Hi all! Got lots to fill you in on - we've been up to lots in Chiang Mai, including... PLAYING WITH TIGERS! EEEEEEEEEEHHH! Jealous?? We think you might be!!!

We arrived here after our first Thai overnight bus, which was much better than the ones we'd experienced in India - you get a little packed lunch and blankets on Thai buses! From Kanchanaburi we had to catch a 3 hour bus back to Bangkok's Northern bus terminal to get the overnight bus to Chiang Mai, which took a further 9 hours, but you don't feel like you're travelling so much at night cuz you just sleep... plus it saves money on a nights accommodation!

Chiang Mai is a big(ish) city, which has a new and old part - the old part is surrounded by a square moat and each entrance/exit through the moat is called a gate (N,E S or W). We opted to stay in the old part, which is quieter and has the cheaper accommodation. The lonely planet suggests a guest house which Alex and Fern (our friends from India) stayed in and emailed us to let us know it was good, so we headed there... they were fully booked but we arrived at about 9am but check-out was 10.30am so we hung around until somebody checked out and we got a room... for 180 baht! (about £3). And guess what it's called... JULIE GUEST HOUSE!!!! So we're staying at my mum's!!!! Haha! It's great here too, the common area/restaurant is constantly packed with other backpackers and the staff provide so much information on the local treks and activities, it's great! The food's great and cheap too! Our room is a little dark wooden annex with brightly coloured curtains and bedding, the mattress (again, a PROPER mattress!) is on the floor, it's got a real hippy vibe to it, it's so comfortable! Once settled in we just had some breakfast and pottered around, and looked at all the activities on offer - Tiger Kingdom, trekking, zip wires through the jungle, bungee, rafting, cooking classes, etc, etc, etc! We planned to go to Tiger Kingdom the following day, but that night Rich received a text from my mum saying that Veronica (my hamster) had died on New Year's day... I was absolutely distraught, I just sobbed all night, I loved her soooooo much, she made me so happy whenever I saw her and the thought of her not being there when I get home, skitting about in her sawdust and playing on my bed is just horrid, I'm gonna miss her so much :'-(. The only consolation was that I gave her such a good life - she always had treats and I CONSTANTLY played with her, and I loved her so much, she used to get squashed I kissed her so hard! Some people may think 'it's only a hamster', but it doesn't matter what it is - if you love something it hurts when it's gone, and I really loved her. She was such a character, I miss her already. R.I.P Roni. x.

We did nothing the following day, in fact we stayed in bed for most of it - I was just so upset that whatever we did I wouldn't have enjoyed so it just seemed pointless. The following day I felt a bit better, so we went to Tiger Kingdom. We hired a moped and rode the 30 minute journey there by ourselves, which was an experience! Rich bloody loved zipping around on the moped, but I kept winging bout him going too fast and leaning too much when we went round corners! He also seemed to have picked up some driving habits from the Indians and just pulled out into oncoming traffic!!!!!!! But that's the way you have to do it here, otherwise you'll never get anywhere! The good news is that in Thailand they use their mirrors and indicate and everything!!! And they drive on the left so it's quite easy really! We got there in one piece (well done Rich!) and were so excited that we were about to play with REAL tigers!!! It's one of Rich's life-long dreams (he LOVES tigers) and one of the things we were looking forward to the most in Thailand... and it didn't disappoint! Having been lucky enough to see them close up in the wild in India, we knew how big they'd be, but being in with them is a different story! We'd done our research and made sure that this place treated the tigers well - another place near Bangkok apparently drugs the tigers and we looked on their website and they tigers all have chains around their necks, but none of that here... they just roam around in the enclosures and are completely aware and alert. There are a variety of different sized animals to choose from, and after much deliberation we opted for a package to see the 6 month old cubs and a big one! The package cost us 740 baht each... only £26 total for the both of us to play with REAL tigers!!! The cubs were bloody huge! The same size as the parks 11 month old lions! They were just snoozing away and completely unconcerned by us, so we just stroked them and took some pics. You get to spend 15 minutes with each tiger, so after the cubs we moved on to the big'uns!!! And they were BIG! There were 3 in the enclosure we entered, all wide awake, some just lazing in the sun and one roaming around, it was daunting! They were fine though, they really seem to love their keepers and actually nuzzle their faces! We're not allowed to touch their faces though, just their backs. As Rich lay with one of the females (typical!) she rolled over onto his arm and he was trapped because she was sooo heavy! The keeper had to drag her off by her paws! Then as he was lying on her again she decided she'd had enough and just got up and strolled off, leaving him on the floor! It was an amazing experience, but we were hooked and needed more... so went and booked another session, this time just with the 4 month old cubs at a cost of about £18 for both of us! The 4 month olds weren't much smaller than the 6 month olds, but they were so playful! As soon as we walked in they were bounding around, we went to sit near one which tried to claw my leg, but the keepers don't allow them to claw or bite as part of their training - apparently it could cause problems if they do it as they get bigger!!! The same tiger then bit Rich and clung on with all four legs like a puppy/kitten, but it was so strong the keeper had to use both hands to prize her jaw open! They were rolling around fighting each other too! It was the best 15 minutes - we videoed some of it on our camera which we'll post on here soon! After that we walked around the park - you can walk right up to the cages, there are no barriers to stop you touching the tigers (although the signs warn you not to!) so we had our faces at the bars talking to some of the big tigers - they were groaning back at us, it was amazing!

We've also been trekking through the Chiang Mai mountains and stayed with a hill tribe which was a real experience... and bloody difficult, so obviously I moaned during the trek! We were picked up at about 9.30am and after collecting some other 'trekkers' drove to a local market where the guides collected the food for our meals. We then drove to an elephant camp where we all had lunch overlooking a river followed by an elephant ride for about 40 minutes which was great... apart from the elephants spraying us with elephant snot/saliva every 5 minutes to try to keep themselves cool! One of the young elephants at the camp had been trained to trumpet on demand which was hilarious and soooo cute! After that we drove to the start of our trek which would take us 2.5 hours UPHILL! It was flippin' painful! But it was stunning - the trek was along a tiny dusty trodden path through thick jungle, and we had to cross streams and clamber over rocks, so it was fun, just hard! We stopped every now and again for a break, and stopped at a small waterfall on which was freeeeezing but refreshing. When we reached the hill tribe camp it was all worth it - it was gorgeous. Some of the kids were playing in a clearing with string and spinners, others were playing with puppies, there were pigs and chickens with baby chicks, and all the huts were on stilts and made from weaved bamboo - all of this right up in the hills in the thick jungle with amazing 360 degree views and a gorgeous sunset! The hut we were staying in had been built especially for the trekkers and was a completely self contained unit with the sleeping area to one side, a kitchen to the other and a campfire area in the middle, which we all sat around after a gorgeous meal. Some of the village children came over and sang and danced for us which was lovely - couldn't understand a word cuz it was all in their own tribe language... until they burst into farah jacka which was hilarious! We didn't get to bed till quite late that night cuz the group of people trekking with us were such fun we just sat around the fire laughing for hours! There were 2 Scottish girls (Sarah and Karen), an American guy (Rob), and some Aussie's (Kelly, Scott, Sam and Ross) - everyone got on so well! The next morning we were up early for a breakfast of scrambly eggs with toast, jam and fruit before trekking back down the hill for 40 minutes, stopping at anther waterfall on the way. We got to the river and had pad Thai for lunch before going white water rafting, which was absolutely hilarious! We got stuck on just about every rock we went past... apparently it was our guides first time so he wasn't very experienced! The rapids weren't very strong but enough to through Rich all over the dingy which was amusing! When we got to a quieter part of the river we transferred to bamboo rafts for the final 20 minutes to get to where our jeep would pick us up from to take us back to our guest house. The whole group arranged to meet up that night for a drink... but first we had to find another guest house cuz when we got back to Julie's it was full! Rob (the American!) and the Aussie's had come back to Julie's with us cuz they wanted to stay there too so we all went on the hunt for somewhere else to stay and found a huge dorm room just around the corner which we took. There was an English guy already in the dorm called Chris so we invited him out for a drink with us too which he accepted! We all met up after a snooze and a shower at about 8pm, had some food and went on the piss... but I felt really ill so had to go back to the dorm early, luckily Chris was heading back too as he had an exam early the next day for a massage course he was doing - I think I was tucked up in bed by before midnight but Rich didn't roll in until gone 5am, steaming drunk!!!!! Apparently I missed a great night . We were supposed to be leaving for Pai the next morning but obviously that didn't happen!!! So we just lazed around a recuperated after our trek (our legs were killing!) and Rich's heavy night! We headed off the following morning instead... details of our Pai adventure to follow!