So we have been in Thailand for almost a week, and it is proper hot!

We flew into Bangkok on Monday morning, arriving at about 6:30am, which had followed a ridiculously long journey including a 12 hour stop off in Oman. So having not really slept for 3 days, we had fun persuading the taxi driver that the cost of a ride from the airport wasn't 3 times the cost of the hostel itself. We spent the first day visting Khaosan Road, where apparently ping pong is their favourite sport, and went on to explore the markets and foodstalls playing a great game of 'is there any meat in that broth??' On Wednesday we went on the Mai Kaidee Vegetarian Cooking course, and whipped up 12 odd dishes in one morning with ingredients bought from the market. This was great fun, and we met some really nice people and some 'alright' people (according to Kirsten). My (Derek's) favourite part of the whole course was that you got to eat everything as you went along.

On Thursday we caught the train to Ayutthaya, which is north of Bangkok and the original capital of the country (until the Burmese came along that is). Really nice place with lots of Wat Ruins (old temples for those of you not in the know). From there we jumped on a sleeper train upto Chiang Mai, which took the whole night and was actually really comfy.

Since then we have had two days in Chiang Mai and have visited more Wats including Doi Suthep, which is at the top of a big 'ol hill looking over Chiang Mai and one of the most important Temples in Northern Thailand. Really beautiful place with lots of local dancing, monks and images of The Buddha (he is everywhere!).

We have one more day locally in Chiang Mai and then we go off to stay with the Karen tribe as part of a week long elephant re-integration to their native home. Not quite sure what this will involve for us, but will be sure to write the next blog entry on our return the following Monday.

Laters

Derek and Kirsten