Wanathara Health Resort and Spa Phitsanulok

... trouble understanding me and that's why they zone out and don't listen. Must fix this.

I also like all this talk about friends coming to visit me during my summer break. It would be awesome to see some faces from home, and get to show people around this crazy country. So feel free to let me know you wanna come to Thailand!

Wish me luck in finding Hill Tribe Silver at the markets in Chiang Mai!

... their training for a short time every day, but still they accept us being in with them. Each day so far has been largely the same, and there is a lot of chill-out time for the volunteers and the mahouts while the elephants do their own thing, but it's hot and the chance to sit under the shade is always welcome. Each day starts with leading the elephants from where they are chained up overnight in the forest (very long chains are used) to another part ...

... each carriage and then all the way back down again, the whole way there. This really friendly Thai guy helped us with our bags, offered his seat to Meals (which wasn't a seat just a little step out of the way) and he had been on for 3 hours previous with another 10 to go, all with a smile on his face. Meals didn't take the offer and so an hour later the guy gave it up to a women and her little baby and helping with her bags too ...

... eau, mais plutot un contenant d'eau avec un bol pour se ''nettoyer'') mais en plus, quand on balance de tout bord tout cote. Experience tres enrichissante ! Etant les seules occidentales dans le train, Anouk et moi croyions deja se faire regarder pas mal... Jusqu'a ce que nous arrivions a destination. Nous n'avons vu qu'une poignee de voyageurs, et disons que nous attirons beaucoup d'attention. Le monde se retourne sur notre passage en se chuchotant et nous pointant du ...

... some tables and chairs. A illuminated pub emerged in front of me. There I downed a couple of beers in company of the drunk bartender, a very energetic Thai that vividly wanted to explain things to me (only in Thai), 67 year old Brit with his twenty-something year old Thai boyfriend and the letter's brother. It was weird, it was great. I missed a thing I wanted to see just for the name but it was too far out of my ...

... wedged the bull between two trees. He then continues to beat the Bull's Balls to a pulp it leaves you thinking there has to be a better way the poor boy only gets cocnut oil to ease his pain. Having bought a small cow it was off to meet Alex in the evening. Sat 24th: Getting up early we jumped on a local bus to take us to an old capital of Thailand, Sukothai. It is a temple city much like Angkor, in Cambodia. A walled city filled with stupas and temples and surrounded by even ...

... for in life and after a terrible attempted sleep on a bed which made the floor seem comfortable we felt somewhat less smug... and a great deal sweatier.

Phitsanulok is located in the north part of the Thai mainland and it's where they say the culture of the north meets the culture of the centre.

Fascinatingly (ahem), it's also the ...

... vegetables (morning glories) from a street food/circus act. Next day we toured the Sukhothai ruins an hour's bus ride away. It's the biggest set of ruins in Thailand. We rented bikes (for around 60 cents) and chugged around from temple to temple. It used to be a thriving city that predated Ankor Wat in Cambodia as the cultural and political center of the region 800+ years ago. We took a zillion pictures and got a great workout in the bargain.

... city. Our hotel was lovely, but faced rice fields for the view. We spent New Year's Eve on the front lawn of Amarin Lagoon Hotel. The huge front lawn of the hotel featured a ridiculously loud outdoor Thai buffet with hundreds of cuisine options. It was lots of fun and certainly my mosy unique New Year's experience so far.

... mudra, glowed softly in the early morning light as roosters crowed in the distance, and the plunking mellow tones of a traditional wooden xylophone, tuned to an unfamiliar scale, carried through the warm air. Later we take photos of bright pink water lilies reflecting on the surface of the pond next to Wat Mahathat, the Royal Temple. The wat is quiet still, free from the crowd of tourists that will arrive later, and the ...