Man was I busy in Chiang mai.........after departing from the tour group (which was a little sad) it was time for me to depart on my own and face the world on my own this time. So I asked our extremely helpful tour leader if she could reccomend one thing that I HAD to do in Chiang mai, she told me about a volunteer programme she was involved with in the national park which involved taking care of rescue elephants at a nature park. You've probably all seen the pictures already but it was the best thing I did in Chiang Mai. It was absolutely amazing to see first hand the work that one person can do to save all these elephants. As part of the day I got to help with feeding, bathe them in the river, learn how they live and learn each of the elephants stories. Some of them we just unbelievable, one of the female disabled elephants had been rescued from her owner because they tied her down to the floor so she would mate with the bull becuase she'd previously refused! The weight of the bull elephants crushed her legs and broke one of her hips making her disabled from then on. There were so many more stories, each elephant had their own and being at the santuary you got to learn each individual one. I'd say the best thing of all about being at the santuary that day was when we actually got to see a new elephant come to the santuary, have the chains removed from it's legs and wonder free with the other elephants. That just made the day so much more special....anyone going there HAS to go Lek's elephant nature park becuase I know i'll definitely be going back to do some volunteer work!!!

I also took a thai cooking class for half a day at one of the best schools in the city and if I do say so myself the food was god damn gooooooooood!!!! No this does not mean I am now your personal thai chef, but I will cook them occasionally for you all haha.

Whilst there were a few of us from the group still hanging round we also decided to go see a Muay Thai Boxing show, so we bagged some ring-side seats and some Chang beer and enjoyed the show. Well Jonathan, all I can say is you would have got your ass kicked by the 7 year olds if you'd have been there they were so quick. To be honest it was a massive piss up and the main fight was a little staged but the kids who were the warm up acts were fantastic and we all got really into it, especially the part where we were doing the YMCA with the ladyboys!

I then had a bit of time to do my favourite thing in Thailand.......SHOP!!! The night market in Chiang mai was lush and have bought a few little presents for you all :)

Lots of love, hugs and kisses

Pippa xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx