Chiang Mai River House

... and held on as seems to be the custom in Chiang Mai seeing as we have now done it twice! One of the English guys on the back of a moped driven by another member of staff, shouted "50 baht!" as he drove off leaving everyone in stitched. I suppose its one of those jokes you just have to be there to appreciate!

Trekking tomorrow and so it will be a bit quiet on the email / travel log update until we return with no doubt some awesome stories to tell. I can't wait!

... made purchases of hot sauce, dipping sauce, and spice mixes. A couple of the spice mixes you can only get in that particular part of Thailand. Por said she would get us a recipe for the mix (and she did later).

Then we headed over to the Four Seasons Chiang Mai (in the Mae Rim District) for a cooking class. We were taken to the Cooking School via golf cart. The Cooking School was built for the sole purpose of teaching people how to cook Thai cuisine. There are only ...

... Eddie whose family it was) played the guitar and sang songs, with his brother playing drums(an old oil carton) around the camp fire.Through out the night i wasn't feeling too good (not even to have a beer) which wasn't a nice feeling when your in the middle of no where.
We had an early night so that we could be fresh for the morning.
OH MY GOD WHAT A NIGHT TO REMEMBER!!
An early night we thought would ...

... boutique hotels. The original city layout still exists as a neat square surrounded by a moat with vestiges of the fortified wall and its four main gates offering prime access to the old town.

For years, tourists have mistaken Chiang Mai as the northern junction and the base from which they can explore other provinces. The phrase "a day in Chiang Mai is enough to see things around" was ...

... used to the fairly strict routine and meditation technique, but I had a couple of very worthwhile experiences - moments to stop and still the mind after over four weeks of constant input.
For all the WRONG reasons, the meditation I remember most was, after 30 minutes or so of silent meditation, opening my eyes to find a massive SPIDER on my knee - when from calmness to panic mode in the blink of an eye! Swipped it out the window in the end without killing it. How Buddhist!

... an area where my maps show absolutely nothing. They couldn't be more wrong. At the altitude of 1050 metres, this little community is surrounded by ancient lush jungle, huge timeless rubber trees, amazing green scenery, and deep silence and serenity.That is, until an adrenalin-fuelled scream breaks the ...

... all went on a night time cruise of Hong Kong harbour on an old junk boat. During the cruise you could see the famous Hong Kong city lights show, unfortunately it lashed rain during the trip and we couldnt get many good photo's but it was amazing to see.

On our last day in HK we went to the beach on our own where Sarah unfortunately got badly sun burned (sorry mum). That night we all went to the races, it was brilliant and Sarah picked two ...

... with Jungle Flight. Basically we got up the next morning bright and early and went to the jungle, about an hour or so out of Chang Mai. We were the only 2 only the trip at that time so there was us and two guides which was pretty good. The guides were hilarious which helped, really good english speakers and a lot of fun. They got us kitted out in the harnesses and helmets and we headed into the jungle to the first platform. We then proceeded to throw ...

... here as I alternate between chicken, beef, pork and seafood each day and rarely pay more than a pound for a good meal. Sophie's staple diet in vegetable Pad Thai (noodles) and occasionally a shrimp or two ... adventurous hey! Later on we had a wander along Khao San Road and played 'Spot the Ladyboy' over a nice cold Chang Beer. Dave left the next day and we met with the girls to go and visit the palace. We were almost there when we learned it was closed for the day so we ...

... or pants and im pretty proud of myself. After a totally sleepless night we arrived in Chiang Mai which I will recount in my next blog. I will be posting more pictures of the train trip tomorrow. Points to ponder: Why is fried rice in Thailand not fried? I don't understand why they have a guy in a booth monitoring traffic who is asleep We always say that Asian people cant drive. If you saw the traffic over here you would know they have incredible driving skills. INCREDIBLE!!!!!!