okey now up in Chang Mai which is lovely - much quieter than bangkok and lush and green and dense surroundings - hills and mountains and everything. very beatiful and nicer weather - the sun is out and it is hot! just as we grabbed our bag to head for the train station in bangkok it absolutely chucked it down - proper proper monsoon! we got absolutely soaked through - hilarious but a little traumatic when you are running across a road up to your knees in water, trying to avoid tuktuks and not loosing any flip flops en route! still the heat means you dry quick and we had the hour 14 hour train journey to relax a little. bed were rather clever and overall not a bad trip.
arrived here about 8 this morning (sunday) and checked ourselves into Julie guesthouse as recommended by the siblings. at the moment we are in a dorm room but its costing us 70baht a night - just under a pound! have already booked a trek for tuesday so looking forward to that - should be good fun and hopefully dry!
been rather leisurely day so far - hanging about in hammocks, reading books on rooftop beds etc etc. we also have literally just treated ourselves to our first thai massage. i'm not sure if a person is meant to click and crunch so much but apparently its good for you. quite relaxing after we both got through the first 20mins of giggles but all in all a bit strange. at one point my massage lady had all her weight on me and then by the end i was somehow balancing on her!! still for less than two quid you can't complain! going to take the next few days as they come and see what happens -

hope all is still well with everyone at home,
loads of love xxxx