Greetings from Chiang Mai,

We haven't written a blog in a little while, so just to update you, we arrived in Phuket and went straight to Sala (the twin hotel that we stayed at on our honeymoon) and had a very nice stay, albeit a wet one!) the rain looked like it had set in on the islands, so we decided to head North the next day. This was more involved that it sounds! We had to take a bus from Phuket to Bangkok (13hrs), arriving at 4am, having very little sleep. Our plan was then to hop on the very next bus to Chiang Mai, but that required us to get to the northern bus stop, and we didn't know when the next bus was going to be. So, we flaked out and bought a plane ticket leaving Bangkok around noon. Not wanting to hang around in Bangkok, we went straight to the airport, where we slept and hung around for 6hrs.

So, we finally arrived in Chiang Mai about 24hrs after leaving Phuket (on Friday). It was completely worth it though because Chiang Mai is an amazing place. The city is nice and compact and so much cleaner than Bangkok. We checked into a very friendly guesthouse and chilled for the next day. We then went in search of some tours. We were keen to trek, but then we came across a tour company called 'Something Different', who do motorbike tours. It sounded perfect as we were keen to ride again and it seemed a great way to see the countryside around Chiang Mai. We booked a day trip for 2,000 baht each, which is around 40 pounds. A lot of money, but it turned out to be worth every penny!

Our guides picked us up and we went to have a test ride on the motorbikes because they were manual bikes, which we had never rode before. Turned out it was pretty easy, just took some time to get used to it. The guides took us to Doi Inthanon, a national park around 50km south of Chiang Mai. The scenary was beautiful. On our way up a very steep hill (1st gear all the way), we turned a corner to find 3 elephants walking on the other side of the road-quite a sight, I'll tell you! The whole day was full of surprises and out of the way roads. We went off roading a lot, which was fun, even though we both lost our balance a few times and either ending up in a ditch, or a tree, or like, Louise, ending up in a river along with her bike whilst trying to cross over a bridge made out of a few small logs! We visited a hill tribe village, where only 8 people lived without electricty, running water, toilet etc. The family had 4 children, who didn't go to school, and whose daughters would marry at around the age of 14. A different world for sure, but a very happy one. We had lunch with them-the best chicken we have had since arriving. The guide told us he would like to open a school there someday.

We didn't see any other tourists, and it was just the two of us with two guides, which made the trip even more special. After a full day of riding (9am-7pm) and off-roading, we didn't realise just how sore we would be. We're still feeling it today, though it didn't stop us hiring motorbikes again to go to another national park.

We're heading off in the morning to a smaller town called Pai to hopefully do some bamboo rafting and maybe volunteer at an elephant camp for a day. Chris is also keen to do some cookery classes.

Keep in touch

Louise & Chris x

ps-we're having some trouble uploading photos here, but tyring to add to facebook.