Sah-wah-dee kha

Hello thought we had better check in again before we move on from Chiang Mai and before we forget what we have been up to...

So after my last blog I was left waiting for Tania to arrive and thought I would be brave a venture out and see the sights... I got as far as the bar oppisite the hotel as they were playing live football and served beer.... sold! She txt saying she wold be 45 minutes but this turned into 2 hours as it was raining badly and it was rush hour traffic. This was bad for me as I had not been brave enough to eat anything all day so when she eventually turned up I was all merryily chatting to the locals and didn't even notice her calling me from across the street. We spent the night catching up, drinking Chang and getting brought lots of roses. The entertainment was brilliant with non English speaking Thai men singing perfect songs from all the Indie bands... the were seriously talented musicians and got us jigging about in our seats. The young street dancers were incrediable and could give Street dance a run for their money. We made friends with some crazy american guys who kept us entertained with there mad logic on the world. One of them started stroking my knee which I thought was weird and when we went to get up we realised he was about 4 foot. This was hysterical!! Not sure if we should be laughing at vertically challenged people but we did. The next day we had sore heads and got ready in silence. I did offer Tania to wear my new necklace that I had brought but she politely told me to "*uck off" I think she meant thank you Karen for your sweet offer but no thanks.

That day we mooched about the city, dodgying the scams and mental tuk tuk drivers. We did have to go to one "travel agents" and sat for an hour arguing and having banter with a horrible scottish guy (who was like fat b****** out of Austin Powers) who thought we were young stupid girls, he was wrong. So after a heated discussion with him we left and demanded Tom our not so sweet Tuk Tuk driver to take us back to town. He didn't like this so I started making sick noises saying that I needed to go else I was going to be sick in his old Tuk Tuk... sounds weird but it was so funny as we were soaking wet from the rain and starving... actually all we wanted was a Chang and a sit down.

That evening we meet another English couple so we partied with them on Ko Sham Road, they ate Cockroaches and Scorpians and we just gagged. we smoked shisha pipes, drank Pina Coladers and had a right ball. The only thing sad about this place was the fact the steret children walk about selling roses till 3am. It was heartbreaking. we made friends with them though and made everyone in our company buy loads so they could go home earlier to bed. Little Maria was my favourite who dressed me up like a Muslim with my scarf. Photo hopefully to follow. At 5am Tania decided that she needed a Big Mac so at the age of 29 I experienced my first ever Big Mac burger. How disgusting. Firstly it wasn't cooked, so tania told him so, he got mad so I stepped in and gave him one (out of my 14) roses. This seemed to soften his aggresive behaviour but not stop the death stare. Then it just disolved in my mouth, how people can eat that rubbish. But on a plus side it has put me off McDonals for life. Bangkok is mental but we loved it!

The next day, after our foot massage, we got a overnight train to Chiang Mai. We arrived at the train station and was a little nervous about what to expect. Tania, with her backpack on bent down to pick her bottled water up and ended up flat on her arse. My goodness did I and the rest of the train station laugh. what made it worse is that I couldn't help as my bag was halfway on the train and didn't want it out my sight. One man (out of about 40) came to her rescue and through laughter helped her up. Luckily she was unhurt and saw the funny side. The overnight train was actually pretty cool. It took 16 hours instead of 14 and it wasn't that bad apart from the drop toilet that went straight onto the track. My biggest fear is trains and toilets. I didn't panic though, I manned up and got on with it like a trooper. We walked to our hotel which was a bad idea as only five minutes away but our bags were so heavy and it was so hot, we turned up looking like we had just crossed a dessert, sweat dripping everywhere.

So we are now in Chiang Mai. we have experienced a 25k, about 4 hours bike ride around the city, visiting a leper community, bakery, sweet factory, temples, old ruins and a traditional restaurant (sharlien you would have had a nightmare when you saw this place) it was sooooo dirty and full of trash. I was actually sick in my mouth but didn't want to offend anyone so carried on. It was a brilliant tour though as we didn't see any other western people for the day but got to see how the Thai live, cook, produce local goods and just take in how beautiful this country is. Simple but very charming.

We decided to treat ourselves and went for a 2 hour thai back massage in a womens Prison rehabiition centre. My girl lloked scared and sweet but bloody hell she hurt me bad. She kept telling me to relax but I was sweating like a beast as I was so anxious about where here elbows and feet were going. It was relaxing in the end but took a while to get used to that kind of thing.

Today we have been on a thai cookery course which was excellent, we got to see tthe herb gardens, visit the local market and actually understand what everything was, cook Pad Thai, Spring Rolls and the traditional curry Panang. It was the highlight of Chiang Mai. We are moving on tomorrow morning to Pai which is 4 hours away on a local bus and 3 of those hours consist of shutting your eyes and its a steep, bendy road. wish us luck!!

I am also paranoid about the size of my shoulders.... before people have asked if I swim but now everyone keeps saying to be " arrrr do you sport?" I ask why and then they laugh and point at my shoulders. Tania is now calling Mrs Muscles. Seriously even our English friends asked if I lift weights. Wtf?

I could write so much more... it really is exciting, fun and adventurous but i have Chang to drink and a beautiful sky to look at.... Bye for now xxxx