Chiang Mai!

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Greetings from Chiang Mai! After thinking we had a couple more days left on Koh Phangan, Joanne realised that we in fact only had one more day left... so we said our goodbyes to our lovely lovely neighbours Ali and Si 😞

The next morning we packed up our things, and waved goodbye to Laem Son 1, and off we trotted to the port, to start our long journey to Chiang Mai. The whole journey was so easy, thanks to them sticking florescent stickers on us (which made us feel like we were on a special school trip or something) - we had to get the boat, then a bus, then a 12 hour train to Bangkok, then a 12 hour train to Chiang Mai. The stickers were there to show the transport staff which bus/train etc we were meant to be on. Compared to the trains in India, the trains in Thailand are LUXURY! Proper mattresses, bedding, really nice food, and a bar, complete with old drunk Thai men wanting to chat to us at every available opportunity.

We broke the journey up a little bit by spending a few hours in Bangkok, though it really wasn't enough time. We went down the Chao Phraya river, visited the temple which homes the Reclining Buddah, which is MASSIVE, ate in China Town, then we rushed off to get the train to Chiang Mai.

After hearing nothing but good things from absolutely everyone about Chiang Mai, we knew we would love it. The city has a different feel to it, loads of really nice boutuqie shops and guest houses (I've spent loads, already) plus there's tonnes to do here. Ooh and we've treated ourselves to facials, Thai massages (ow, but it was amazing, at one point she was climbing all over my back), and pedicures... the Thai massage was just what we needed after the long train journey, plus, it got us ready for the next day....

We decided to be really brave and head off out to the Jungle and experience "Jungle Flight", which is 34 platforms, 22 ziplines, 4 abseils and 3 sky bridges, literally flying through the jungle on ziplines. It was SO high, I can't actually believe I did it, I'm a wimp at the best of times, but what an experience! Plus, we met Chinese Cherilyn and a Becky Simpson a-likes. The Cherilynalike was so funny, she didn't really understand what she was signing up for, I've no idea what she thought she was ging to be doing, but ziplining though the jungle was not it. She screamed the whole day - but at the end every one gave her a massive round of applause for completing it 😊 Go Cherilynalike!

Today is our last night in Chiang Mai - tomorrow we're catching the bus to Pai for a few days. Our Thai Visa runs out on the 9th, so we're going to head over to Laos and Cambodia for a couple of weeks, we're going to get the Slow Boat in to Laos which takes two days, but its apparently an amazing journey so really looking forward to that. Then in just less than two weeks, Tomek arrives, yay!

I can't believe we've been away for 9 weeks already, time is going so fast.... miss you all lots, wish I could transport you all here! Will update you all very soon 😊

Love xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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