So we arrived in Chiang Mai after a 15 hour overnight train journey from Bangkok. The train was pleasantly nicer than the ones in China - much more room to spread out and we each had a private bed with a curtain around it for privacy. It had AC too which was soooo much better as it's hot here!

When we arrived in Chaing Mai the weather was noticeable cooler than Bangkok and quite overcast - we were warned that it might be quite smoggy because of the slash and burning of the forests in the north, but the visability was fine and we enjoyed being out of the sun for a day! Our guesthouse had arranged a pick up from the train station so we were met by a middle aged Thai man (with no teeth!) who was half our size and couldn't even offer to help us with our bags as they were probably bigger than he was! He took us to our guesthouse which is called 'Ben's Guesthouse' which is located just outside the city. The owner took us through some local attractions/activities and we realised that there is just so much to do here! We have planned to do a one day trek tomorrow which included an elephant ride, swimming in a waterfall and visiting a local minority hill tribe so it should be a great day! We are going to see a Thai Boxing match tomorrow night where we have ringside tickets! Best view in the house, hopefully!

Going back to yesterday, after we checked in to our room (pictures have been uploaded so you can imagine!) we strolled in to Chiang Mai town which is just so much nicer than Bangkok. It has a really relaxed feel to it and we found a nice little coffee shop immediately that sold amazing coffees and free green tea - anything free is very exciting for us now so we were extremely happy! After enjoying our drinks we wandered around for a little bit to get our bearings and even though our hotel is outside of the city it only takes 10 minutes to walk there so it's a great location.

After our orientation walk (!) we headed back to the guesthouse and organised for a Tuk Tuk to take us to visit the tigers at a place called 'Tiger Kingdom'. We were in two minds whether to do this because we had heard split opinions on whether it's right and if the tigers are drugged or not. It's just like a zoo really (something that we aren't sure if we agree with or not anyway) where you can go in to the tiger cages and touch them and watch them close up. We took a chance and went there as we realised that this was probably the only opportunity we would ever get to actually touch a tiger and decide for ourselves if it is right or not. When we got to Tiger Kingdom we were greeted with a menu which allowed us to choose what age group of tigers we wanted to see! We opted for some that were 8 months old and were extremely nervous before going in to the cage! The tigers were huge, their paws were each probably the size of both Matt's size 13 feet put together and they just had this presence about them that made you wary of them the whole time. They weren't that interested in us really but did allow us to stroke them and watch them, there is just so much power in them you can see it as they walk around and not knowing if they were going to turn on you or not kept the adrenaline going! Holly was quite emotional about the experience as it has always been her dream to do something like this but we both just felt so sorry for the tigers as the keepers kept smacking them on the nose with a piece of wood everytime they misbehaved or got too over excited. We would rather they just let them be as opposed to hitting them on our behalf.

After Tiger Kindgom we went back to our gueshouse and had dinner at the night market followed by the Manchester United match in an English pub called the Red Lion! The game was shocking and they lost 4-1 so we aren't going to talk about that ever again! We enjoyed a few beers and a Blue Lagoon cocktail (We were thinking of Vicky whilst drinking this!) and then walked back to our room. We were almost chased by local wild dogs that growled at us angrily as we walked past - we were both terrified they were going to attack us but we are still here to tell the tale! Note to self: don't walk down that alley tonight!! Will write more tomorrow after our trek! xxx