Yesterday was a hardcore day! ... After having about 4 hours sleep (Brad was snoring and Chris was sleep talking), we had to be up at 7am to have a shower and start our day off exploring real Chiang Mai. The bus picked us up at 8.30am; first stop was a butterfly park and orchid garden, which wasn't anything special but my mum's favourite flowers are orchids so I took a few pictures for her. After about half an hour we arrived at the place where we were going to ride on elephants. It was weird, i'm not sure if I liked it or not; the elephants were chained up under wooden shacks and the way they treated them was not up to British standard but they were still showing them affection just in a different way, I guess it's like that in Asia?! They have a different regard for animals over here, it just takes getting used to? Although I don't know if I want to participate in it ...

We had an awesome lunch after the elephant riding; thai green curry and like a sweet & sour curry with rice. AMAZING! ... To be honest, I could eat any meal here and think it is awesome because Thai food is my favourite. Most people apparently lose weight in Thailand? I'm not sure that is going to happen!! And with it being so cheap n all!! Haha!

After lunch we drove for around an hour up the moutain to begin our trekking through the jungle. Man, it was hard! I am so unfit so found it very difficult but 2 of the guys we are with were personal trainers back home so they kept me going which helped!! we trekked for around 45 mins until we reached the waterfall; it was beautiful!! All the boys were diving in but I wasn't sure about the water so I didn't go in, you can never be too careful! I dipped my fit in to cool down cos I was sweating buckets walking up the moutain.

Next stop was a hill tribe, a five minute walk from the waterfall. It is insane the way they live! Absolutely incredible! I was so excited about going on to do the white water rafting!! I had Teresa, Calum, Greg and Jarvis in my dingy. I was sitting at the back counting (or shall I say shouting?!) military-style for the amount of strokes we paddled. It was sooooo much fun!! I nearly went overboard about 3 times but the guy at the back always caught me, hehe. The boys in the other boat sucked!! I think it's cos they didn't have me at the back with my military-style counting! We got off the dingy after the rapids to get onto a bamboo raft and just cruised along the river the rest of the way.

The thing I was looking forward to the most on this day trip was meeting the hill tribes. We arrived in this amazing place where they were building huts and feeding animals (that they were later going to eat). The way they live is just unreal but we didn't feel very welcome there. They probably feel like a human zoo with tourists coming round taking photos of their homes and working. I am sure that they get some money out of us visiting though, at least I hope so!

We got back to the hostel at 6pm to find all of our backpacks from our dorm in the front garden. Lucas, one of the dudes who runs the place, called us over and told us that we had to leave because we made a bit of noise when we came back the other night and the neighbours complained. I couldn't believe it, I didn't know what I was going to do!! ... After a few minutes, everyone shouted APRIL FOOL'S DAY ... It think I laughed more with relief but it was a funny joke.

Last night was our last night altogether in Chiang Mai as everyone was getting on the bus to Laos. We went for a lovely meal; some people headed out for a few Changs (Thai beer) after, Teresa went back cos she was feeling ill. I thought I would go out for one drink as other people from our hostel were all going out (this had been arranged with the people who run the hostel). The place was a bit rubbish though so me, Calum and Jon headed back to the hostel; was pretty knackered from the trip!!

I had a pretty crappy night's sleep last night as all the boys came back at different times, crashing and banging around, turning the lights on etc. Chris kept waking me up every 5 mins cos he wanted to use skype on my phone and check his facebook. Not sure why he couldn't do this on the computer but he was pretty battered.

This morning was very sad saying goodbye to everybody! I feel a bit lost but some other people staying here have taken me under their wing and we are going to the lake today to chill as it is soooo HOT! I could totally get used to this :-)

Not sure what the plan is for later. It's Lucas' birthday today (the guy who runs the hostel) so people are going out for drinks, I will probably join them but not drink alcohol. Even though it is so cheap to drink out here I don't want to just throw money around on nights out.