We have been really busy the last few days so sorry for the delay in updating our blog. We went to the local markets last night where we had a wander around and grabbed some food from the stalls, there were loads to choose from. First we had some meat balls dipped in chilli sauce on a stick, then after seeing someone in Bangkok having amazing looking mussels we decided to grab a bag here, this was more than disappointing as the mussles were shrivled up and covered in seaweed so we just chucked them and continued to work our way to the other stalls. After only a few meatballs we were getting pretty hungry so got the old faithful snack of mango with chili dipping sauce to keep us going. We had read about the local spicy sausage that they make in Northern Thailand so decided to seek it out, as where better to try it than on the local stalls. It was nice but the texture was a bit gristley and a few fatty bits turned Sinead off eating anymore of it after two bites. All the time we were at the markets we noticed we were the only tourists knocking about and it wasnt until the next day we realised we were at the local markets and not the tourist night bizaare ha ha ha After the markets we scooted around town to get the atmosphere, then dropped the bike home and went to a bar that was in hobbling distance for Sinead and had a drink and took in the live music. The next day we took the scooter and our unflattering helmets into the mountains. Luckily Matt had spent most of yesterday learning the thai riding style so we were confident enough riding into the amazing greenery that climbed the foothills. The road was really twisty and just climbed up and up the mountain making Chaing Mai disappear behind us. We stopped at a view point to look out over the provence, it was really something. We continued up eventually arriving at the top to find a really beautiful temple. We parked up and climbed the 300 steep steps and out of breath stood and took in the best views of Chaing Mai so far. We went into the temple and had a wander around, taking in the beautiful buildings that sat on the highest point of Chiang Mai - luckily for you lot, our battery died on the camera so no pics of temples lol. We went into a prayer room and got blessed by the monk there and received a band for luck and prosperity (In truth we have no idea what he said or what the band is for but the monk gave it to us so why not!!) After having some spicy papaya salad and sticky rice from a stall we headed back down the winding mountain and stopped into a waterfall before we got to the end. Matt is busting for a swim in the pool of the falls so we paid £2 each to get into this 7tier waterfall. We hiked a small bit up to tier two only to discover that that was as far as we could go, somewhat disappointed we retreated back to the scooter. A guy that works there asked if we enjoyed the waterfall, we told him we wanted to go to the top but it was blocked off. He told us that it was unsafe for tourists to go up because the rainy season had made it too slippy etc but that he could take us up (he already had his machette in his hand)! We decided maybe another time as we had already been to tier two and back and couldnt be bothered doing it again! That night we walked into town, as the copious amounts of tablets Sinead is taking kicked in and her club foot was back to normal size. We grabbed a bite to eat, Sinead had the main northern Thailand dish Kho Soi, which is like a red curry and really nice. We went to a roof top bar that looked out over the walls of the city but it was a bit quiet so we left and asked a tuk tuk driver to take us to the busy spots in Chiang Mai. We arrived up an alley way that had an array of different bars to choose from, we skipped the reggae bar and went into one that had a live band playing covers of the KIngs of Leon, Stereophonics etc We met a group of canadians and had a dance then left to go elsewhere - this landed us in a ladyboy bar and once Sinead realised, there was no leaving. it was fascinating watching the antics of the plastered british men and it must have been our jaws on the ground and eyes on stalks that prompted the ladyboy to come over and speak to us lol Speak soon! S&M