of chiang and chang...

we have had so many new experiences in the past three days in chiang mai, north thailand, that I hardly know where to begin...

Chiang Mai is somehow of a different breed to bangkok....it's still a large city...frantically busy, crammed with tuk tuks and taxis and fabulous night markets. but somehow it is more chilled out and the people are a million times friendlier...

we have been relishing thai cuisine for the past 2 weeks...i have, quite seriously, lived on pad thai and could do so for several more weeks quite happily....and yesterday i learned how to make my own so that i can continue with my latest obsession in the comfort of my own kitchen...in fact i think a thai party might be in the cards if anyone fancies it??!! under the tutorship of a thai chef we visited a local market in the morning....inhaling the scents of barbequed fish and fresh fruit and veg, we learned about the more obscure of thai ingredients before heading back to Perm's house to cook up some delish dishes...alongside my (rather yummy, even if it didn't look conventional...!) pad thai I made some of my other faves - thai green curry, chicken and cashew stirfry and coconut soup while matt whipped up an amazing red curry, big fat noodles and sweet and sour stirfry...it was such a fun day - we met some great people and had a laugh, learnt a lot and played with food....what's not to love?

and today we traded saucepans for sneakers and woks for waterfalls as we trekked high into the mountains...another activity that Chiang Mai is famous for...travellers come from all over to spend 1, 2 or 3 days hiking in the hills around northern thailand to see what the jungle holds....does the lion sleep tonight?? but, since damaging my foot whilst dancing in the sand (as you do) i felt I could only cope with a couple of hours walk, a decision i was grateful for as travel hasn't exactly increased my fitness levels!!! The day began by leaving the walking to dumbo...magnificent creatures, the elephants plodded along while we rode high on their backs like kings....our 'chang'(thai for elephant) was a cheeky fella, preferring to throw his trunk back for any wayward bananas we might have in our possession than concentrate on keeping up with the others...quite often we had the baby trailing along beside us...only 2 years old he is about to be sent to a conservation camp to be trained but in the meantime he likes to play with the tourists...almost barging me over as i tried to pose with him for a photo....you'd think that, being as cute as he is, he might be used to the paparazzi!

after that magical experience we walked a way to visit a hill tribe...primitive villagers living in the hills around chiang mai...in the past they survived by trading opium. Nowadays the King of thailand has discouraged drug use and has encouraged other forms of agriculture which the villagers trade while their children go to school. Hot and bothered after trekking through thai dust we stumbled across a waterfall and took the opportunity for a swim in the fresh mountain stream before checking out another (more advanced) hill tribe village - that of the Karen tribe who migrated from burma and somehow, despite their simplicity, have satelite dishes and electricity set up in their little timber huts....

After a spot of lunch the final item on the agenda was a float down a river on a bamboo raft....not unlike punting down the oxford river but a tad more primitive...the raft is literally a few bits of bamboo strung together, controlled by a punter front and back...matt happened to be driver on ours which was slightly concerning but we quietly sailed down little rapids and slid between jutting rocks, watched by elephants on the side of the stream and surrounded by jungle....it was all rather idealic and dreamy and a perfect end to a brilliant day full of new experiences....

It will be sad to leave thailand...i have loved it here and i see myself coming back for more exploring (read 'shopping'!) sometime soon. But tomorrow we move on to Vietnam...Hanoi to be precise...a new and exciting country where lots of new adventures lie just around the corner...

stay tuned. xxx