16th January 2004 Today we got up at a wapping 5.30am!! Goddam! We decided that we would go an see the Chinese doing Thai Chi and Yoga in Lumphini Park which is quite a way out of central Bangkok and they get up really early to do this!! So we got to the park at 7 and watched the sunrise which was beautiful! This park was amazing, not just a slab of grass it had a huge lake in the middle and trees all round and little footbridges and pathways. There were small groups of Chinese all over the place doing their Thai Chi and all the groups wore different coloured t-shirts - it was really ceril... Then they all sit at these little stone tables with parasols and have brekkie - strange! They kept staring and pointing at us, being that we looked to be the only two 'foreigners' to be mad enough to go there at that time of the morning! Then we got the newly developed 'sky train' back and that was pretty cool and then due to our early morning preceeded to have a 4 hour nap! Then we went to Wat pho to see the reclining buddha which was quite cool. Spent the evening troughing, playing pool (Em lost twice out of two games!) and continued our plight of the Singhi Beer. We are pleased to say that we were successful in eating the two most infamous foods in Bangkok - Thai PADI (noodles and veg) and Banana Pancakes! 17th January 2004 Stupidly got up at 5.30 again so that we could the Darek Sadut flaoting market - it is one of the original floarting markets and very authentic. we had to get the bus at 6.15am and it took two hours to get there. It was quite strange seeing all of the locals buying their food from little kayak looking things. Got some cool piccies. We then decided to get a boat back to Bangkok along the waterways which is famous for its views. We were the only two passengers in the long tail boat and it was absolutely amazing - it took about an hour and a half. We saw all of the locals going about there daily routines in their homes. We just chilled when we got back in preparation for the 14 hour train journey that lay ahead to Chiang Mai. 18th January 2004 The sleeper train was estupendo - rows of bunk beds! Saw some gorgeous scenery this morning and arrived at about 1pm. Found a nice guest house and we have booked a days trekking tomorrow which included elephant trekking and bamboo rafting - yeahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!! In the evening we had a wander round the night market and spent some dosh - pair of Thai trousers each and sarong and indulged in a gorgeous take away of Thai Padi! 19th January 2004 Today we went trekking!!! Day started with an hours drive south of Chiang Mai and then an hour walk up a woodland mountain - goddam! We went an visited the Akha hilltribe who live basically in a little civilisation of their own - its amazing, they built their own houses according to family size and the men can have up to 7 wives as long as he has permission from the first one! The strange thing is that they all live together in one house!! Following this we went to the elephants - had an hour elephant ride and it was absolutely fantastic! Our one was HUGE and a bit of a rebel, kept stopping to trough and then going in completey the opporsite direction to the other 4 elephants! They are really tame and we got some cool piccies. After this we went for lunch good old Thai PADI and loads of it - delicious. Visited the secng hill tribe after that, they are the Karen people who basically migrated from Burma to escape the military regime that is still in power today (Hellie, Catherine Darren - the same people we studied for our Human Rights course! How weird, amazing to actually see how they live) Then we headed to this secluded area where there was a beautiful waterful and you could swim etc - the water was freezing! Finally we went Bamboo rafting and this was absolutely hilarious....there are 3 of you on a raft and our guy was an absolute nutter kept tipping the raft either way (beck and I were quite crap at balancing the raft by leaning the opposite way and consequently got completely soaked!) An english guy from one of the other rafts decided it would be amusing to jump from his to our raft and knock our guy off (there was a bit of a splash war going on!) and pretty much ipped us over - all good though. Had a fantastic day, really knackering, we went with 4 Korean guys, a french cuple, an American guy and a Chinese guy (couldn't tell you all their names!) they were all a real laugh. 20th January 2004 Today we had a TWO HOUR Thai Massage and it was absolutely devine! They literally massaged from top to the end of our toes and they use their hands, feet, elbows, knees, whole body weight and you in this dimly lit rooms in all the thai gear and lay on matresses on the floor - it was sooooo coooolll and we felt lovely after! Then in the evening went to a traditional Thai dinner and dance and had some rather strange northern Thai food! 21st January 2004 Just chilled during day and then in the eveing went to the rather bizare Night Bazaar, then went to this open bar and got stupidly drunk while playing s***head with this guy we met from London, a Thai girl and an American. Got into a footie argument with another arrogant idiot from Brixton who was a compete idiot and consequently we both feel absolutely horrendous today, hence the e-mailing cause we cant face being out in the sun. We have our 14 hour train journey to Bangkok tonight and then about 6 hours there before we get on another 12 hour train heading south for some serious Beach time! WE CANT WAIT!