Chiang Mai is a good base to explore northern Thailand. Took the overnight train from Ayuthaya and didn't sleep a wink. Instead of small cabins like on the Vietnamese trains, in Thailand a sleeper carriage just means that you have 40 bunks all in one long carriage. The only thing you have separating you from everybody else is a small curtain...however, what they don't tell you is that the air conditioning, rather than being an added bonus is actually a total nightmare. If you're sleeping on the top bunk not only do you have to put up with the air con blowing freezing cold on you all night but they also don't switch the lights out so you're trying to get some sleep whilst under a spotlight! But on the plus side the ingenuity used in designing the train carriages is very impressive. A set of two seats converts into a bottom bunk whilst the top bunk drops down from above and holds all the mattresses and sheets etc. If you want something to eat a folding table is stored under the seats and can just be put up and down in a few seconds - very clever.

So anyway a little bit grumpy and very tired we arrived in Chiang Mai...First stop was an elephant ride up in the hills, just a little bit scary but good fun. You can feed the elephants bananas and sugar cane, although it's not so good when the elephant behind decides he wants some too and you have a dirty muddy trunk keep appearing and drooling over your shoulder! But when you're nice and smelly of elephant there's one easy way to get rid of the smell. Rather than taking a mini van back into town why not take a bamboo raft down the river instead...much more fun and much wetter too! We saw quite a few odd bugs and things and even a couple of water snakes, although mostly we got wet because our bamboo raft driver'' (I don't know what you call him!) decided it was really funny to point out lots of things along the way by slapping the bamboo on the water and all over us!

So we're smelling of elephants and soaking wet from the river, what you really need is a nice hot shower, yes indeed. But that would be far too easy. Back in the mini van we set off for our hotel but after 10 minutes or so there was a large clunk as something appeared to fall off the bottom of the van. When the driver got out and returned a few minutes later with a rather large looking bolt we were a little concerned, but he just laughed, threw it on the floor and on we went. We knew it was getting slightly more serious when after another 10 minutes there was another clunk and this time it was all over for the mini van - it was to go no further. So stranded between some hills and Chiang Mai we made our entertainment watching a frog trying to cross the road, dodging motorbikes and cars until finally he made one hop too many and Mr Frog was no more...An hour and half and a few mosquito bites later our new van turned up and we made it back in time to go for some traditional northern thai food and the famous Chiang Mai night market.

There was even a little time for some shopping at the night market, where we seemed to amuse the locals while trying on t-shirts. While I'm no supermodel, I'd like to think I was of fairly average size, but in Thailand that's considered huge, considering most people are no more then 5ft tall. So it was laughs a plenty at us as we struggled to find a genuine fake billabong t-shirt to fit!

Chiang Mai also has some great cooking schools. I did a half day course at one of them and it was brilliant fun. I made a red curry paste from scratch (complete with 6 chillis - hot hot hot!) which I then used to make a penang curry, cooked fried fish with a chilli and basil salsa, made a chiang mai curry and sweet & sour vegetables. And the best bit of all, you get to eat everything you make so it was one busy morning and I was so full at the end of it that I didn't eat anything else all day. But the good news is we got a recipe book so I'll be attempting to recreate my culinary excellence when I get home!

One final must-see in Chiang Mai is the Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep temple. It's situated on a mountain just outside the city and after a short songtheow ride you have to climb 306 steps to reach it (yes I counted them all!). From the top you are rewarded with a fantastic view over the Chiang Mai valley and of course a wonderful temple where we also able to listen to the monks chanting.

If you have time, Chiang Mai, as with most places in Thailand, is a great place to wind down with a massage, so this time I decided to try the oil massage - when in Thailand and all that..!