After spending the past week in Chiang Mai when I initially was only going to spend a couple of days here, I am to say, sad to be leaving. I will admit I had to muster up all my effort this morning to be bothered to pack my things into my bag and not just turn round to Mark and ask if I could stay longer. There are more things I could do here, such as Thai cooking classes or going Trekking through the mountains but I realise that I will run out of time to see Lao...

After getting very sick yesterday, I decided to get out and see some more of Chiang Mai. I had heard the Temple at Doi Suthep was a sight to see and started to walk towards it. Walking seemed like a good idea until I had been walking for an hour and not even reached the Chiang Mai Zoo which from there Doi Suthep was another 18km...in this heat? Forget it! I'm getting a Songthaew! Flagging a taxi down is easier here than it is in New York and there are thousands o...

After a couple of random days of walking round Chiang Mai and seeing 'the sights' I thought I would do something more worthwhile with my time. So today I went Elephant Manhout Training at Jumbo Elephant Camp just outside of Chiang Mai. I will admit that I had a bit of a shaky start this morning after doing several Tequila Slammers in the pool hall with Jack and Levi last night. We bumped into each other in the street and went for dinner, then drinks and then play...

Arrival in Chiang Mai (2 hours late I'll add) - shaking off a sleepless night from the train to be greeted by hundreds of Taxi drivers all shouting 'You wan taxi? Wher you go?' I was hoping Chiang Mai was not going to be the same as Bangkok. Using my haggling skills (freshly developed as soon as possible) I told the guy what I was going to pay and nothing else, he accepted and we walked out of the station. Not really haggling I will admit...but I couldn't wait to...