Hello from Chiang Rai! We travelled here yesterday on the poshest bus I have ever been on in my life! somehow we ended up on the VIP bus, which came with a stewardess, free bottles of water, cake and refreshment towels, plus huge reclining leather seats. Awesome! Today we took a tour around the city, visiting the monkey cave, where we saw monkeys and toads (monkeys don't excite me as much any more... they're like, as common as cows are in England!) We also visited the opium museum, the ancient city, scorpion mountain and the golden triangle, which is a point which you can stand at to view Thailand, Laos and Burma all at once, which is pretty impressive. In the afternoon, we ventured into Burma, which was an eye opening experience (Dean has gone into great detail about this in a seperate postcard) The thing that struck me most about Burma, was how impoverished the residents appeared, and nearly everyone was begging for money (I even donated half a bag of fudge to one young boy, being the samaritan that I am) On the way out of Burma, we ventured into the duty free store, where they sell authentic Prada, Gucci, and Dior merchandise at dirt cheap prices. I don't know how I made it out of the store unarmed (with shopping bags). There's willpower for you...might just nip back yet... Well, i'm off to enjoy my last evening in Thailand. We head to Laos tomorrow on the 6.30am bus, which means I have to rise at daft-o'clock in the morning. Well, take care all Claire x