by the orange juice man, we arrived at Chiang Mai train Station at 6.30 am, where we were promptly bustled in to the back of a van and brought to the Royal Guesthouse by an old lady introducing herself as Mama Honey. After cold showers and renting a double bed for 3 people, we are soon off on a cultural and arts excursion, and then tomorrow a jungle trk is planned - elphant riding and waterfall diving are all on the agenda. More coming soon after our first night out in Chiang Mai!

Sorry for the delay in updating the blog, it seems people are worrying after we spoilt you with a blog each day at the beginning. Couldnt be helped as we've been on a boat for 2 days travelling from Thailand to Laos!

Anyway the rest of Chiang mai was really good. On our first day we were treated to mamma honeys free tour which was supposed to be an insight into thai industry! The first stop was a silk factory where we saw lots of women working extremely hard on looms which they operated by hand. This was the interesting bit but it became clear that this wasn't the point of the tour when we were quickly directed into the on site shop where we could purchase all the silk products. We politely refused but had to get through 5 similar visits including 2 jewellry stores an umbrella and paper manufacturer and a rug manufacturer. The salespeople were quite pushy although the rug store gave up when we told him we were all unemployed and that we wouldnt be carrying a roll of carpet arund the world with us! We were taken in by the Lanna Lacquer makers as Leanna thought it must have been named after her and they offered us green tea when we walked in, so we all left with small lacquer gifts!

Our night out in Chiang mai started off with a walk down to the night bazaar where we found the 2 guys from the train outside the Red Lion pub (yes it was as english as it sounds!). We had dinner together, a mixture of thai food and good old fish and chips, and then decided to try some of the local bars. We found an english owned bar and set our sights on the cocktail menu! The essex lads introduced us to a gas chamber which involved setting light to some kind of green sambuca, capturing the fumes in a glass, downing the drink, sucking the fumes from the glass with a straw and then snorting the rest of the liquid up your nose! Thought maybe we'd had enough when we saw an elephant plodding down the road in front of us but when it came back the other way we realised it was safe to continue!

On to the strip bar, surprisingly Nikki and Leannas choice of venue, although there wasn't too many arguments from the lads! thought it might be a cultural experience and it was certainly that. Wont go into too much detail but we witnessed baloons being burst with darts and coke bottles opened in very unconventional ways!

The night ended with 5 of us squeezing into a tuk tuk and a very good nights sleep.