As we had started to plan how we were going to get to Burma, it seemed the only way there from Thailand was to fly in from Bangkok or Chiang Mai. Though after much reading online trip planning we came across some forum posts suggesting it might soon become possible to cross over the land border from Thailand as they were due to be reopened now the conflict in the areas had subsided. This should have happened from June, but appeared to have slipped and was loo...

Our Tuk-Tuk was flagged down in the street by the lady from the little shop and we were walked through the field to the house just as the rain started pouring down. Within seconds we both had a small child hanging off us and we were in the thick of it. Everyone else was out so we just played games and learned the names of the four youngest children. "I like you" was uttered by Felix, this was to be the theme of our week here.The living conditions were not quite w...

With our passports returned it was time to move on. A few hours away by bus and we arrived at the ancient city of Sukhothai, considered the first independent Thai kingdom, emerging in the 13th century as the Khmer empire was crumbling. It was great seeing the temples in their original form, we'd seen plenty of Buddha statues across Thailand but nothing with this much history. The maze of crumbling ruins was a sight to behold and also offered plenty of shady pla...

Chaing Mai has a number of different places you can go and visit elephants. Thailand and Burma both have a chequered history of mistreating elephants in the past. Thailand has recently banned both the use of elephants for logging and for begging on the street. This has had a positive effect on how elephants are treated but it's also meant a lot of them are left without a home and lots are badly injured. It was quite hard working out which park would be best, ...

Chiang Mai had been recommended to us by a fellow traveller, after spending nearly a month on various beach resorts ( I know the hardship!) it was great to be back in a bustling city. The first thing that we noticed were the monks dressed in orange robes. Men and woman of all ages don the robes and follow Buddhism. There are lots of temples in Chiang Mai and you could go inside them and see the monks praying at the many large ornate statues of Buddha. Every ...