The Land of Smiles (Northern Thailand)

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Hello from South East Asia. At last we are back to civilisation arriving in the now modern Bangkok complete with sky scrapers, 8 lane highways, and shopping. Our 4 day stay in Bangkok allowed us to re-group and take in this devoted capital and it's many shrines and buddhas as well as sample some new modes of transport, from ferries down the Mae Nam, the metro, local buses and the new sky train. Having eaten curry for the last 6 weeks it was time to indulge...fruit juices, shakes, thai curry's, the Chang beer and some locusts???

From here we headed north to Chaing Mai to tour the walled city, see some more stupas on bikes, take in a cooking course (well Vicky anyway) and catch a stomach bug. The town was calmer then Bankok and easy to explore the various food markets, flower markets and use as a base to visit the rest of the north. Having not relaxed enough on this trip, we visited the slepy town of Pai from Chaing Mai. A lazy river side hippy town that was so laid back it was horizontal. From here we toured the hillsides on scooters taking in waterfalls, local villages, more temples and findin a hot spring to relax in. We also got acquainted with some Thai elephants and took another trek into the hills.

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Photos

Local aerobics in the park
Vic was itching to join in..

Another panoramic view
This time Chaing Mai

Laid back Pai
Lazy days by the river