Sadly enough it was time to leave Lao for northern Thailand. Transport in Lao is a bit of a challenge so we ended up taking a unique way to get to the border. We took a 4 seater speed boat up the Mekong river. These speed boats were not your fancy Kidder or any other brand of ski boat. The boats were homemade wood boats that only stick and a foot out of the water and have a big turbo diesel Toyota engine on the back. Due to the closeness of the water and the speed we were required to wear helmets just in case we fell out!! This boat trip was very scenic but by hour 2 we were ready to get out. 6 hours later we arrived at the Thai border deaf and in need of a good message. We stayed the night in a small town called Chiang Saen. There wasn't much too see other than a blinged out golden Buddha, the opium museum and an area that overlooked Lao, Myanamar and Thailand all at once. This area is called the Golden triangle.
Our next stop was a crazy uber modern temple called the white temple. The architect/designer had a very odd sense of what art a temple should have. ( check out some of our photos!)

We arrived in the city of Chiang Mai which is the second largest city on Thailand. We decided to take in a Muay Thai kick boxing match. The youngest competitors must have been no more than 10 years old and the heaviest boxers were only 147 pounds. We got to see some KO's, some that went the full 8 rounds and some that threw in the towel! All in all a lot of fun to watch and a little gross hearing skin on skin when a good kick was thrown.

We headed out of Chiang Mai for a few days to learn more about rural Thai culture. On the way to see the hill tribes, we stopped to learn about how they make sticky rice and got to explore a cave that at one time had Burmese Buddhist monks living in it. We ended up staying over night at a hill tribe village. Some of the girls from the village came and gave us a singing and dance show. It is nice to see that they are teaching the youth about theirvtraditional cultures but at the same time sending them to school. The hill tribes rely on agriculture and ecotourism and it was interesting to see that the village had a sustainable agriculture center.

When we left the village the next day we were transported by elephants. The elephants we rode were treated so much better than the ones we rode in Nepal. Our Mahout (elephant trainer) pretty much told his elephant where to go by lightly pinching the skin by it's ear. We got to feed the elephants treats and give them a good pet. After the elephant ride we took bamboo rafts down the river which turned into a giant water fight! Bamboo rafts don't stay together very well when they are being sunk.
We then saw how they make paper from elephant dung and then stopped a gorgeous orchid and butterfly garden.

One of our highlights of our few days in the Chiang Mai area was our trip to Tiger Kingdom. Here they breed tigers in captivity and give you an opportunity to pet them. We started with the little ones, only a few months old and then headed to the large tiger cage where we were allowed to pet and get pics with the big tigers.

After a busy few days in northern Thailand we were on an overnight bus back to Bangkok again. We were sad to leave Lao and Northern Thailand but I am sure there will be more adventures ahead of us.

We had another 3 days in Bangkok and really didn't want to be there that long but we didn't have much of a choice. Our first 2 days we spent at the movies. We saw Tron in 3D and The Fighter. One evening we decided to check out PatPong and attended a very lively ping pong show! Needless to say it was interesting, with lady boys included in the act!

Our last day we decided to go to the palace. It is very extravagant and busy with tourists. We also walked to democracy monument...this is where the king is celebrated for an entire block. Other than that we were very lazy in Bangkok. We headed out on a night bus again, this time to go for some R and R in Ko Phi Phi.