We survived our first night bus in Asia and made it to Chiang Mai in the early hours and slept by the pool in our new hotel until our room was ready - we're so classy! We wandered around the ancient walled city which is surrounded by a wide moat still filled with water and took in some more Wats and even taking some time at 'Monk Chat' in Wat Chedi Luang where we got to talk to the monks themselves about their lives as monks, when they entered monk life (some as young as 11) and what they do with their time. The funeral of an important monk was taking place in the Wat also and his body was preserved sitting in prayer at the top of the temple - it took us a while to realise that it was actually his body and not a statue - incredible!

There was a big night of Thai boxing, Muay Thai, on when we arrived in town so we headed along. We had heard that the level of boxing can vary from very good to very poor. We were very lucky to get a night where there were a few fights for local titles. These guys are completely nuts. Pretty much anything goes and a couple of poor guys got knocked out by a solid knee to the stomach followed by a kick to the head - not softly either! The skill level was amazing they were so quick with punches, knees and kicks flying everywhere. They had a full range of boxers from about 12 year olds right the way up to the 30ish year olds. Almost as much entertainment was the pit ring side where a hundred or so locals were betting on the fights and as a good punch or kick landed the odds changed and everyone was screaming new odds. It was good to see from the safety of the stands, but not sure we'll take up the sport. Gareth's birthday was spent in Chiang Mai too. We started off the day with a dip in the pool of our hotel (we were splashing out a bit and it was so worth it!) and then headed off to a cookery course for the day. We cooked all of our favourite Thai dishes from scratch; Pad Thai, Hot & Sour Prawn Soup, Spring Rolls, Panang and Red Curries, Chicken and Cashew Nut stir fry and finished with sticky rice with coconut milk and mango. And best of all we ate everything we cooked - it was fabulous! The best Thai food we have tasted anywhere and there's an added advantage to all of you - we'll be practising on you when we get back :) Unfortunately I had booked a fancy dinner for Gareth's birthday that night - not exactly what we felt like after cooking and eating all night but we went along and enjoyed the view over the river!

The countryside outside Chiang Mai is beautiful and we hired a tuk tuk and took a ride out one of the days. We headed to the Maesa Elephant Camp which we'd been recommended as apparently they treat the elephants really well and they're obviously happy as they're reproducing. We watched the elephants feeding and bathing and then took in the elephant show - which left a bit like a circus act - but didn't go on an elephtant ride. Elephants in Thailand used to be used for heavy work like logging but that was outlawed years ago and now the majority of the elephant population are held in captivity and made to perform or used for tourists to ride on - a bit sad. We also headed to a hilltribe village which was a bit contrived with 4 different hilltribes living in the same complex with just a small distance between their 'villages'. The longnecks were amazing to see - the women begin to wear high gold collar type necklaces when they're about 4 or 5 and they wear progressively taller ones as they get older elongating their necks to unnatural lengths - very elegant to look at and amazing to see the youngest girls running around with nothing around their necks and then the 4 and 5 year olds already wearing the long collars.

Chiang Mai's night bazaar and Sunday market were also great - much nicer than anything in Bangkok and with a real mix of locals and tourists. The Sunday market takes over most of the walled city on Sunday evening with lots of food stalls with great Thai snacks and loads of wooden carvings, Thai clothes, silks etc. It's got a lovely atmosphere and was a great way to spend our last night in Chiang Mai. We also enjoyed a traditional Thai foot massage which was heavenly, slightly painful at the time but so much better afterwards.