After Sukothai we took the overnight to Chiang Mai.

Chiang Mai is in the north of Thailand and is renowned for its 300 temples and jungle trekking.

After visiting Ayuthya, Sukothai and Bangkok we were feeling a little templed out. We did however visit 3 of the most famous temples here which were very nice. We were able to see some young monks being ordaned in one of them which was great to see. When we arrived they had already had their heads shaven and were wearing their bright orange robes, sitting with their families. Apparently it brings great pride to Thai families if there sons become monks, they become well respected.

Our main reason for coming to Chiang Mai was to see some elephants. We took a one day trip which took us to an elephant camp in the jungle as well as including a visit to the famous Long Neck and Long Ear tribes and some bamboo rafting.

First of all we had to stop an orchid and butterfly farm, all trips have annoying padding.Then we went to the elephant camp where we saw the daily show. The elephants were so clever they had been taught to move logs, stand on one leg, dance, play football and basketball and one elephant called Ora Chi could even paint a picture. It was quite amazing although you can't help but feel sad for them as its definately not natural is it?

After the show we were lead to an Ox cart where we were ridden in a rickety old cart through the village to the place where we could take our elephant ride. It was quite novel I suppose, didn't feel very safe though, we expected the wheels to fall off any minute.

Our elephant arrived to pick us up. We were given a 37 year old female called Ma Tao. She was huge, we sat on a little seat on top of her back and the mahout (driver), sat just above her head. It was really good, wasn't as uncomfortable as we expected. We had a little journey through the jungle where there were various stops where we bought her some bananas and fed her. She was lovely, she also took us through a small river before we had to return back to the camp. On our journey we saw a small elephant that came up to our mahout driver for a banana, very sweet!

After our ride we had lunch and then were able to see a baby elephant that was just under 2 months old. He was lovely! He was following his mother very closely, at one point he came up to us and we could stroke him, he put his little trunk on Allison's shoe, ahhh. It was funny watching him when they went down to the river. He is so young that he hadn't figured out how to drink yet. He wasn't taking water into his trunk like his mother and emptying it into his mouth, he was submerging his whole head into the river.

Our next adventure was bamboo rafting, the raft looked very flimsy but we jumped onboard and were navigated down the river by 2 Thai oarsmen. It was very relaxing, Rich had a little go at it too, we cruised down the river past all the local villagers. Allison got a soaking from another of the oarsmen. At the moment it is the water festival in Thailand where they celebrate Buddha. Basically any opportunity they can get to soak you,they will. Allison also got super soaked by one of those huge water pistols when we got back to the city, very funny!

Our final part of the trip was a visit to the Long Neck and Long Ear hill tribes.The tribes originate from Burma but the Thai government could not get them to leave. The women in the Long Neck tribes have brass wrapped around them which elongates the neck. It also makes the neck very brittle, they aren't allowed to take the rings off at all only for changing, they say there necks are so weak they would break.They also have several rings around their knees. We also saw the Long Ear tribe, who place rings in their ears so they are left with gaping holes.When the ladies are asked why they do this ritual they all say they don't know they do it because their mothers did. We had some photos taken with them, some of the girls were only young, one was only 5 years old. .

After this we returned back to Chiang Mai we decided to have an authentic Thai massage. Rich had the traditional Thai massage (no added extras so don't worry!) and Allison has the Swedish/Thai oil massage. There was a little cracking and clicking coming from Rich's direction but it was very relaxing. One hours massage for about 3 pounds each, you can't complain at that!

We had a great time in Chiang Mai, the people were friendly and the food was great. This is the end of our Thailand experience, we definately enjoyed Bangkok and the north alot more than the islands in the south.

Next stop Laos, we are preparing ourselves for a rocky ride as transport is a little shifty!