Backpackers Mecca! - Northern Thailand - Chiang Rai & Chiang Mai Provinces

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Finally, after nearly four months on the road we finally cross into the backpacker's meca that is 'Thailand'. We stay at the border town, to enable me to to catch United's first premiership game of the season...5-1, get in.

We move on the next day to Chiang Rai and are a distinctly unimpressed with the town, the surrounding area offers us Tribal Hill Trekking, Elephant Treks etc etc.... similar to Laos but with a more overdeveloped ethnic minority human zoo feeling!

Next, Chiang Mai, this is more like it, bustling nightlife, city walls, beautiful Wats. After months on a staple diet of mainly rice and noodles, it comes as a relief to find some good quality western food (cooked by expats, not locals take on western cuisine), not only that also a Tesco's. We walk round excitedly gathering English type foods for a picnic and head out on the scooter to visit a Wat at the top of the mountain that overlooks Chiang Mai and waterfalls. We also sign-up to a Thai cooking course (apparently 100 chillies go in a green curry paste).

We have plans to hire a bike and set off into the sunset on a 600km Northern loop of Thailand taking in 'relatively untouched' minority villages and stunning scenary. Unfortunately one of the drawbacks of rainy season is the impending danger of landslides and flooding (plus the added risk of occasional border shelling by the Burmese) so instead we head on the first leg to Pai by bus.

Pai is a beautiful village tucked away in a very scenic valley. The town itself is very relaxed, with great bars/restaurants and excellent handicraft shopping. We spend our days relaxing, enjoying our found again western lifestyle and generally hanging out. Everyday at 2pm we were guaranteed a 30 minute monsoon, then after dark it rained for the rest of the night (at least we knew when to have lunch and hit the bars).

We hired a moped and managed to complete a section of the loop we'd initially planned for from Pai to Sappong. The journey was hair-pin turns all the way up a huge mountain and back down the other side approx 45km's each way. We had great fun, me believing I was Valentino Rossi, we also came across numerous landslides, washed out bridges (confirming our original reservations). On the way back up the mountain the 2pm monsoon soaked us through turning the road into a river. We made it to the top and waited out the 30mins before the sun broke through and made our way back to Pai and then Chiang Mai.

We caught a flight to Bangkok (our first flight since leaving England) which itself seemed like a mini adventure, how easily we take things for granted in the UK!

The most apparent difference we have noticed since hitting Thailand is this country, unlike all the other countries we have travelled previously, it is completely Westernised, wealthy and the primary aim is simply to have fun, fun, fun. It makes a big change from previous countries where we've witnessed exterme poverty, persecution and a general struggle for survival. It's hardly surprising Thailand is the most visited place in SE Asia.

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