Kieran:

Hey up.

Well, i'm not sure our blog got off to the best of starts- not only was there Emma's 'typos' (spelling mistakes), she also omitted our visit to the YAS MARINA CIRCUIT, only home to the brand new ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX no less, as well as housing the ridiculously star trekky Yas hotel and the FERRARI WORLD AMUSEMENT PARK!!

Thank you again to Barbara for putting us up and getting our trip off to such an enjoyable start.

We arrived in Chiang Mai today after a mixed evening in Bangkok: although we did see plenty of soldiers there was no bother, but the hotel was a bit poor. It didn't have the most salubrious of surroundings, being close to a well dodgy market and one or two howling, barking, rabid dogs. They did serve us a very nice meal though, and showed a replay of Reading beating Liverpool in the cup, so it wasn't all bad.

Chiang Mai is much nicer and much quieter- despite the Foreign Office warnings we have not even seen one copper, and it seems very calm. We will still take care when we head to the night markets shortly though. We have just had Thai massages, which didn't do a lot for me but have turned Emma into the new Mr Softy. We're celebrating with a 90p Chang.

The highlight of today though had to be being served our morning croissants by a chap called 'Pinch Me'. Priceless.

Speak to you soon!