I travelled to Chiang Khong by a local bus which went very slowly, packed on every package and everybody that could fit, had every single window open and took 2 and a half hours but it was pleasant travelling with locals. It was an interesting journey as I could see the houses of the local people in the hills and mountains. Now I am in my guesthouse in Chiang Khong and I am with other tourists waiting to cross the border to Laos tomorrow. Now I will go mingle with some of the guests. I have a cold today and I’m finding the drop in temperature from 35 degrees in Bangkok to 5 degrees in the north of Thailand really strange. It’s amazing that a country can have so many different climates.... read more

Today in class we had a new teacher and she re revised what I missed yesterday – massaging legs and abdominals. In the morning we did a yogi exercise, a hand-knee exercise, medtation, body stretching demonstration. We then both received a fully body massage from the teacher whilst each of us had to say the instructions. I was learning quickly and I passed the written exam but by the afternoon once I had to practise massaging abdominals I found it really complicated. Once back at the hostel at 5pm I slept for the whole evening until 8pm. I woke up, walked around and began my evening hunt for food. I first of all went to my favourite café and ordered Pad Thai (I always order either Kao Soi with beef, Pad Thai or chicken with ginger ... read more

Happy New Years Eve! In day 2 of my massage course we began with a lecture on the origins of thai massage and which sorts of people to avoid giving thai massage to (drunks, aggressive people, paralysed people, people with high blood pressure etc...) I had my blood pressure tested and it's completely normal which is great to know. Today we practised and demonstrated the hand-knee massage and meditation, back massage in the face down position and arm and palm massage. The arm massage was the most difficult as there are so many pressure points and cautionary areas (where there are lots of veins and arteries.) I'm enjoying talking in Spanish at break times with the three Argentinian students who came over from Buenos Aires to study Thai massage. They are lovely people. In the evening ... read more

This morning I set off early for the airport as today there was an enormous demonstration planned for Bangkok which brought the city to a standstill. They are still waiting for the prime minister to step down and they only have until New Year to achieve it as many people in Bangkok leave the city to go back to their home towns and spend New Year holiday with their families. This afternoon I arrived in Chiang Mai. The flight was quick (50 minutes), Nok Air were great and I slept comfortably for the whole time. I'm very tired at the moment and I'm just resting today. I arrived into my hostel. It's really nice, very comfortable and it has three swimming pools. Unfortunately towards the end of the week I will have to change into a ... read more

At 3pm I met with Dee Diezo (from Russia) at the Grand Palace – he is one of the friends I made in the hostel in Pattaya. We saw a little play in Thai and visited a local shrine. We then passed through the demonstrations which luckily were still peaceful. We took the commuter boat to Taksin BTS station. The water in the Praya canals are so polluted that they have to put covers up on the sides of the boat. It was difficult to get out of the boat, you have to jump and hope for the best. It wasn’t so easy in a long skirt but somehow I managed it. We went to Siam Paragon one of the many big shopping centres and went down to the aquarium. There was a show for kids ... read more