This will be the last blog from Chiang Mai as we're off to Bangkok on Wednesday so next blog will be from there. Been tying up loose ends here, met some nice people at Chiang Mai Gate Hotel where we spent 3 days & watched World Cup game with some youngsters from UK, they were stoked when England got through. The hotel was very nice, centrally located & a very good price.It has a nice restaurant, bar & pool. Went & had a meal at UN Irish Pub which is located inside the old city & was very nice.... read more

Some pics including a temple 2 minutes walk from oyr condo. Wat Lok Molee built around 15th century by a king who was asassinated & had his ashes buried in the Chedi, his wife's ashes are also buried there. Its a lovely peaceful place where many monks live. The grounds are well kept & there's a coffee shop onsite & a small souvenir shop which also sells "monk parcels" that you can buy for a monk & get a blessing in return though you can get blessed without buying anything. It was really interesting.... read more

Celebrating my birthday in Thailand for the 3rd year in a row, great!!! Went to Doi Suthep Temple on Friday after ther were 500,000people ther on Thursday night!!! Buddha's birthday & it was busy Friday as lots of people went up the mountain to pray, so relaxing up ther. This year we had a guide, Noom, very good english & we got blessed by a monk along with Noom & other Thais who were praying. So good with a guide as you learn all the history & what everything means. Our guide in Bangkok speaks & writes excellent english, his name is Bank, Ph +660813718900,email thitipattj@yahoo.com, his tour of the Grand Palace & River Kwai is excellent.I"ve posted some phtos of our Golden Triangle tour.... read more

Hi guys, got to Chiang Mai on Sunday & had a look around the Sunday Night Markets Then a quick look at Night markets for Dawn to get her bearings. Raming Lodge is very nice & a straight 5 minute walk to the markets. Went to Mae Rim Elephant Safari yesterday very good saw the elephants getting a scrub then a show & a ride in an "ox cart" nearly broke our backs followed by a relaxing ride on a bamboo raft then a nice lunch At Tiger Kingdom where you could have a photo taken with a large Tiger which we are pretty sure had been drugged as it was sound asleep. None of us had a pic taken there.We were supposed to go to see the monkeys being trained to pick coconuts but the ... read more

Moved hotels this morning as the pool in ours was being renovated,they were very good about it & even sent two of their bellboys to wheel our luggage around the corner to the opposition hotel whose pool is operational.Darrel & Dawn arrived just after midnight last night & moved into the Furamaxclusive which is very nice,mind you The Heritage Sathorn was great as well & we will definitely stay there again once the pool is fixed. Outside the central zone life is trying to go on as normal. Got a cab to Emporium shopping centre & saw lots of razor wire & smoke from burning tyres but unless you go looking for trouble things are going smoothly. It's harder for the Thai people whose lives are affected by events outside their control. There's no skytrain or ... read more