Sri Sangar Hotel Lampang

... dance we saw but an actual dance where the objective is to try and kick the backside of the other dancers!!!<br>The night was poignant and special when a large Chinese lantern, upon which we all wrote our names, was released high into the night sky by our host...A magical day.<br>I fell asleep in my own personal outbuilding - a wooden hut raised on stilts - with the sound of crickets, frogs... and some alarming rustling beneath ...

Man 6:00 am comes quick.....Shauna had a good night sleep I was out like a log....yayyyy. Now comes the interesting part. Time to get out of bed right normally not a problem....but herein lies the problem. To demonstrate what I am talking about it is best to play along...so lay down flat on your back....good nice and comfy...great...now try to raise your leg straight up....feel inside your groin.....the tight muscle .....ya that's the one...that is the one that makes raising ...

So with great anticipation we jumped out of bed for our early ride to the elephants...about an hour away. Okay actually it was a bit of a crawl out of bed as it is comfortable there.....off for breaky and man the service here kicks bloody ass....can not look anywhere without someone watting or saying hi. Stuff the bags zip em shut and head downstairs. Our driver had been waiting already but I never noticed him...so ended up waiting an extra 5 minutes till ...

From Chiang Mai we headed to Lampang - a short bus journey where we had planned to stay for one night. That's really all it needed! Off the beaten track a little in terms of tourists present... we didn't see many other Westerner's which made for a nice change. We walked around the entire city in an afternoon - hit the major temples &amp; tourist sights &amp; also went for a ride around the city via horse &amp; carriage which was quite rickety but fun nevertheless! Also ...

... seen a lot of elephants but these were special as there were truly wild. The following day just before sunset we were taken to see the bats - not particularly my choice but when over 2 million came out of the cave to get their supper, they flew right over our heads and disappeared like a thick plume of smoke. It was amazing. We then took the train to Auyutthaya and were entertained by the locals walking up and down the carriage, selling food. We had to ...

The final stop on our ruin tour was Si Satchanalai, which is about an hour's drive north of Sukhothai. Because it is a little off the beaten track, so to speak, this particular site is not all that popular with tourists, which makes for an even better experience for the few people who decide to make the trip out. We started at yet another Wat Mahathat, about 3k from the historical park. To get there we ...

... All in all that was a lot of walking and we were knackered in the evening. We opted for the easy option on Sunday and hired bikes to cycle to Wat U Mong, a forest temple about 6 km away. It was built in the early 14th century shortly afte3r the founding of Chiang Mai but was later abandoned for a few hundred years and only reinhabited by monks in the 1960s. It's very different with the Buddha image housed in tunnels, and a large artificial lake with lots of big catfish and ...

... day of trekking took us through the jungle to a small village where a few families of "Longneck" tribes people live. They're a bit shy which is understandable since they realize they are sort of a freak show, even to the other tribes. The women wear huge bronze necklaces that weigh up to 35 pounds (16 kg) and they only take them off a few times in their life. Our second day took us to an elephant ...

... on the map! Still one upside was the ice-creams. We dabbled in a couple whilst waiting for the "Seal Pheasentation" (could have been a very interesting combo but wasn't). Before tucking in, once I'd opened up my Strawberry number I found I'd won another. And when I'd gobbled the first and opened the second I found I'd won another! Fortunately the cycle was broken there as the poor girl didn't have any more ice-creams.

... better than Vic's but I guess you'll have to judge for yourselves when we get back home! Chiang Mai had loads of temples and other monuments - like the 3 kings monument: The weekend market centred along Ratchadamnoen street was really good and not too touristy. We also each had 2 massages courtesy of Rob and Nikki Robson's wedding gift. THANK YOU!! The 1st was a traditional Thai massage involving being ...