Chiang Mai

Day 1: Worst, Journey, EVER. Got about 10 seconds sleep and we arrived in Chiang Mai an hour later than planned (7am). The bus felt like it didn't have any tyres, rocking all over the place the whole time. We also drove through quite a shallow flood at one point. John (canadian guy) told me he had counted 20 buses past us through the course of the night. Apparently, we passed one but it then passed us again. He told me not all overnight buses are like this though so hopefully a one-off. It's his 4th year in a row of travelling S.E.Asia so I guess he would know - not a fan of the canadian winter apparently.

Got a mini bus to the guest-house and got there about 7.30am. The lady who runs it then told me that the pick-up for the trek would be at 9.30am and that I could have a room to get a hour's sleep, shower etc. Didn't sleep (again - dunno what I'm running on) but felt quite good in the morning and ready for the pick-up. Met an american guy (Andy) and a lad from London (Olly) and we set off to get to the trek.

Picked up some more people on the way - 2 canadian girls (Julia & Katy) and 2 french people (Beniot and Beniot's girlfriend - can't remember her name. They spoke no english, me, no french). All got chatting on the 1.5 hour drive to the trek and got along really well. My rush to pack in the morning had mean't that I'd forgotten some key items though (namely sun-cream, change of clothes). No worries though, I had left 2 very heavy travel books in my bag though - idel for a 3 day trek up a mountain and through the jungle. You can tell all was still a bit manic.

On the way to the trek, we stopped at an Orchid Farm (didn't do a lot for me) and a Snake Show, which was really good. They had Python's, Cobras, King Cobras, Rat Snakes - all sort. Saw them in the cages - apart from the few occasions when the staff decided to take them out and frighten us all. Beniot did wear the rat snake as a hat though - fair play, I wasn't volunteering. The staff also had this HILARIOUS trick of creeping up behind you and pinching the back of your ankles while we were walking around. Apologies for my french but I S**t myself when they did it to me. They thought it was the funniest thing ever though.

There was then a show with some of the snakes. This involved the staff teasing the king cobras into trying to bite them, throwing random bits of rope into the crowd to scare us all (it worked). The staff were pretty crazy - one putting a snake's mouth inside his and giving the cobra several kisses. Maybe they have been there too long! Another guy jumped into a black pool of water with a massive python and then popped out with it wrapped around his neck! Mental but good to watch. All-in-all a very good show and definately lessened my fear of them............until later.

We then began the mountain trek led by our guide Whiskey (he's a cool guy). The terk was scheduled to be for 2 hours to reach this tribal village. I really enjoyed it but I'm not kidding, it was gruelling. At times, we were climbing up about 75% vertical and it was tough. All sweating buckets but all loving every minute. Had to wait for one of the canadian girls every so often - she was a wee bit hesitant when it came to any sort of bamboo or other manufactured bridge. Whiskey was getting a bit impatient, despite the fact that he kept complaining of a knee injury he had sustained on a previous trek. He was also doing the whole thing in a pair of flip-flops in comparison to our (highly necessary) waling shoes. Dunno how he was doing it but he was seriously motoring up there.

We arrived at the tribal village in the early evening and sat down for a well-earned beer and rest. The locals prepared us a great meal and we stayed up chatting to Whiskey about his life and how the tribe lives. Was amazing hearing it all - so far removed from what we are used to. He's had 3 wives - all have left him because he has to work so much doing tourist treks like this. He also told us that he's saving for his own Bamboo house, which will cost about 20,000 Baht (about 400 quid). He hopes to have it done by next year.

A really good day, thoroughly enjoyed by all. Now for a very cold, pretty uncomfortable night's sleep in a Bamboo hut.

Day 2: After a good breakfast (scrambled eggs, toast and jam), myself, Andy and Olly split from the rest as they had booked a shorter trek than us. We exchanged emails and said our goodbye's and au reviours to the canadian girls and french couple and then us lads set off on what was to be the best day yet.

Again, it was a day of jungle trekking. Less gruelling than the day before but far more tricky under-foot. Climbing along river-side boulders and along narrow trails behind Whiskey. His knee had misteriously fully recovered now, because another tribe member had prayed on it the night before! I said he was faking it and he laughed. He also told us that he only smokes 1 or 2 fags a day - I saw him with at least 5. We had some good banter with him throughout the day.

The trek itself included visits to 3 different waterfalls, each more impressive than the last. We had a swim in the first 2 - pretty cold but well worth it. While we swam in the first one, Whiskey made some amazing bowls for us out of Bamboo. He then went into his backpack and served us all with still warm and utterly delicious noodles he had prepared before we left in the morning. And we also ate it with our new chopsticks, which he had also just made. Was amazing - a really talented guy. A great experience.

Along the way, he stopped suddenly in the middle of the jungle and looked to his left. We stopped shapish behind him asking ''what's up?'', to which he replied ''snake''. Brilliant. We didn't see it and he didn't give us time to look any further (all a bit more courageous after the previous day's show). It was a Cobra apparently but Whiskey wanted us out of there. Fine by me!

For the next 10 mins, the 3 of us were talking about snakes and Whiskey said that they don't like people talking about them because the guides are so scared of something happening to a trekker. So it was basically his way of telling us to stop talking about them. Again, fine by me! Saw some massive centipedes in there as well.

The day's trekking came to an end and we arrived at another tribal village, complete with 4.5 ton Elephants! Here, there was a group of french teenagers and a really cool swiss couple, who we would be joning for the final day tomorrow. Another delicious meal was prepared for us and we spent the evening round the campfire chatting to the swiss couple. (I've got nothing against the french by the way but they spoke hardly any english either. Olly is fluent in french though so we left all the translation to him). Anyway, the swiss couple were great and we had a really good laugh with them.

Day 3: Great breakfast, complete with pancakes this time - not bad for a jungle tribe. Then it was a day of Elephant trekking (3 of us riding on his back along the river and up some pretty steep hills - Olly was pretty nervous). I loved every minute of this - fantastic experience. The only downer being when the swiss couple overtook us on their elephant right near the end. A pretty slow race (something I'm familar with) and we lost (something I'm also familar with). Great laugh though.

We then bought some bananas for 20 Baht and fed them to all the elephants. I got caught between 3 of them who wanted the next banana and I was running out fast! I tried to be as fair as I could (4.5 tonnes - you don't want to mess) and then bolted to go and feed the baby elephant. He was a bit less intimidating.

We then had a cool afternoon of white-water rafting and bamboo rafting, which was great fun. English, Swiss and American in one boat, French on the other. We thrashed them. Luch to finish and then we were done. We all tipped Whiskey and told him to put the money towards his new house. Can't help feeling it will be going towards cigarettes and booze though (he says he drinks everything except wine). Absolute legend though, who we had had great fun with. We were all really greteful for a superb trek.

Then it was back to Chiang Mai, where I now find myself. Off out for a few beers and some food with Olly and Andy now and hopefully to catch some Thai Kick-boxing, which is popular around here. Gonna hang around in Chiang Mai for another couple of days and getting touch with John (canadian from the bus), who said he would show me around.

Then it's onto Laos. Heard some great things about there from the Canadian girls so I'm really looking forward to that.

So yeah, I went out for some beers with Olly and Andy and we caught some Thai Kick-Boxing as planned......well, not quite. We got in a tuk-tuk and asked to go to an event we had a flyer for but when we got on, the driver said he knew a better one and that we should go there. We believed him and turned up at his recommended place, only to find that it was teenagers!!!

The joke was on him though as it was actually awesome. Saw some pretty good fights and some even better knock-outs. There was also one fight where 5 blokes had to kick-box while blind-folded, which was also highly entertaining. Goes to show that you can't trust a tuk-tuk driver though - as if I didn't already know!

After that, the 3 of us went for a walk around the more ''alternative'' areas of Chiang Mai. Just as seedy as Bangkok basically but you do get hassled less. Stopped for a couple of beers and some visual ladyboy identification. Very hard to tell with some of them but the broad shoulders and adam's apples are a bit of a give-away on others. Andy seemed to think he had a knack of spotting them - we didn't delve too deep into why that might be!!! Anyway, few beers and a good laugh and we were back to the guest-house.

Day 4: Olly had to shoot off early doors as he was heading down to the southern islands to meet up with his mate. We said our goodbyes in the morning and then Andy and I headed into the city for a final look-around. It had been straight rice/noodles/rice/noodles on the trek. Nice as the meals were, a full english breakfast was in order so we stopped for one. Then we headed in to check out the 2 main temples in the centre of Chiang Mai.

We then parted ways as I wanted to book my trip to Laos and Andy was heading to Bangkok that evening. Had had a really good laugh with him and Olly over the past few days so was a shame to see them both go.

I went back to my hostel and booked a boat trip to get me to Luang Prabang, Laos. I had initially planned to get the bus but, after being recommended the boat trip by the swiss couple on the trek and after some price comparison, I decided to go for the slow boat. A more scenic route into Laos I hoped. Booked the mini-van to pick me up at 9.30 the following morning to take me to the Laos border.

Had the rest of the day to kill so I caught a jumbo (big tuk-tuk) to check out Doi Suthep, another temple which was about a 45 minute drive outside the city. Getting a bit ''templed-out'' by this point but Andy had said this one is quite unique and worth a look. The journey took us up a MASSIVE, winding hill, which makes you feel a bit sick when you're on it. I spoke to our driver who told me that he had been doing this drive back and forth for 25 years. I asked him if he was bored of it, to which he smiled and emphatically replied ''YES!!!, but then didn't elaborate.

The temple itself is pretty nice and gives you some amazing views over Chiang Mai. Lots of people praying inside and young buddhist monks banging on drums. There's also a large Buddha outside, which is quite impressive. Got some nice photos, which I will upload soon (basically when I remember to bring the lead to the internet cafe with me).

Got the jumbo back after spending about an hour and half up at Doi Suthep (don't feel as sick on the way down thankfully). In the evening, I went to check out the heavilly crowded night market and try some local foods from the night stalls - so much to choose from. It was the King of Thailand's birthday that day so the streets were absolutely packed. Crossing the road was virtually impossible as well, despite the vast amount of people and 2 police-officers blowing whistles in tandem, but for no apparent reason. Seriously, they went on for ages.

Back to the guest-house. Up early to head to.....