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Hey All, just thought we'd add in a little update about what we've been getting up to the last few days... we met up with my glorious mate Victoria Wood (of Tunbridge Wells fame) in Chiang Mai and took a bus up further north to Chiang Rai. We took off on bikes on our first day with absolutely no idea where we were going. However, stumbled across a Wat which we thought looked kinda interesting so popped in... turns out it is one of the most famous Wat's in Northern Thailand and houses the Emerald Buddha - 'excellent' we thought, a bit of culture. Following this the heavens proceeded to open and we got drenched as we cycled round the town with no idea where we were (Grant on smallest bicycle in world - he's obv not built like most the men here - which also had no seat).
As if our senses were drawn to it however we came across a traveller type bar called the TeePee so stopped for a 'quick' Chang beer. This bar is one of the most bizarre places I have ever been in, with bikes, clothes and old books hanging from the ceiling and a toilet on a shelf surrounded by pebbles. However this was not the most unusual feature, as we sat on our cushions on the floor balancing our drinks on a cage and listening to Jimi Hendrix, a rabbit hopped by... the guy who worked there, and has definately been stoned since 1972, told us he was fine and he just lived on the floor in the bar and sometimes goes out onto the main road but always comes home to be fed - love it!
The next day we took a tour with a girl through our guesthouse who could speak about 2 words of English and just liked to giggle a lot. Went to see the Long Neck tribe people who wear metal coils around their necks to protect them from tigers (hmmm, last we heard they were all extinct). They still keep up this tradition now however and wear these incredibly heavy metal collars until their necks are completely distorted.
We went to visit the King of Thailand's mountain retreat later where we had a tour round some of his private rooms (he is only there 1 week a year so he didn't mind) This was pretty cool and the views were magnificent. We had to cover up and all got given sexy outfits to wear... wait for the pics... we kinda look like convicts!
My favourite part of the day came next as we went to a cave at the bottom of a mountain where monkey's roam freely in the wild. This was amazing as they all just walk around you carrying their tiny monkey babies!! Their is a market there and they try and steal food from the locals so they have to keep feeding them monkey nuts (!) so they don't eat the food they are cooking. I didn't want to tear myself away from them... could have stood watching them for a week... am thinking about giving up HR and becoming monkey behaviourist type person...
Finished off the day by going as north in Thailand as we could, to the border of Burma (now Mynmar). Views here were spectacular, from the top of a mountain overlooking both Thailand and Burma, with a giant scorpion on it. Grant bought some roast chestnuts from an old maid on the street and we all ate them and said they tasted like Christmas dinner... mmmm... then we realised we won't be having any of that this year.... boooooo!
We are off to Elephant Conservation Centre in Lampang tomorrow - can't wait!
Linz x
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