The tour commences, Chiang Mai

---

After leaving the hustle and bustle of Bangkok at 6pm we jumped on the train to Chiang Mai. The journey took fifteen and a half hours but the journey was good. As we left Bangkok we noticed some what I can only describe as huts very near to the train ones, inside the hut was a guy watching TV the train must have a passed within sis feet of where he was sitting. At about 9pm the stewards came round and pulled down the bed and put on the bed sheets etc, all very efficient. I had a good nights sleep despite waking a couple of times. We arrived in Chiang Mai around 9.30am, we dropped off our cases at the hotel and went to explore the town and the temples. Stopped off for lunch and in the afternoon visited Wat Phrathat Dot Suthep which was on the top of a mountain. The legend is that they built the temple where the elephant stopped and sat down and that was at the top of the mountain. The groups is twelve people four from the UK, three from Canada, four from Australia and one from USA. The majority are under thirty but there are three of us oldies. To day it was Megan's birthday so our guide J organised a birthday dinner and cake for her at a local restaurant which was very nice.

---