After being stuck in traffic for ages driving back into Bangkok, we arrived at the visa place at 6pm on the dot, just as they closed. Relievedly clutching our passports and shiny new visas, we had some food and headed for the train station to catch our 10pm 14 hour sleeper to Chiang Mai.

The sleeper bunks were larger and more comfortable than India, and although Dave managed to lose his ticket through a gap inside the window (after a small debate and some tooing and frooing it was all ok, and they just stamped mine twice), and had a cracking headache, we both managed to get some sleep. We woke in the morning, each covered in dead flies (but no bites), and quickly put the beds away. The scenery was beautiful lush jungle-like greenery, and it rained for the rest of the morning, although we were distracted from it by a mother-hen like lady who looked after us, waking up stragglers up and arranging everyone's breakfasts. She had so much trouble pronouncing Dave's name that she made him write it down and kept coming back to practice... "Dafe EwwioTT"... until she got the hang of it.

We arrived in Chiang Mai at lunchtime, a bit grubby but none the worse for wear, and see a sign for a guest house that Claire (who we met in Bangkok) had recommended. We got a free taxi over there, and crashed out for a few more hours... although we'd had plenty of sleep, we were worn out after a week of being on the move, so it was nice to settle for a few days again...

Chiang Mai 13/10/07

The train arrived at Chiang Mai at about 1.00pm and we were greeted by the usual 20 or so tuk tuks and shouts of "Guest House". Unlike previous places we had both a recommendation and a tuk tuk that was going to that place, so we jumped in and shared a ride with four local teenagers. After a bit of looking and smiling they then asked us our names and where we were going (by this meaning where we were from). After a bit of pointing & conferring on both sides we established that they were Manchester United and Arsenal fans who lived in the next town and were going to Chiang Mai to buy skateboards. We said goodbye just after they had taken their photo with us, and they presumably went off to tell their friends about the strange foriegners and how bad Nottingham Forest and Wolves are compared to Manchester United.

We arrived at Libra Guest House and got a nice room with air con, TV and bathroom for about 3 pounds each per night. Bargain.

Chiang Mai is a city with about 170,000 people but most of the sights are within the old city which is about 1 ms square and surrounded by moats and some of the old city walls. It has more than 300 temples or wats apparently but we didn't try to count them. For those of you who may want to look up the ones we did visit here is a list of them:

-Wat Chaing Man
-Chedi Luang
-Wat Phan Toa
-Wat Pra Singh, apparently the most visited temple in Chiang Mai. It had a nice garden with wise words on boards fixed to the trees. They said things like "Clean, Clear & Calm. These are the characteristics of a noble person". Not sure how helpful they are but it was a pretty garden. -Doi Suthep, This was a temple on a hill a few km from Chiang Mai. We spent about 45 minutes on a tuk tuk driving up a windy road to get there and the views of Chiang Mai were amazing. The temple was also impressive with a lot of gold and really intricate details. It did rain a lot both on the way up and when we were there, so much so the main steps (all 309 of them) looked like a waterfall for the first few minutes we were there. The tourist plastic ponchos were out in force. Still it was warm rain which gives us one up on the UK.

We did get the most rain we seen so far in Chiang Mai. When it was dry it was hot and humid and then when the rain came it would be heavy and last a good few hours. This combined with Jemma having a bug for a couple of days lead to us spending extended periods in the room. As I said, we did have a TV and air con etc but there were only 2 english speaking chanels. Again not a bad thing in itself, but when one seems to show endless repeats of the film 'The Lake House' (there is only so many times you can watch a bad Keanu Reeves film... or a good one for that matter) & the other chanel was Chelsea, we were both ready to get out and about again. Still i did get to see Chelsea beat Derby 4-1 in the 2001/02 season which was a bonus.

Apart from the extra day we stayed to go to the drive-through zoo (yes, no footpaths. All roads and small carparks. Obviously we don't have a car so a lot of walking was done) & seeing giant Pandas, the next thing Chiang Mai is known for is the night markets.

The night markets sell just about anything & everything from 'I went to Chaing Mai' t-shirts to deep fried chicken heads for the locals to eat. They also, depending on which one, go on until 5am but we didn't test this theory. We did find one with a makeshift band sitting in the middle of the road playing popular? Thai songs. The improvised paint tub drum was especially interesting.

We did end up in one market for the 6 o'clock national anthem. This is a big thing over here and everyone in the market and the whole street stopped what they were doing and didn't move or talk until it had finished being played from a loud public address system. The king really does get a lot of respect in Thailand. As a foreigner you just have to get along with it but I am sure I must have looked more confused than respectful.

When Jemma was feeling better we did celebrate with a couple of cocktails at a small bar round the corner from our guest house. The friendly bar man kept trying to have a chat but after numerous interruptions (how dare people order drinks while we are trying to talk), he gave in, and we sat in the rain discussing future business ideas & how little coke and how much vodka the cocktails had in them. The previously mentioned vodka levels did help us to forget we were sitting next to the toilet and three drinks later we decided to call it a night. We both slept very well that night and after a late start decided to stay in and watch the second half of the Lake House... Good old Keanu.

Anyway after exploring & relaxing with Keanu for a few days it was time to get another bus up to Chiang Khong & on to the border with Laos.