Lanna View Hotel & Resort Chiangmai Chiang Mai

... shattering your ear drums while taking your roof off. The increased military activity likely has something to do with the dispute over the temple between Thailand and Cambodia.. Both countries are laying claim to it so I guess we will have to see who "wins."

On the weekend, Scott and I and a bunch of his friends went swimming on a particularly hot, hot, hot day. It was absolutely perfect to go on that day. Once I got ...

... Gatwick took us to Dubai for a 2 hour stopover. Whereas most western airports are closed up at midnight, Dubai was humming. Seemingly a load of flights transit Dubai at night and all the shops were open. It was tough tearing Millie away from the gift shops selling Arabic trinkets, chocolate made from camels’ milk, necklaces and so on. Even a new twist on the mouse mat... the 'mouse rug.'!

Onwards to ...

... told me it was a half an hour walk downhill, I think there was a mix-up in the translation of what he was trying to say. It ended up being about 2 hours of climbing, jumping and falling down the mountain!!!! My legs were like jelly and covered in scratches and mud. This was not enjoyable.

Rob: Feeling refreshed after a nights sleep and soothing of the aching muscles most of us were buoyant with the challenges that lay in wait for us today. To be ...

... female elephants don't try to "adopt" her. Ahh, she is sooo cute. Running around and playing, coming to the fence to check us out with her gentle soft trunk, and to get a scratch. I can't believe how coarse her skin and long back hair is that sticks up in every direction. Then we got to feed the elephants for the first time. They all come up to the feeding area which is just a platform and wait for their basket of fruit. I fed Mae Sri Nuan, a very large ...

... the National Museum, the National Art Gallery, and several Wats. In one Wat we entered we sat and respectfully listened to the methodic chant of Monks. This was a very beautiful experience. Another morning, Clint and I took a trip to see the famous floating market while Jim and Patty stayed back to ride the local water taxi on the river and visit the flower market in Bangkok. They said they enjoyed this very much. The floating market was interesting for ...

... côtés en montant du genoux au haut de la cuisse puis fermer les mains avec les doigts et presser avec le haut des paumes des mains jusqu'à hauteur du genoux. 5 fois. A la dernière fois on descend jusqu'en bas du mollet. Haut en bas trois fois toute la jambe. Mantra 32 Masser les pieds en pliant un peu les mains. Masser chaque orteil en rond jusqu'à l'ongle puis plier et lâcher. Masser de nouveau les pieds. Mantra 33 Une main sur le pied et une main sur le genoux. Tourner le ...

... Shall we say she got lost in the moment!! The final fight was a girlie fight. A Canadian v a Thai. Now I had already had a good tip off from our driver that the Canadian was going to win so I went off to place my bet. They wouldn't take it because they knew the Canadian was going to win! What kind of betting is that??!! And she did! She really kicked ass!!! A flyer went round for lessons, I considered it .... for all of 2 an a half seconds.

... a man ended up on one topic! But Raj seemed very well educated and invited me to join him on a trek he was leading near Pokhara. I met up with him the next day and turns out the other people on the trek were a South African family I had met at Kathmandu airport! It was just a short 2 day trek to Sarangot, to watch the sunrise......Was too cold for me at night though, sub zero in a wooden shack - so that put me off doing anymore 'real' trekking to higher altitudes ...

... driver. Elephants are smart, and this one knew that he had free reign as long as there was no driver. He took the opportunity to repeatedly veer off the path to eat whatever shrubbery he please, the Brits exciting waving their arms in the air and cursing the creature. Around dusk we reached a hill tribe village where we stayed for the night.

The next day we awoke and hiked to a small river, where we would board rafts made of tied up bamboo trees. Travel ling down the river ...

... are free during the day to wander about the open area where the park is located, this area is a rather recent acquisition donated by an American to Lek to help with her work. Due to the fact that the elephants can wander where they please we were warned just to be aware of them at all times because basically we are very small and an elephant is very big and accidents can happen!!!


Feeding time at the zoo

After our introduction to the park our first task was ...