Ruentip Hotel Chiang Rai

... a bargain price.<br><br>Chiang Rai is a very chilled out place.. again. A great night market with bands playing every evening, food stalls all over the place and plenty of bars. Not much to see in the way of sights, and I've already done the trekking thing that it seems to be geared up for. I cant' say I'm too keen to go to a 'long-neck' tribe and gawp at them for a few hours either.

Early Saturday morning we set off to the station in 4x4s with are bags strapped to the top of the trucks. After collecting the bags and gathering around a bus we thought was our bus we were moved into position and given the bag tags. Fortunately there were no "ladyboy hostesses". We did however have a bus with leather seats which we had trouble getting out of as our sweat had stuck to it. The bus shook and rattled down the extremely windy road. 4 ...

Over the past few weeks, a number of ew volunteers have arrived; Jim and Amy from the US of A and Angela from down under, whom all of which are really nice and have brought lots of inspiration to the centre. A few days ago, all us volunteers took part in the Hash house harriers run of Chiang Rai which involved ruin across the northern Thai foothills over a distance of 4 miles; the run itself was amazing, running through forests, banana plantations and ...

... so she can work from home and make money and doesn't need to go into the fields. Daow was going to go with her to buy it, but I haven't heard back about that yet. Trip to Australia - We (Kanchana, Alif, Vava, Kitty and I) are planning to come to Australia in April. Future? - I have been thinking more and more lately that I will stop working for Mirror Foundation and Antipodeans at the end of this year. I haven't 100% decided ...

... of Kitty, answering emails (some work and some personal), making up the orientation manuals, trying to figure out about government payments for my university course and a few other bits and pieces. (I am hopefully going to be studying a Masters degree in International Development through Deakin University). This is pretty typical that I spend almost every night up until 8 or 9pm + working on the computer. I also turn it on and check emails at around 0630 in ...

With a white faced emily in toe we arrived at the sleepy village town that is Chiang Rai. Well thats what Lonely planet would have you believe. According to their all to often inaccurate records this was a place with a population smaller than our last stay. What should have been a leafy sleepy town soon materialized as an urban powerhouse. OK thats a bit strong but suburbia did seem to stretch many miles out of town. Yet again we had struck gold. The guest house was sublime and ...

... leftover Baht, we had a great meal!) and walked around there for a while. Lauren has developed a bit of a soft spot for the local children selling handmade things (flower garlands, dolls with one-eye, etc.) so we did some early Christmas shopping. We grabbed a tuk-tuk to head back to our hotel, which is always interesting given the very small size and the extremely reckless driving. These things are not made for anyone over 5'2".

... and she often falls asleep in my arms. In the mornings Kanchana talks to her a lot and she really seems to enjoy that and listening to the birds. She loves travelling in the car but gets upset sometimes if I stop - so red lights aren't good. Oh, and she can make bubbles in her mouth and sometimes enjoys playing that game by herself. What else? I am sure there is more that I have forgotten, but that is enough to update you on Kitty for now.

... I went to join the other volunteers, staff and kids on the final day of the anti human trafficking camp. . We went to visit a mushroom farm in Mae Yao, a zoo in Mae Lao, a Taoist temple and to Pu Kaeng waterfall. About 180km of driving. (I was one of the drivers). Good fun and interesting. The waterfall was beautiful. Kanchana and Kitty stayed at home all day. I missed them. Oh - what is the anti trafficking camp? Mirror Foundation has an anti human ...

... french speaking hostess who runs the place and makes you feel pretty good while robbing you blind. Okay, it wasn't that bad. I told her I was interested in going as far as Muang Sing in the north. She convinced me to purchase a bus ticket right the way there through Luang Namtha, a place most other backpackers hit via the minivan. I agree and pay an additional 200 baht (just about seven bucks) to go all the ...