We arrived in Chiang Mai on Monday. Its very different to Bangkok, still a big city with lots of old buildings but no skyscrapers. Its still red hot which is continuing to make the sightseeing it sweaty work. We are staying at a wonderful hotel, www.yaangcome.com, definatley recommend it to anyone who intends to visit here, its so peaceful and relaxing. On Tuesday we went to Doi Sauthep temple on top of a mountain just outside the city. Once again beautiful temples, with gold buddhas everywhere. It also gives views back to the city however with all the haze we couldnt see very far. We took part in the local tradition of having your fortune told when praying at the buddha, you shake a pot full of numbered sticks, and whichever stick falls out you read the corresponding proverb. Mine was very true as it spoke of my wonderful life and how patient I am! However Craig managed to pick the one that said he was very unlucky! We then spent the rest of the day relaxing round the pool trying to keep cool. Wednesday we went on a treking day trip which was wonderful apart from Craig forgetting the memory card for our camera! Thankfully his neck was saved as we managed to buy a disposable one on route. First stop was something Ive been looking forward to since we planned our trip, a ride on an elephant in the wild through the jungle. They were such placid, graceful animals. We sat on a chair on top with a driver sat on his head! The elephants skin felt hard like very thick leather. We kept feeding them bananas as we rode round, his trunk kept curling up round to us. There was also a baby elephant that followed us round, it was so cute. We went up and down a few hills which was slightly precarious, and a little daunting when our driver decided to get off for a while. Howevere our elephant seemed well trained, some of the others kept wandering off, and one of them went off knocking down trees! We also went through a river, and got to see them cool off using there trunks, it also seemed to be the point when they all go to the toliet, that was a lovely view! Next stop was a tribal village in the middle of nowhere, no electricity, just a few wooden houses with leaf roofs, and of course dogs and hens running round. Its so shocking that people still live like this. We then went on a hike through the jungle for an hour crossing rivers on small log bridges trying not to fall in. We probably didnt go very far but we were shattered with the heat. Thankfully we got to cool off at a waterfall. Here we were able to dive into the river off the cliffs, the water is very deep in fact noone can work out how deep it is, but we didnt need to worry about hitting the bottom. It was very refereshing swimming in the cool water. We then continued our hike onto a hilltribe village, once again people living in very poor surroundings and squalor, but yet still seeming very happy. The average age of the people out here is over 80 and thats with no doctors or medication, just using the herbs and plants around them. We then stopped at a village for lunch, mmm, not! Of course we ate a small amount of the food so not to offend but slightly of putting as all the flys swarm round on your food! The final stop was the river to go babmboo rafting. basically 5/6 very long bamboo logs tied together. It was very relaxing floating down the river, until we passed the locals who took much delight in splashing us, we were soaked by the end, but it was a lot of fun.