We went to chiang Mai night bazaar as recommended and it was fab! we immediately saw hundreds of stalls and gift areas, but we were pretty focused on food! right by the food area were several cabaret dancers in full costume,some more masculine looking than others and some more portly looking! We picked up a leaflet and sat and had tea! pad thai and rice! with extra spring rolls! yummy! the show began at 9:30, they did the usual buy drinks to get a free seat! so we did and to be fair it was a cocktail well spent! it was bazaar but brilliant! Abba being a personal fave! to our right sat two 65 year old looking men clearly looking for wives! we were both horrified when one of them got out of his wallet and put it rather slowly down a Thai waitresses bra (she was loving the tips!) although it was in return for a kiss on the lips! yuck! we left soon after!

we woke up pretty early to start our full day cooking course, it was amazing! we began by getting a lift to a local food market which was actually really clean and smelt nice! rare! we met everyone else on the course and chose our meals to prepare. we headed back to his home/kitchen and were blown away by their efficiency! we were put in pairs but each had our own dishes to make. between us we made a soup dish, then curry, then mixed vegetables and finally a rice or noodle! it was a pretty heated day and was very jam packed but we loved it and got to eat all of our creations along with the good he demonstrated! Mmm sticky rice with mango! we all got certificates and recipe books! Grace is currently searching for Thai cooking jobs in Australia!

The next day we had a day trip booked to head up north to Chiang Rai. It was a very long day with alot of time sat on the bus but we saw some cool sights! the first stop was the hot springs, this was a tad disappointing, much like a pond with a fountain in it! and people boiling eggs! next stop was to the white temple, this was quite amazing and very different to every other temple we had seen before! the inside was oddly decorated by what seemed a cartoonist! there was one statue of a gold Buddha and a monk(we don't think he was real, his toes looked plastic!!) the walls were flush and painted with pictures if spider man, batman, the matrix, angry birds, Lara croft and one of the twin towers wrapped in an oil pipe! we overheard someone saying that it represents that there are no hero's in the real world, they are all in heaven! after here we went to the golden triangle, this is where Thailand meets Burma and Laos. we then went for a buffet lunch included in our tour. us backpackers took this as an opportunity for a mass feed up!! after lunch we stopped off at the thailand/burma border for a photo under a sign saying 'the northern most point of thailand' or something along those lines! then our last stop was to visit the Karen long neck tribe, see pictures, one of the women had 29 rings! one of the highlights of the day was the Chinese man on our trip walking past us and farting for approximately 30 seconds totally oblivious. we laughed a lot! mature we know! this is the same man who video'd every second of the day, including the 3.5 hour journey home...in the pitch black.
We got home about 9pm, chilled out and went to bed looking forward to a lie in as our bus the next day wasn't until 7pm...or so we'd been told.

9am, a knock at the door...'you're bus is here' whaaaaaaat. no no lady, our bus is this evening! we crammed everything in our bags and rushed down stairs to be told that our passports were 40 minutes away (we sent them off to get our Laos visa) and the bus could not wait. we were booked on to the evening bus and told we were to be given a nights accommodation at the border, and breakfast. win win we thought...
at 1am (not 11pm as told) we arrived at a guest house. after 20minutes of our driver knocking on the window the owner decides to grace us all with his lime green silk pyjamas...and make a phone call- grace initially thought this was lucy roots! but no big reds! no time like the present! eventually he points to a room and says '3 bed'. we went in with the Canadian guy who we met down south. I forgot to mention that this is the same guy who ordered the bus to stop half way before he shat himself (Mum and Karen, I kept my Andrex and hand gel hidden when he asked for some!)
after sleeping on a plank of wood with a foam topping we had to go to another hotel at 7am for our free breakfast. another treat for a poor backpacker!
We crossed the border by boat and went through passport control only to find out we could have just done our visas there! we also had to pay an extra fee just because it was Saturday. our group was separated in to people going to Luang Prabang by slow boat and bus. basically everyone left by 11am and grace and I were left in a cafe on a quiet street...until 6pm. After passing the day with beer and free wifi some more people were dropped at the cafe, also expecting to be taken to the VIP bus. Our mental Tuk Tuk driver took us to the 'VIP bus', en route we overtook a couple on a scooter, we got so close the Tuk Tuk we hit his helmet...good job he was wearing one!
This is where the real fun begins......
15 of us arrive at...a mini bus. VIP? no reclining chairs. no films. no blankets as previous. after kicking up abit of a fuss we accept that it's a bum deal and we've got to go with it...for the next 13 hours. the leg room on the bus makes easy jet look generous, I kid you not.
the first part of the journey consisted of crawling up a windy mountain at 10mph then riding on the breaks down the other side. we eventually stop for some food and five people leave and go on to another bus. jack pot. we all spread out and stretched our legs. throughout the journey we seem to stop pretty much every hour on the hour so the drivers can have a fag and a pee. at 3am we stopped at a village and were told we had to stop for 40 minutes. watching out the window we noticed a lot of commotion across the road, the driver hops out and joins in. after a lot of kicking and shouting he grabs something off the floor. it was like a giant gerbil rat thing (rue I know it wasn't a rat because I didn't cry!!) I don't know what gave the driver the impression that we were interested but HE BROUGHT IT ON THE BUS!!!!!!! after some effing and blinding he took it off and tided some rope around its neck then got in to the passenger seat. he'd half strangled the poor thing so we had to listen to it squealing and gasping for air. following a serious amount of cussing and swearing the drivers decided to pull over again...and put it on the roof. serious madness. luckily we didn't find it in our bags when we eventually arrived in Luang Prabang. exhausting!!