Kiri Thara Hostel Chiang Mai

... are happy to chat to tourists and explain anything about the temples or Bhudism you wish to know. Apparently they are keen to practice their English. We also met groups of students both in Bangkok and in Chiang Mai who were armed with question lists (what is your age, where do you come from and do you like Thailand etc) and they go and practice their English on foreigners with these lists. Quite cute!

One of the highlights in Chiang Mai was definitely the ...

... on booking a new flight. I wished I had got the bus an hour earlier, and watched nervously out of the window. Fortunately however, in the last twenty minutes we hit a steady speed of about 70mph on the expressway and at just after 5pm we arrived at the airport. I hopped over the luggage tower, grabbed my bag and headed inside. There was no queue for check-in, I was quickly processed and after heading through security and buying a big bar of dark chocolate with ...

... but considering it is rainy season it is brilliant. Decided to have wine and cheese on our balcony before going out for the evening- such a luxury and soooooo nice. Headed out to a lovely restaurant for dinner, but I ended up sitting by myself for half an hour, because on the way we got a puncture and Darren went off to fix it!! I sipped wine and waited! When he got back we had a lovely dinner and then scootered home to
drink more wine.

Yesterday was our ...

... it! Finally got to flat ground and top of hill, was feeling pretty pleased and starting to relax and then something caught my eye.. a huge snake slithering through the ground, i let out one hell of a scream!!! think i may have startled the snake as the next thing you know it had launched itself in the air mouth wide open and hissing poison at me! This is when i realised there was a cobra less than a meter away from me!!!!!!!!!!!!! needless to say i screamed my lungs out and ...

... known for its delicious local food. After searching for a while I caved and ordered a cheeseburger. I was actually really impressed. This place makes burgers better than most places in America. I had ordered a burger in Malaysia and was greatly disappointed by the paper-thin slice of "beef" (probably cat meat or something) but this place was quite generous with their meat portion. After eating I went back to the hotel and went back to sleep.

... tiger's fur. Not to mention that the other parts of the body are sold as well, skull, feet, hell, people even eat the penis to try and increase fertility. So the Tiger Kingdom keeps them from that, I guess the better alternative that I would prefer would be for them to be in a large reserve heavily protected against poachers. But in a country like this, and not that it's that bad off, it‘s not, but if some one can make a dollar, they're gonna do whatever it ...

... off alot of high platform things, go down zipwires individually and together, abseiling and going across bridges. We had such fun doing it, and as there was only 2 of us there was no waiting around for people which was awesome, we even caught up with the group in front of us at the end as there were more of them. We did the whole thing (22 platforms) in about 2 hours and then had to trek back to the office up a hill through the jungle for about half an hour ...

... were just good actors) and seemed to be well taken care of by their trainers. Each appeared to have their own unique personality making it so fun to watch them. The photos and videos we've attached explain it all! The Secret Garden was in the town of Bo Sang, a little distance from Chiang Mai city, so we learned how to take the local bus into the city to go exploring. We visited several Wats, wandered the hot streets, and enjoyed the popular Sunday ...

... itself was very powerful and cold, and gave a massaging feeling when stood underneath. We continued on to the village where we would stay the night. The food was cooked for us by the villagers, and it was one of the best meals I've had so far on my South East Asia tour. It is amazing how such simple produce can create a good a meal as you will find anywhere in the world. The villagers lived simply in wooden huts, and cooked in pots on the ...

... by great Grandma, shell necklace and a Chinese fan. She wore all these. Her mother gave us gifts – traditional shirts and some material she was making into a skirt. She gave me this because I commented on her nice skirt. I felt so bad that she gave it to me. Then her Dad arrived home and he was even more shy.









The kitchen was ...