We spent a few days longer than expected in Chiang Mai, due to the huge amount of things to do in the surrounding area - among other things we did a 1-day trek and a Thai cookery course! The 1-day trek is a very touristy affair (but great fun) which involves an elephant ride, a bamboo raft trip, visiting a 'tribal village' (I've seen more authentic tribal villages in cultural centres!!!) and a swim in a waterfall. We were picked up with a little mini-van and driven to the elephant trekking place with our group:- a Scottish couple and their cute little girl, an Italian couple who came over to get their teeth done (the savings they made getting them done here paid for their holiday - they explained that this how you make the most of middle age!), two young French guys and us. Our guide was a bit out of sorts (although still wearing the customary Thai smile) as he'd been kicked by an elephant the day before. hmmm.... :o/ So, we arrived at the elephant place, which is located about an hour from Chaing Mai in a hilly area covered with bamboo forest - very pretty. It would seem, however, that they'd miscalculated the number of elephants required and were one short, so one of the mahouts (elephant keepers) took off and came back riding a fairly small elephant which had loads of chains hanging off it...not a good sign! Of course we ended up with that one, and we quickly discovered that the teenage years are not so easy for elephants either! Once the mahout finally (which the help of a little pick-axe which they hit them on the head with - poor ellies!) convinced him to move and we caught up to the rest of the group, he realised that he was in the back and, not happy about that at all, took off up a tiny, almost vertical little path which led to the top of the hill, and into the lead. The mahout didn't seem at all concerned - in fact he was pretty amused as he watched our progress from the safety of the main track! Well, I was certain we were done for - he was on his knees with his front legs and his back legs were slipping around in the mud! Nige chose this time to remind me that our travel insurance doesn't include elephant treks. Bless him. Incredibly, he made it to the top and we burst out of the bamboo in front of the other startled tourists. When we got back, our guide let us in on the secret of which elephant had kicked him the day before. Give you three guesses... The waterfall and the bamboo rafting were much more peaceful - Nige got to punt and even managed to stay on through the rapids! The cooking course was wonderful too - a world away from the one we did in Kerala (India)! For the 8 of us (from all over the world!) we had two teachers, our own work-stations and woks and learnt enough dishes to throw a Thai banquet! Mr Joe, the main teacher, was just fantastic and took the Thai laid-back attitude to new heights telling us all day it was Naaaaaaaaw praaaaaaaaaa-bleeeeem. Taaaaaaake eeeet eeeeasy. It's gooooooood foooooor yoooooooooooooooooooooooou. Seriously, the 'you' went on for a good 10 seconds!!! Having done pretty much everything on offer in Chiang Mai we thought we'd head further north, up towards the Golden Triangle and the Myanmar border to try and get off the beaten track a bit more and perhaps do a trek from there which wouldn't be quite so touristy. Early night? Hell no! We drank Singha beer until closing time - no bus trip would be complete without a rotten hangover!!!