Arrived in Chang Mai after a nightmare journey. We were so busted we just about managed to clean the dust off us and then hit the hay. The next day we both felt like we'd done 10 rounds in a Thai boxing ring so it was straight to a thai massage parlour for a rub down. Chang Mai is a lovely city, much more chilled out and relaxed than Bangkok but with just as many lady boys as Conor found out on our way home on the first night, when a crowd of them started to wolf whistle at him!
People go to Chang Mai to "trek" for a few days which usually involves meeting "authentic hill tribes" who have satellite tv and dvd players. We opted out, it was a bit too commercial and false for us. The next day after catching up with 2 weeks of travelpod we went to check out a few temples in the city that were recommended. In the grounds of one temple there was a university for Monks. Outside the university people are encouraged to chat to the Monks which we did. We melted one Monk's head with questions for about 2 hours about Buddism, the life of a Monk and the English Premiership. We think he was glad when we left.
Chang Mai has a great night market which was worth a look, it was much more chilled out than Bangkok's market with less hardcore haggling. We didn't really get up to much more in Chang Mai. The next night we got the night bus back to Bangkok which was nearly more painful than the bus from Luang Nam Tha because we had to share it with 34 (but Whhyyy) Israelis!!!
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