the night bus would take us from bangkok to chiang mai.. we set off early evening to the bus pick up and left our luggage int the safe hands of the least convincing ladyboy weve seen so far.. luck had struck us again... a vip coach and top front seats where me and dean could unravel our noprmally cramped long legs... air con above us and seats that reclined nearly flat.. !! what more could we ask for..

we set off headphones in with every intention of getting some sleep for out arrival in chiang mai.. well luck must have got off whilst we were napping.. we all started to get somewhat warm.. we took no notice for a while... then we got really hot..!! to the point of tipping water on our faces..

at a scheduled stop we found out the air con had broke..!! and we waited for about 2 hours whilst tehy tried to repair it...!! they couldnt so we were crammed into another bus full of locals and eventually got to chaing mai...

our hotel was nice.. the 1st with a pool.. we had a day recovery there before the trek the next day..

so we awoke the next day to the sound of rain, and Gaz banging on our door not happy at all with the thought of trekking in a downpour. After some time convincing we were on our way in the back of a truck with three other trekkers. We made a quick stop to invest in some water-proof ponchos before hitting the first part of our trek. Our first stop was elephant riding which was fun. Eventually we got to work, the rain had now stopped and although a thick grey cloud hung over us it was still hot and humid. Our guide "Juy" led us further and further through the jungle and after three hours we reached our first waterfall. Borders on we got straight in to cool down, the water was so refreshing. We hit the trail again with some awesome views of the vallies below. We gradually ascended until we reached our first nights stop in a small village. Our home for the night was the floor of a wooden cabin... very comfy. That night we ate are much needed meal and sung happy birthday to Robo, Juy bringing out biscuits and sweets covered in candles. The next day we woke early for breaky. Gaz had decided to head back to the hostel with a few others, so we parted ways and the remainder of us headed up. Our second day was much better, we stopped at another waterfall, better than the first, as we could jump of the rocks. We stayd in another small village with a better scenery and our cabin was next to a river were we showered under the waterfall. After eating some crickets for breakfast... thats right crickets, we began our descent. Another waterfall stop and we finished our trekking, we had some lunch and went bamboo rafting which was great fun. Taking turns steering at the back we were splashing each other getting absolutely drenching, a few times coming close to falling in.

We arrived back at our hotel and arranged to meet our guide and the others we had met for dinner and some drinks. We went for a mexican and then hit "the roof top bar" (the name gives it away). The drinks were now in full flow with buckets all over the place. The night ended quite late, or should i say early as we stumbled into our rooms. We checked out and got a minivan a few hours up from Chiang Mai to the border crossing. We left Chiang Mai behind us after a great few days, now time for a new country...