4 months ago, the thought of a 14 hour train journey would have put us off and got us booking the next flight! But now, we're seasoned pro's…

Our train left Bangkok at 10pm and the first impressions were good! Much cleaner than the Indian trains we had travelled on and there were luggage racks next to each set of bunks which meant that we didn't need to squeeze them onto our beds with us! We spent a few hours chatting with the girls opposite us and then drew our curtains across and settled in for the night. We both slept quite well and were woken at 8am for our breakfast by our crazy restaurant lady (her nickname was Boom - she's the kind of person you wish you could keep in your pocket and take everywhere with you!) - which was great, but it meant having to get out of our warm beds while they were converted back to seats…at least we managed to keep a hold of our blankets.

The view from the train was stunning, although when we woke up, it was cold and raining! All of a sudden, we were wondering whether getting rid of our hoodies was a good idea or not! We arrived into Chiang Mai pretty much bang on time though and again marvelled at how clean and quiet it was! We bundled into a local taxi with a few other people and for once, the driver actually knew where he was going (we've gotten quite used to directing taxi drivers). Our hostel was a little out of town in a lovely area, only a 5 minute walk into the old city. Chiang Mai is lovely and such a contrast to some of the places we were in India, it's a bit of a reverse culture shock in some ways, getting used to seeing more travellers than locals and the variety of livestock wandering around is a lot smaller!

Our first full day was spent exploring the many many Wats (temples) around the city, each one was different in its own way but all of them were beautiful. A few of the Wats offered 'Monk Chat' - the chance to sit and chat with a monk (for a small donation), we didn't do it, but we spoke to some others that did and they said it was a great experience - something to add onto the list for next time! There were quite a few different day trips on offer around the city - elephant and tiger sanctuaries, waterfalls etc, however they were all a bit pricey - especially as we have both booked into retreats in Pai (I'm doing a 6 day yoga retreat and James has booked in for 5 days of Kung Fu!) so we decided to do free stuff around the city. Although travel and accommodation is more expensive than in India, the food is super cheap and if in doubt, there are many places selling food on sticks - the most bizarre of which was a mini sausage wrapped in a mini Scottish pancake…not totally awful, but an experience I don't care to repeat!

So, the rest of our stay in Chiang Mai was super relaxed. We even went to a fish foot spa, which was an odd but strangely relaxing experience, even James enjoyed it! I then went straight on to a thai massage - which was relaxing in parts, but rather painful in others. Still, it did the trick.

It's noticeably cooler in the evenings this far north which is a welcome change, although after getting rid of all of our warm stuff, we had to do a spot of shopping to pick up some long sleeved tops. It was novel to have a duvet for a change and to actually need it! The feeling of waking up and sticking a foot out of the bed, realising it's too chilly and snuggling back up was wonderful. It wont last long though as it's not long before we head to Krabi where it'll be hot hot hot again.

On our last night, we went with a group from the hostel to watch some Muay Thai boxing…it was rather odd though because most of the fights were kids rather than adults. It was entertaining though and gave me a chance to play around with the camera and get some pictures in a different setting. I guess it's the cultural differences coming out, but to have kids fighting late at night in a smoky bar surrounded by drunk tourists probably isn't something that would go down too well in the UK. They all seemed to be really into it though and were really respectful towards each other which was nice to see. Another experience ticked off the list!!

Before we knew it, we were packing up again and getting ready for our bus to Pai - apparently a hair raising 3 hour mini bus ride with over 700 corners with reports of even the most hardened stomachs succumbing to travel sickness…hmm. Our laptop was playing up a bit and not updating itself, not being the best computer technician, I randomly asked a Canadian couple that were staying in the hostel whether they knew anything about computers - lo and behold, back in Canada, he used to be technical support for Dell - so while we were packing up, he was fixing our computer…this little thing will live to fight another day thankfully.

The journey to Pai was not as bad as we'd been led to believe…yes, there were a lot of corners and yes, we did go up quite high in elevation. But nothing like the sheer drops off the side of the mountain that we had in Nepal, and the road was actually in pretty good condition! We got into Pai around mid-afternoon and checked into our hostel…it was quite difficult to find a hostel on line that wasn't advertised as a 'party' hostel and wasn't really expensive. So, we'd booked into one that clearly stated the bar closed at 10pm. Thankfully we'd booked a private room though!

So, our first night was interesting, we had a few drinks in the hostel bar and then went out to find some snacks on sticks. Which we did, and then we found a really cute little bar that had an open mic night on - but there was hardly anyone in there. Also, it was amazingly cheap for a large draught beer. So we sat down and had a few and browsed the song book for requests…next thing we know, I am up singing with the guy playing the guitar as 'his voice was failing'…after thinking I'd got away with it and getting ready to sit down, a few Americans we'd met in Chiang Mai walked past (very drunk!) and it ended up in a bit of a takeover of the poor guys session! But it was fun, lots of singing random old songs…it was not so much fun the next day though. After breakfast, we had planned on heading out to see some more Wats, but al I was good for was heading back to bed and catching up on Breaking bad. Sometimes, even in faraway lands, you just need a duvet day!

Pai is nice though, very small and full of backpackers, but it has a nice feel to it (James and I have differing opinions though - he prefers Chiang Mai). Today, we were meant to do a bit more than yesterday - but so far, we've made it out for a big full English breakfast (with actual real sausages! A nice little Sunday treat!). James is going into his retreat tonight and for the first time in about 12 weeks - we'll be spending a night apart! I go into my yoga retreat tomorrow lunchtime. We'll reconvene back in Pai town on Saturday and head back to Chiang Mai ready for our flight to Krabi early next Sunday…which means that it's almost Christmas time and time for Ken to come and visit!!