Hello! It's Jess

Having an amazing time away so far! Have adapted to travelling life very easily! We're in Chiang Mai in the North of Thailand currently, can't believe we've only been away just over a week! Seems like much longer as we've done loads, it's all go go go which is great fun but we are also looking forward to being beach bums down on the islands in a week or so :)

So, we arrived at Bangkok airport after not sleeping a wink, not sure why - maybe we didn't take enough advantage of the free alcohol! I was a little nervous they might be funny about us not having a visa but all was fine and we headed off for a taxi into town (crazy driving and no seatbelts was a tad scary). Our hostel/hotel was on nice lively street not far from the Khao San Rd and had a rooftop swimming pool - bonus! Not surprisingly we headed straight to bed and slept forever.

First day was a bit mental, every five steps was 'hey you' 'tuk tuk sir' 'I take you grand palace' 'you want tuk tuk' 'where you from, where you go'! My goodness, they just didn't get we were doing the walking tour of the sights! I'm sure the tuk tuks are great when you want one but pretty annoying, especially as we were white and looking at our guide book a lot! Well, once we had figured out how to kindly ignore them and negotiate the madness of the roads, we had a fun day seeing temples, the palace was a sea of colours, sparkles, spires and statues-amazing. I was glad we were not part of a organised tour group following an umbrella! Emerald and reclining buddha were cool, people seem to leave random food gifts everywhere, bottles of water with a straw under an old statue!

We surived the heat in Bangkok so time to try the curries! yum yum yum. So far the food has been fab. Love the little fruit stalls with fresh pineapple, watermelon and noodle stands. Have tried all different types of curries but my two faves so far are Massaman and Yellow curry. oh, also loving the iced fruit shakes and ice blended coffee shakes, so cheap and so good! deffo give starbucks a run for their money (I did actually see a starbucks today!)

From Bangkok we got an early train to Kanchanaburi (3 or so hours west of city). Train was at 7:30 so were up at 6 and intended to leave by 6:30 - didn't quite go to plan and we were late but proceeded with the plan to walk with packs, get ferry then another walk with packs! - lucky the train was half an hour late. Taxi next time me thinks! Fun journey with Thai school children.

Kanchanaburi was a welcome break from Bangkok, chilled and scenic. Perfect. Had a fab room on the river and spent time watching the sunsets and chatting to other travellers in the chill out area. Slept well with the room swaying everytime a boat went past.

Seven Steps Waterfalls was just as I imagined. Beautiful emerald pools, white tumbling falls and overhanging twisted tree roots. Was quite a trek to the seveth step in the humidity but a dip in the cool pools did the trick! I got chased by some crazy fierce monkeys, they took a fancy to my sarong!

Ok, so now in Chiang Mai. Took a sleeper train from Bangok which was pretty cool, 14 hours but slept most of it. Chiang Mai is lovely, still quite a big city but much more relaxed than Bangkok. Arrived in time for the Sunday walking market which was just brilliant. Anything and everything you could possibly want, all handmade in local villages and cheap as! Munched sushi from a stall whilst avioding the deeps fried bugs! Really wish I had a spare suitcase to fill up with all the pretty clothes and bags. Everyone here is really friendly and helpful, we stayed first night at a minging hostel (and I'm not fussy) so moved today to much nicer but just as cheap place - we're paying £3 a night each!

Right, off for some grub, still not seen elephants and the nature park was fully booked :( so might have to give our money to a tourist company tour instead as I'm desperate to see them! sorry this is so long but had some time and never sure when we'll have wifi. Heading up to Chiang Rai in couple of days to do some hilltribe trekking and river rafting, then somehow getting ourselves down to the south for some beach time :)

Lots of love xxx