We arrived in Chaing Mai on Saurday 11th April, after a five hour bus journey from Sukhothai. We had massive problems finding the hostel we had booked, as there we no directions on the website, its just said to get a taxi. Unfortunately, when we got there no-one had heard of our hostel or the road it was on. We ended up wandering the town centre asking for directions. Eventually we went to ask in a local travel agent and the man in there very helpfully looked it up on the internet and then drove us there. Legend. Later when I checked my email I found that the hostel staff had sent me one offering to pick us up from the bus station which would have been a lot easier. Anyway, it was annoying but we got there in the end.

Hostelgood, we had own room and ensuite for the first time on our travels which we nice. As soon as we got there we rushed out to catch the Liverpool game which was on at a local bar just down the road. It was a good, non-touristy place and we spent the rest of the evening there watching football and eating curry.

The next day, we walked into town. A girl threw water all over me and I wondered why. As soon as we got into the town centre we realised there was a massive waterfight going on in the whole town. It was the start of their annual water festival. We bought some buckets and joined in. It was absolute madness, see photos. We got totally soaked, it was good fun.

In the evening, after a curry in our local bar, we walked down to the night market. I managed to buy a few things and Alan found some real football shirts on sale and spent ages bartering with the woman and arranging to go back and get the ones he wanted another day.

On Monday, we had a relaxed day. Went to the internet place for a bit, trying not to get soaked on the way (unsuccessful). Alan went to see his football shirt seller but she wasnt there. On the way some Thai lads gave him some pork and wine because he was wearing a Liverpool top. In the evening we went to the night market again, got some curry and listened to some live music they had on. Back at the hostel we looked into some trekking options and had a few drinks with some other travellors before bed.

The next day the Thai people from our hostel took a group of us to the local national park, as it was a national holiday. There were about 12 of us, half Thai and the rest travellors from other countries. We all piled into the back of their truck, and spent the journey splashing passers by and getting splashed back. We were pretty soaked by the time we got there. Everyone was swimming in the river and we all had a picnic of sticky rice and chicken. We went with the Swedish couple on a walk to a waterfall, but we couldn't find it in the end as there were too many paths and it was confusing so we just headed back to the group. I had just about dried before the journey back, but we ended up getting soaked again. Back at the hostel we had a few drinks and stayed up to watch the Liverpool Champions League match. Alan wasn't too happy

On Wednesday we got up late, as we stayed up till 4 the night before. We arranged our trek for the following day and arranged a meeting with our guide later on. At the meeting most of the people due to trek the next day didn't turn up, only a French couple came. They were from Gex, the small town in France where my family live that we visited a few weeks ago. Our guide told us all about the trek and what we needed.

In the evening we stayed in the hostel doing magic tricks and playing cards with the people there. Even though we had to leave at nine the next day, we decided to stay up again to watch the football. Went to bed late, but ready for trekking the next day.