After a swift border crossing from Laos we arrived in Chiang Mai a day earlier than expected meaning we had to spend an evening in a budget option before moving to our posh Christmas hotel the next day. True to form, invisible but noisy building work started at the hostel at 7 am the next morning and we were pleased to check out to move to the De Lanna hotel the other side of the old town.
The hotel was amazing complete with swimming pool, huge room and a hairdryer! (first in 6 weeks!). The city itself was modern with lots of Wats to see, a rubbish museum and plenty of good and cheap food. We even managed to have dinner one night of crispy duck noodle soup for two at a cost of about £1.20. It's so cheap that Ben has generally been doubling up on the portions to make the most of it.
We went to another cooking class on Christmas eve which was fantastic and will be cooking up some Thai delights on our return.
We loved it so much that we tried to stay an extra night but it was fully booked so on to Pitsanulok!