Hi Everyone,

Got to Chiang Mai and met up with Hayley. She had booked us into this really nice little hostel called the little bird. It was only £2 a night so good stuff. The rooms slept 4 but we couldn't all be together so me and Ria shared with 2 other people and Amy and Hayley shared with another 2. Our roomies were really nice though and we all went out for dinner and drinks that night.

The next day we just chilled during the day and then went to see Alice and wonderland that night. It was so weird. We were about 5 mins late and when we walked in everyone wasstanding up and singing the Thai national anthem. We had to wait in silence for them to sit down. We thought people were in our seats so we just went and sat at the front. About an hour into the film someone came up to us and asked to see our tickets. We then got told that we were at the wrong time showing. It was so funny. We didn't have to move though so that was good.

The next day we hired out some scooters (me driving and Ria on the back and Hayley driving with Amy on the back) and we went to the tiger kingdom. It was so cool. There are different age tigers to see and different prices. We decided to go and see the big cats. They are half asleep so probably sedated or something but it was so good to hug and lay down with the big tigers. We then had a walk around and saw the baby tigers. They were a month old. All the tigers were female apart from one cage where they put a male in with a female to mate. They mate every 10 mins apparently.

We then went to a waterfall with a private beach which only holds about 50 people. There were a few other people there but it was so nice. We sat down looking at the waterfall with a drink and a bag of strawberries. It was so unreal but so nice. We then went to the market because we needed to buy some trekking shoes for the next day.

A tuk tuk come to pick us up the next day for trekking and it was a squeeze to get in. We then picked up 2 more people on the way so people were hanging off the back. We went on an elephant trek first of all which was good but the first elephant trek was better. We then had some lunch and then the trekking began. It was fine at first. Although I didn't have any socks so one of the boys had to lend me a spare pair. We stopped at a waterfall half way through for a call down or a shower as our tour guide called it. Our tour guide was a good one. He was 50 years old, smoked at every stop and he was fine doing all the trekking. He was also called Moonshine and was always saying 'Oh my Buddha'. He was so funny. Then we had a littler stop and he said the next 59 mins is all going to be uphill. We thought he was joking. It was like mounting climbing. It was so steep and long. Thought I wasn't going to make it at one point. When we got to the top we were shown to our nice luxury apartment. A bamboo hut in the middle of nowhere. The shower was a tap with a bucket you had to throw over yourself and the toilet was a hole in the floor. Nice. Moonshine and his family made us some nice dinner and we all just chilled. While we were eating a storm decided to come our way. Thunder, lightning and rain. We were dry though so it was ok. Some of the other people went to bed but me and Ria stayed up and played cards with the boys that were on the trek as well for a bit. There was no electricity there just candles and torches. It was a bit of a nightmare trying to go out in to the storm to go toilet. Went to bed and it was so uncomfortable as it was just a rug over the bamboo. As well as sleeping in a giant room of 13 so you can hear everything.

The next day we got told that it was all downhill so we felt better. It still hurt your muscles though and was a bit dangerous as we were now jumping down the mounting all the time. Again we stopped at a waterfall and at the end we ended up on the river. We then got to go white water rafting. It wasn't very extreme as the water levels are really low as its monsoon season coming up soon. It was still really good though and really funny. We then had a bamboo raft to float down the river where we then had lunch. Overall a very good two days.

We chilled out after for a few days as we were aching from the trek.

Next stop Laos .....