No fun, no baby...

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We arrived in Bangkok after a very sweaty boarder crossing with sullen looking guards. Probably quite a dull job but we gave our best pearly white smiles for the camera and entered the Kingdom of Thailand and boarded our third bus of the journey. The bus dropped us off at Khao San Road aka Thailands answered to Magaluf. Within 3 minutes I was asked if I would like to attend a ping pong show, I politely declined his kind offer and checked into our place. The next day we decided we needed to go shopping (Lisa had lost 3shoes by this point and a towel) so we headed to the most ridiculous shopping mall which had every shop you could want. The the only thing we wanted by the time we got there was the all you can eat sushi buffet, the best 339 baht we had spent all day! Over our salmon skin rolls we decided we were going to leave the next day and head North to Chiang Mai on the night train.

It turned into a 16hour journey on the train but we had beds so it was long but very comfortable. At one point I peaked my head out to see what was happening as I couldn't sleep and I saw one of the train workers in his neat and tidy uniform, I continued to look up and noticed his face was plastered in pink blusher and pink eye shadow. A very brave decision to wear such a bold colour but I'm assuming he wanted to make a statement and that he did. We stayed in this amazing place called the Rainforest Boutique hotel. Not sure what a Boutique hotel is but I liked it. We spent the afternoon round the pool and sorted out our schedule of activities for the days ahead. We hired bikes the next day, got lost, got a flat tyre and got drenched in a down pour but we were pleased with the 6 hours of exercise, oh and another sushi place we found?! We were so tired that night we went to bed at 8.30pm and I watched Andy Murray in the US open...wild one!! The following two days involved trekking in the jungle surrounding Chiang Mai. The scenery was stunning and although our tour guide was a little mental, you felt very safe with him. Wasn't keen on the Cobra talk but ultimately his message was if you see one you run. Great! Not sure who had taught him English but he really liked the phrase 'no fun, no baby' hmm a bit over used towards the end.

We stayed with a local tribe who had some entertaining kids. My teacher head did almost come into play when three of them aged around 4-10yrs old were playing with lit candles. But I just thought they probably know how to skin half the animals running around this place, what's a bit of fire to them? They were fine and we blew out a lot of candles which they relit for us to blow out again. Simple game.

The next day took us to an elephant place which Lisa and I weren't keen to do as both us agreed we think its just a bit cruel. Saying that these elephants had loads of space, were eating lots and didn't have chains. We then zip wired across a river and on the climb down Lisa fell on the muddy path and landed in elephant poo. I really tried hard not to laugh but it wasn't possible. We finished the day with some white water rafting. I'm no expert but the paddling rhythm of some people blows my mind. Mohammed, the Tunisian at the front, had the rhythm of me on a dance floor -Zero. I just wanted to say to him "don't bother!" It wasn't a rapid experience but a good fun way to end the couple of days with some really sweet people. Well, I'm not sure I'd call the Indian dude we met sweet. When we were chilling at the village he felt the need to show us the naked pictures of the Thai women he had been sent. Even prostitutes have joined the modern era it seems.

When we arrived back to the hotel we were both wet, muddy and tired. I don't know how I managed 12days trekking in Nepal with my 3 t shirts, 1 pair of shorts and a bucket of water a day to wash with two years ago. Think I'm getting old. Was so pleased to have a shower when we got back and wine was definitely needed, as was the huge dinner we had at a really cute restaurant called 'The Riverside'. The Oreo and banana ice cream I had in the night market topped off an indulgent evening.

The next day we headed across to Pai, the driver informed us we had 62 bends in the road to endeavour before we reached the hippy town. Lisa turned a lovely shade of green as the motion became too much for her. Pai is an untouched gem to the left of Chiang Mai with few tourists at this time of year and lots of quaint little coffee shops, restaurants and cool bars to visit. I fully embraced the place and ate a vegetarian meal - through choice on the first night. We also discovered that there were lots of waterfalls and hot springs around the place. For £2 we hopped on a motor bike, me as allocated drives, and went hunting. Due to the time of year a lot of the places we found had only us there. I got really into zooming around on the motor bike and was quite sad to have to hand it back the next day. This morning we woke up at 7am to go and sample Mauy Thai boxing. Well, the only experience I have at punching, is trying to hit my brothers. Those Thai trainers don't care if you're a girl and one kicked me in my tummy (didn't even give me a chance to tense my strong abs either?!) apparently I should have blocked! So I got 'tough' during my one on one in the boxing ring with a thai instructor and was jabbing and kicking my little heart out. The language barrier was not enough for me to miss that fact he was clearly mocking me!! We did this for 2 hours finishing with circuits and the man would whip us with a little stick if we slacked off ie keep your bum down in the plank or else the backs of your legs get sore!!

Last 2 days with Lisa...Indonesia on Friday...

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