ATV Tour A very leisurely morning as we did not have anything planned until this afternoon, a late breakfast in the exec lounge and then back to the room to relax before lunch. After lunch we made our way down to the lobby and waited to be picked up for our afternoon ATV tour around the mountains of Mae Rim. After the one hour drive we made it to the office of Chiang Mai ATV where after signing a few documents and handing over some money we were given a quick overview of the beast we would be riding and turned loose on the test track. After a quick single lap I was waved off the track while Colli and the others were made to go again. I sat and waited as the others finished their ... read more

Long and windy roads Part 1 Today we were up early and off to the exec lounge at 730 for a quick breakfast before being picked up at 8am by Mr Joy’s brother Sunny. We had hoped to see Mr Joy again but he had mentioned the day before that he might not be able to make it as he had a meeting with his son’s school that he was trying to reschedule. We were heading to Chiang Rai and Mae Sen (The Golden Triangle) with stops along the way at one of the hot springs, Wat Rong Khun (The White Temple) and Wat Cheddi Luang. It was a long and stomach turning trip for Colli as she doesn’t travel well at the best of times but the long winding mountainous road was testing her limits ... read more

Tiger Kingdom After a very much needed sleep in we ventured onto the 4th floor for an merican Breakfast (So they call it) as we have been only going as far as the Exec lounge for a continental breakfast. We went down to the foyer out the front doors said good morning to our friendly Thai Doorman and set off to find a Tuk Tuk driver to take us to the Tiger Kingdom, much the same as the Tiger Temple in Kanchanaburi we had heard conflicting reports from various travel advice websites and the like about animal abuse and the tigers being drugged etc. After many years as an animal trainer I am experienced enough to know the difference between natural, learned and altered behaviours so we decided to go along and make our own decisions ... read more

Cabbages and What? Today we had planned to go to the Chatachuk weekend markets but because we had such a big day out yesterday and Colli was feeling the after effects of too much sun we decided to take it easy. We had a late breakfast followed by coffee in the lounge before heading back to the room so Colli could rest and try to get over her headache. While Colli was resting I finished the previous blog and put some more photos up. A few hours later Colli woke up minus her headache so we headed out for lunch to a restaurant we had heard about via Groovy Maps called Cabbages and Condoms. Despite the name we were assured the only rubber we would find was in the free condom supplied on the way out ... read more

The Beginning It all started at 545 yesterday morning when we awoke, a shower and some breakfast later it was time to pack the car and head to the airport. When we arrived to check in our plane to Melbourne had been delayed by 10 minutes and was now scheduled to take off at 920. We arrived in Melbourne around an hour later and then arrived at the baggage claim just as an announcement was made that there would be a 10-15 minute delay before the baggage would be released (who said "normal" airlines have less problems ?). After claiming our luggage and making our way to the International terminal we were slightly early for check in for Jetstar and then they were a lot slow in setting up but when they were finally organised it ... read more