Ayutthaya & Chiang Mai: 16 - 23 March

We left Koh Tao on the slow boat to Chumphon on the Thai mainland; leaving at 2pm and arriving 3 hours later feeling rather cooked - there were two choices of seating - up on deck where you could enjoy the breeze but fry in the sun, or inside the greenhouse like cabin out of the sun but with no breeze or aircon. We plumped for the latter.

After a couple of hours wait at the train station we boarded the overnight train northbound to Bangkok arriving shortly before 8am. We had breakfast at Bangkok station before catching the next train 80-90kms further north to Ayutthaya. The weather in Bangkok was surprisingly chilly and we made the mistake of buying an air-con ticket for the short trip to Ayutthaya - it appears that if you pay for aircon you get it, full blast and regardless of whether you actually need it or not - we shivered in our shorts and t-shirts for the entire journey, eventually arriving in a rather damp Ayutthaya.

Ayutthaya was founded in 1351 and was the Thai capital until 1767, and at its height was home to 1 million people - double the population of London at the time. The city was ravaged by the invading Burmese however and the Thais abandoned it to the jungle, relocating their capital to present day Bangkok.

Central Ayutthaya is an island bordered by two rivers and a series of canals, about a third of which is covered by the modern day town which seemed like a pretty relaxed place. The remainder is mostly parkland within which stands the ruins of the old Thai temples partially destroyed by the Burmese and the intervening years. The temples are the only remaining ruins as only the most important buildings were built from stone - the wooden houses are long gone. The result is a peaceful and atmospheric place which is easy to walk or cycle around - we did a bit of both, renting bikes from one of the many shops that hire them out.

We only stayed the one night before hopping back on another overnight train to take us to the north of the country - up to Chiang Mai. After a rather chilly night on the train, you'll be pleased to hear that the weather returned to normal later in the day - hot, hot, hot!

The '2nd city' after Bangkok, Chiang Mai is a much more relaxed place and feels smaller than it really is, mainly because the centre is set within the old moat and remains of the walls of the old town. We did a couple of days sightseeing - temples, markets and the like before heading out on an overnight trek up into the hills which we arranged through a guest-house we had tracked down. We had wanted to spend 2 nights out in the countryside, but there was only a one night trek available at the time and the guest-house (Eagle House) had a good reputation so we settled for the one night trek in the end.

We were with a group of Germans and Poles so there was a bit of a slow start, but they spoke a lot of English and after a short time we were all getting on well. We made a couple of stops on the way out to the hills - at a market for supplies (although we decided to steer clear of the pigs heads and chicken feet!) and at a picturesque waterfall for a look and a dip in the freezing cold pool at the bottom - all in the name of fun!?!

The trekking itself was good - beautiful scenery - up and down lots of steep hills and along the tops of ridges with panoramic views. We stopped at a hill-tribe village - bamboo and wooden buildings mainly built on stilts and home to 13 families, although they were virtually all out working their crops. The children stay at school during the week a few kilometres away, leaving us to wander around the quiet village. Our guide grew up in a similar village so was able to fill us in on their way of life. After a short rest we were back on the trek heading towards another village where we were to spend the night.

The host village was much larger than the one we stopped at earlier in the day - home to 24 families of the Karen "tribe". We had feared some kind of contrived show of village life, but actually quite the opposite happened - we were given lodgings (all of us in the same bamboo/wood building) where we ate and were generally ignored by the locals, apart from a couple of people who came to sell us bits and pieces. We washed in the river before dinner which our guides cooked for us in our house and it was dark by the time we had finished by which time the locals were all tucked up in bed.

Our house stood on stilts and comprised a large room where we all slept on the thin mattresses on the floor, a dining area and a small kitchen from which they managed to cook up a feast of rice, curry and vegetables. Beneath the house was the one small toilet which 12 of us shared - not as bad as feared, but not a place to pass too much time!

The following morning after breakfast, we were back on the move enjoying more stunning scenery and more ups and downs. We were high above a river when we spotted a handful of elephants crossing below - coming to meet us for our arranged elephant ride along the river. The elephant riding was good fun - we were both on the same elephant, sat on a wooden seat while the Mahout walked along side (or on the bank when the elephants went for a wade in the river). Our elephant was a bit of a slow coach and insisted on trailing way behind all the others at the back for most of the walk until he finally got a burst of energy from somewhere and promptly pushed his was forward to the front of the queue.

To round off the day, we covered the last part on bamboo raft - basically 10-12 pieces of long bamboo lashed together on which we floated down stream using poles to fend off the rocks and keep the rafts in line through the gentle rapids - nobody fell off fortunately!

The ride back into town was less than comfortable - 2 hour on the back of a pick-up truck initially over some dusty unpaved roads. Needless to say we were sat right at the back of the truck and got completely caked in dust. We were both filthy and very glad of the warm shower back at our guest house.

The following morning we hit the road again, in a minibus up to Chiang Khong which is the border town between Thailand and Laos, separated by the Mekong river. We wanted to go to Laos when planning our trip and it's been on and off the agenda due to the amount of time we wanted to spend elsewhere, but we've decided to go for it and at least take a look. The bus ride was fine and we arrived in the late afternoon in time for a stroll through town and down to the river for our first look at the Mekong and Laos on the opposite bank. Tomorrow morning we cross the border (and the river) and jump on a slow boat heading to Luang Prabang.