Our long 2 day journey to Thailand was rather chilled out and relaxed. No cramped travelling and many a seat to each person! Luxury! The other option would have been a speed boat,these were ridiculous small speed boats with 8 travellers each with a helmet (due to the danger of the river being low at this time of year.... as many boats hit the rocks at speeds causing many fatalities.) Slow is best! We then caught a bus from the Thai border to the city of Chiang Mai. A pleasant 5 hour trip. I guess from being in the tranquil setting of Laos and now back in a manic city, we were not prepared for it.. . and pretty much hated the place for the pace and many people. We did however walk the city and saw the the sights. We even set some poor birds free at a temple for good luck (we think the birds were the lucky ones!!!) The night market was mad and a place you could buy anything and everything! (Steve held me back from spending the pennies.....) We made friends with Belinda and Pete (from the 2 day journey from Laos by boat) and went to a few places with them. I think the best find while we were in Chaing Mai was the Band/Bar street. Very funky and some groovy tunes were played. After 3 days in the city we decided to move on to a more chilled out pace - to the much raved about Pai. Up in the mountains and jungle. Rumoured to be a hippy style place. We leave Chaing Mai tomorrow on the 4 hour windy bus journey to the magical little town - PAI!