Northern Thailand... Me love you long time!

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We really enjoyed Chiang Mai, it is a small city in the mountains of northern Thailand, with a strong back-packer vibe. Everyone we met was so friendly even just people on the street who stopped to chat or recommend a market or place to visit. On our arrival we explored the old city during the day and in the evening we did a Thai cookery course. First we went to the market to learn about the ingredients, then learnt to cook Pad Thai, some curry pastes' and then the curry itself. The course chef was very funny with his use of English and phrases he had learnt, which made the whole evening more entertaining. For desert we made banana in coconut milk and mango sticky rice,which were delicious. At the end we got a recipe book with all the dishes in so we can attempt to recreate them when we get home.



The following day we set off on a 2 day trek to see some of the stunning local mountain scenery. We walked and scrambled for three hours up a steep mountain pass in the rain and up through the misty clouds to our home for the night.... A wooden hut with campfire and camp mattresses with mosquito nets for sleeping. After a cold shower, dinner was served with a breathtaking view of the valley, clouds and setting sun. The evenings' entertainment was singing and playing with the village children who performed some songs for us. The night was long listening to the bugs and rustling in our hut and we were glad to set off down the mountain in the morning, after an hour or two of trekking we reached a pool and waterfall. The trip was made all the more enjoyable by the excellent group of people we were accompanied by, one of whom we only said goodbye to upon leaving Thailand. A bit further down the river we got into inflatable boats and were kitted out with helmets and paddles for white-water rafting, which was the cherry on the cake.



We arrived early in Bangkok off the night bus but luckily our hotel room was available so we could get in a few more hours sleep. Our first explorations of Bangkok were rather frustrating, we walked down Khao San Road and over to the Grand Palace and then ended up at 'Thieves Market' in Chinatown very hot and hungry. We decided to save the culture for our 2nd day in the city and relaxed before hitting the night markets of Khao San Road and Patpong ... an eye opening experience! Our second attempt at visiting the cultural attractions of Bangkok was only slightly more successful, when trying to visit the Grand Palace we were told by a guide that the Palace was closed in the afternoon and he tried to make us go on an expensive boat trip instead. We evetually made it to Wat Pho, and walked round the temples and saw the gigantic golden reclining buddha that flls one of the large halls. Later on we ended up getting a bus to the Central Plaza shopping centre, in search of Air conditioning, instead of going to the very expensive Grand Palace! It was as expected ... huge, very quiet and lifeless. Is this really what the world is striving for? Globalisation of this form lacks any cultural influence or personality. I've decided that big cities are not my bag, especially Asian ones that are expanding so quickly. I'm glad to be moving on rapidly to the slow pace of life on the Thai islands.

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