THE FINAL LEG…

Returning to Thailand but this time in the north, it was to be our final two weeks of adventure, exploring and freedom, and we made sure we enjoyed every second of it! Our first stop was Chiang Rai, up in the north-east of Thailand. It was just one night, a little wandering and some bartering at the night bazaar before we headed across the top of Thailand to a tiny town about 4 hours north of Chiang Mai, which goes by the name of Pai. Pai quickly became a favourite stop of ours and its chilled out vibe, set in a mountainous landscape, with lots of activities to partake in, made us stay there for four nights. Whilst knocking back a few Changs on the first evening we met Simon, Liz and Artur, and a few beers later we decided that we would all get motorbikes the next day and head out to some waterfalls, hot springs and just to take in the beautiful surroundings. Having never ridden a motorbike before, I managed to pull away, a little speedily, but without crashing and things became pretty easy from there and we were on our way after a quick petrol stop. Things were going well, I was enjoying my time on the open road and we were all having a good time until…we took a wrong turning and ended up going down a pretty narrow, dirt track with a lot of pot-holes. You can probably guess what happened next…yes, I hit a pot hole, probably going too fast, skidded, came off the bike and was lucky to escape with a gash to the arm and a couple of other cuts a bruises. Only two minutes later along the same track, Claire came off aswell, and ended up with a burn to the leg and some greeny, purple bruises to add. Well, you not what they say, 'get straight back on the horse', so that's what we did, and went home to clean ourselves up, and then met the newly named 'Moped Gang' for lunch before heading out again in the afternoon. It was dinner and a few drinks with the guys later on but we couldn't get too drunk as we had to be up at 6.30am the next morning.

A Thai cooking class, started with a trip to the local morning market to get some ingredients before cracking on with learning a few Thai Classics. For me it was a cucumber salad, chicken and cashew nuts, chicken with garlic and pepper, spring rolls and pad thai, the latter being a favourite of both of ours. Things went pretty well and we came up with some pretty tasty dishes and of course stuffed ourselves in the process. Full to the brim, not much happened that night bar a bit of travel admin. The next day we took, what became a very fun elephant ride down to the river.Our elephant, 47 year old Bunmar, liked to play and regularly chucked us off his back crashing into the water, sprayed us with his trunk and rolled around enjoying himself. It was great fun and a great way to end our time in Pai. Our next stop was Chiang Mai, Thailand's most well-known northern city, complete with a brilliant night bazaar, lining the streets with many bargains to be had. Other than a lot of wandering and shopping we ventured out of town to the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre and Elephant Hospital. It was a facility for confiscated, donated, and rescued elephants and together with their Mahouts they learn a number of skills which they show off during their show, including playing musical instruments, painting and moving logs. Leaving the Elephant centre we accidentally hitch-hiked home courtesy of a nice Thai couple and then spent the evening shopping at the night bazaar.

From Chiang Mai we caught an over night sleeper train, making a welcome change to the usual hot and stuffy buses, all the way down to Bangkok, from there we headed straight to Pattaya, 3 more hours south on the train, hoping to soak up a few last rays on the beach before our return to the UK. Well…there was no sun, so that ruled the beach out, and as for evening entertainment, unless you want a prostitute or to sit in one of the many Go-Go bars on offer to middle aged, and old, sleazy men there wasn't a great deal to do. We had a couple of beers in our room, and made a quick escape back to Bangkok the next morning.

Arriving back where we started in South East Asia, we would now spend the last 5 days of our trip, relaxing by our roof-top pool and doing a bit of last minute shopping along Khao San Road. We did do a bit of sight seeing, The Grand Palace, although with money a bit low, we decided not to pay the 350 Baht to go in, Wat Pho and generally just a lot of walking around the city, staying clear of the tuk-tuk drivers who are always out to con you. About 100km out of the city is Damnoen Saduak Floating Market, the river lined with market stalls that you can navigate yourself around on a paddle boat (if you can get past the hundred of other boats on the river that is!). We did want to go to Thai boxing, but a Police scam priced us out. Locals only had to pay 300 Baht whilst tourists have to pay anywhere between 1500 - 3000 Baht.A shame, and a tad annoying, but we had a few beers and listened to some live music on the street into the early hours to compensate. We had one final shopping spree at Chatuchak market, housing over 15 000 stalls, and a pretty painful Thai massage to pass the last couple of days and then it was home sweet home. Ten months of traveling the world are over, and I can't quite believe how fast it has gone.

Signing out…

Jonny