North Thailand - Bangkok, Chiang Mai & Pai

So it's the 3rd of May and are heading to Thailand. First stop, Bangkok! First words learnt, sawad dee krap (hello). Feeling organised we pre-booked our accommodation. Wow jumped into a taxi and headed into the city. The 'taxi' driver had no idea where the hostel was therefore james became lead scout! Map in hand he got us there in one piece. Being 7.30am having not slept all night we were pretty tired. We were greeted by several cats, 7 in all and an American who owned the hostel. James wanted to watch the boxing so he kindly led us to a shady bar on bicycle. Place was a little dodgy so we opted for first class seats on the roadside outside a mobile phone shop. We ate our first Thai street food, a buffet of several dishes for less than a £1 followed by coconut pancakes which were amazing. Although very friendly the hostel stunk, the 7 cats did not leave therefore pooped in litter trays, we had a small fan In the room and sweated the afternoon out catching up on sleep before exploring the crazy city. We headed by boat across the river to china town, before watching the sunset, again amazing. The tranquility was interrupted by a visit to ko sang road which involved being offered trays of fried tarantula and scorpion, go go bars and massage upon massage! Very stereotypical Thailand, but interesting all the same. We sampled a Thai massage which was not at all relaxing. We asked for a foot massage which ended with elbows being stuck into our back, quite an experience, felt pretty good after it though! Despite only being in Bangkok 24 hours we loved it, even the huge rats piling into bags of rubbish, the hundreds of luminous pink taxis and the smell!

The next day we moved to our first 10 bed shared dorm, and loved it!! We met some great people and enjoyed the experience. We thought being in Thailand we should visit pat pong, known for its seedy bars. We took a tuk tuk at 10.30pm, and ventured into the bars having one drink and leaving! Another experience ticked off the list. The following morning it rained and rained and rained, welcoming as it was cooler but not the best for a sightseeing planned day. We therefore opted for a tuk tuk tour, visiting several temples the grand palace where james donned a very cool outfit (see pic) resembling Ace Ventura! Despite being very wet we began to love Thailand. Our day got even better, with a visit to the tallest building in the city Baiyoke Tower. We took along Brian from China and Naz from Malaysia, and headed to the top! 82 floors later the most amazing views ever, spaghetti junction roads and buildings upon buildings lit up! Photos don't do it justice. We sat and enjoyed a cocktail in the very cool bar then ventured to the revolving roof to get a 360 view. Wow...

We left Bangkok, and decided to head north before hitting the beaches and was so glad we did. First stop Chiang Mai a little city in the north smaller version of Bangkok. The inner city still has remains of the old city surrounded by a wall and a moat filled with temples (30 of them) dating back to the 13th century. Whilst walking the city, we stumbled upon a hostel with a pool. Sold!! we moved in for three nights. Spending the first night alone, two girls from Brighton joined us in the dorm, we shared stories and tips! We spent the day riding around on bicycles exploring the city stopping every 5 minutes in the shade incase I melted..there was a pretty high chance I would, it's so hot! In the evening we visited the night market and treated ourself to pizza whilst sat on haybales in a very cool area listening to western music. A right treat.

The hotel were planning a trek and overnight stay in a village with the long neck family, it sounded interesting so we decided to book on! The next morning we left with 8 others to start the trek, a trek which we thought would be a leisurely stroll considering it was midday and absolutely boiling. Nope, ting tom our guide decided to use us as guinea pigs and test a new route. 4 hours later we we had walked up, slid down and realised ting tom had no idea where we were going. Eventually we reached camp, totally oblivious of the elephants due to being so tired, however within an hour we were riding them, bare back, very uncomfortable but what an experience! Next, bath time. The elephants rolled around in the river whilst we soaked them, they soaked us more, I then turned to see james riding solo having got on the huge animal in the river, very brave! We finished the day sitting around the campfire with some great friends we had made, eating, wait for it.....curry and rice talking of the day's events. The local long neck families came to join us. They danced and sang and insisted we join them, very funny. We spent the night sleeping in bamboo huts all 10 of us together on makeshift beds. Needless to say we didn't sleep very well especially when James was convinced The local dogs were instead tigers roaming the hut. We woke the next morning to a beautiful sunrise and the elephants eating their breakfast whilst we ate ours.

We began the next day's events with a spot of white water rafting, not very rapidy (if that's even a word) due to the lack of water but great fun all the same. Our instructor was crazy, singing Oasis and James Blunt songs as he tried his best to throw us off, to which he succeeded. We got soaked by the locals and even had our raft stolen. When retrieved we transferred to a bamboo raft where me and James were left to our own devices. It was quite relaxing until a huge water spider came on board, needless to say I got off in a shot. What an adventure we had, definitely one we won't forget!

Next stop Pai, north Thailand. A 3 hour bus journey, where motion sickness tablets were required due to the 700 odd corners over the mountain was eventful! The tablets worked though :) we stayed in a little guesthouse owned by a man from Birmingham who moved to Thailand many years ago (should mention he was an ex member of the English defence league) what a nice guy though and seemed to have made massive changes in his life. Our little cabin was perfect despite one intruder, a huge 8 legged beast. The biggest I've ever seen, resulting in me standing on a chair on the balcony screaming which james tried to move it along. It lasted ten minutes but I suffered flashbacks all night, yuk! Pai was amazing, a former hippy town with lots of character, very Shangri-la. We spent our time sampling the street food, meeting with friends from earlier in the trip, drinking rum and coke for a £1 and exploring the area on a motorbike. Yes motorbike, and we didn't fall of this time. For those of you who worry, fear not the roads were very quiet and James has become a very good driver. After seeing all the local sights, including Chinese village, Pai canyon, lots of temples we ended the day at a waterfall to cool off. Our final day in Pai was spent relaxing at a local pool, where we had the most amazing potato wedges ever whilst listening to great tunes and chatting to fellow travellers about our next journey south. The islands!

Much love. Laagon krap xxxxx