Up North

---

---

I am still managing to fit so much into my time travelling (i keep on thinking i am running out of time and i have to see everything). From Koh Tao i took a 26 hour journey to Sukhothai using almost all forms of public transport. Sukhothai is a really intresting city - like Ayutthaya it is a former capital of Thailand, and boasts some incredable ruines. the whole of the city is a national park, and nature seems to engulf the sacred ancient ruinsi rented out another bike and ended up cycling around the old city all day (i managed to get lost for a few hours of course).

from Sukhothai i took the night train north to Chaing Mai, Thailands second biggest city. after seeing the city and visiting the impressive sunday market (which made the whole city come alive as thousands of stalls lined the streats), I embarked on a challenging 3 day trech trough the mountanous jungle. it was extreamly fun. we managed to combine trecking with elephant riding, visiting a bat cave, a waterfall, and staying overnight in a remote Karren tribal village which was virtually untouched and unchanged by western society. it was very interesting walking down the mountianside to bathe in the cold stream which was freezing cold and only ankle deep. i absolutly loved the trecking - up to 6 hours a day up and down mountians, crossing streams, and walking through vast paddy feilds. we also went rafting through rapids on makeshift bamboo rafts (which were virtually destoyed by the end as we ket on crashing into rocks). i somehow managed to lose our bamboo oar, so our guide had to stop and fell a tree to make another.

on my last day in Chaing Mai i went on a Thai cookery course which was extreamly intresting - i plan on cooking alot of Thai food when i come back!

---

Photos

Wat Phra Phai Luang
...one of the many ruined temples in Sukhothai

inside another temple
its strange how most of Thailand lives in poverty, yet all the temples are lavishly decorated and full of gold

elephant trecking
as there were too many people i voulentered to sit on its neck...i felt very insecure

bat cave
bats in the air, giant spiders on the walls, all in a pitch black cave

Karren tribal village
this really is in the middle of nowhere

building our bamboo raft
they did all that in a couple of hours