We did stop in bangkok for a couple nights, and had fun - although we decided a ping pong show was a bad plan ;-) As we will end our tour of thailand with a final couple nights in bangkok i will write about it then - so after a couple nights there we headed north to chaing mai. Alot nicer up here- cleaner,people friendlier and slightly cooler. Checked into a hostel for 3.80/nite for a double room, ensuite and the hostel has bar, restaurant and swimming pool so happy with that. Spent a couple of nites looking around the city (alot smaller than bangkok) and hired a scooter to head off into the surrounding mountains for some good views of the city and into the distance. We then booked a 3 day/2 nite jungle trek, elephant riding and bamboo rafting. English speaking guide, all food and accomadation included for 34 quid - result!

Had an early start, leaving the hostel at around 9 with the tour group (hannah, myself and 5 lads our age from liverpool) in the back of a truck and off to the jungle around 2 hours away. Stopped in the hills for lunch with a tribe, although tried to sell us crappy bracelets etc and a few had mobiles so not quite what we pictured, then headed off on the first section of the hike. What we thought would be a leusurly stroll quickly became aparnt it would b more of a high speed march. With sweat dripping off us from heat and the hike we finally reached our camp for the nite with a more traditional tribe, who had no electric and very little contact with anyone bar the one tour group/day. They were nice and did a traditional dance in traditional tribal clothes whilst singing. Then we were offered to smoke some opium.....weed is one thing but a crack pipe is a whole different story. Aparantly heroin is made from a different part of the poppy and mixed with other things, so this wasnt the hardcore stuff, but the name alone meant we stayed clear of that one. We all spent the nite in a large hut made from bamboo - walls floor and roof, and just slept on top of blankets, the tribe did everything they normally would and didnt play up to tourism so was good to see how they acctually live.

Awoke the next morning to light rain and set off on a 2 hour march to a waterfall. On the way at a rest brake where we sat to catch our breathe, the guide bounced up, pushed an english guy and sent him stumbling. Then jumped up and down on the ground. Where the lad had been sat, a giant poisonous centerpede had made a dash for his ankle and without the guides interferance (and jumping up and down to kill it) he would have been stung and in a whole lot of trouble since we were in jungle with no air ambulance etc, couple of hours hike to the nearest vehicle let alone hostpital. Continued to the waterfall for a swim and lunch. After this we hiked another hour to our second nites accomadationat the elephant camp :-)

Had food with locals again, and stayed in a similar large bamboo hut (no opium this time), pretty similar - except its strange to awaken, walk outside, and see 3 elephants wondering around only meters away. Male, female (both huge as youd expect) and a baby one about the height of us. On our elephant, hannah and 1 of the lads sat on its back in a basket type seat, where as i rode bareback on its neck with its ears flapping againt my legs and the baby one running around hitting my feet. Amazing hour and half ride through more jungle, with our 1 straying off the track to find food which was worrying at the time.

After the elephants we hiked around 30 mins to a river and jumped aboard some bamboo rafts.3 to a raft, only to pieces of bamboo to push off the river bank of bed for stearing. Again much fun! After the best part of an hour we came back onto land to find the truck awaiting our return and whisked us back to chiang mai - a very good way to spend three days.

Spent another 3 nites at the cheap hostel/hotel then headed to a place called sukothai