We have arrived in Chiang Mai. The Karioke bus started well enough but deteriorated the longer it went on. The tour operater told us it was a three hour trip, the guesthouse said it would be four but it ended up being nearer six! The music was extremely loud and insessant, I couldn't turn my music player up loud enough to drown it out. The bus driver was a bit wild too managing even to turn the straightest piece of road into a slalom! The only rules of the road in Thailand are, there are no rules!

When we got to Chiang Mai bus station we hopped into a songathaew which is a taxi made from a pick up truck. This driver was also a bit keen and we nearly had an accident in the Chiang Mai rush hour. There was a screech of tyres and both of us were thown forward. Sharon was slammed into the back of the drivers cab, banging and grazing her elbow. I was more fortunate, only slamming into Sharon! She is fine, tough as old boots (her words, not mine). It was just a bit of a shock.

Arrived at the BMP Guesthouse which is a step up from the 'Spitoon' in Sukhothai, but only just! We are moving to a better one tomorrow (29th) for the next two nights.

Chiang Mai has an amazing night market, selling all sorts of fake goods, handicrafts and foods. We ate at the Anusan food court, a seafood and vegetarian specialist market. Sharon dared to try a mixed seafood spicy soup with chunks of fish, fish skin, jellyfish (chewy but tasteless), fishy balls (just plain wrong!) and crab claws. Yum! I opted for something similar, just with tender chicken instead.

We took a trip out of Chiang Mai to the nearby Wat Doi Suthep which is a temple complex up in the mountains to the west of the city. Apparently the site was chosen by a sacred white elephant that scaled the mountain, trumpeted three times, turned round three times and then died on the spot. There were 306 steps which took some climbing, (we both felt like trumpeting three times and dying on the spot too!), but gave superb views over the city. There we recieved a buddist good luck blessing and wrist bands. This temple beat all the others so far and was worth all the haggling with Songathaew drivers to get there.

We are on our last night in Chiang Mai now and off up to Chiang Khong tomorrow on the border of Laos, (six hours on a minibus - oh joy!). From there it will be over the border and two days by boat on the Mekong river to Luang Prabang. It is an idyllic sounding trip and we are looking forward to leaving the hustle and bustle of Thai city life behind.

We are not sure when we'll be able to update the site again. The next chapter will be open to give you an idea of where we are on the map, but the text will follow later.