Chiang Mai, day 1.

The hustle and bustle has clearly been left behind in Bangkok. Madison insisted on carrying her rucksack despite it only being a 50 metre walk to the waiting Songthaew (converted pick up truck) and after some confusion about where we were heading (I'd forgotten to get the address off the web site and had no Internet access) we were on our way to Tanita House our home for the next five days!

Chiangmai is the largest and most culturally significant city in northern Thailand, 435 miles North of bangkok and amongst the highest mountains in northern thailand. Despite this compared to Bangkok it feels peaceful, the Ping river making it easy to navigate our way around.

Tanita House is owned by a lovely lady named Aor, the original building was built in 1854 by her great grandfather, the family house we are staying in was the rice barn and has been beautifully renovated. We are not disappointed with what's greets us, stunning in every way!

Quick showers, a whistle stop explanation of the local area from Aor and we head out to explore the old city. It's not too long before the heat of the city gets us forcing us to retreat into a coffee shop, more for the air con than the coffee!

Madison and I manage to squeeze in a massage while the lads head for a beer. An evening meal, a wander around the street markets and we head back to our oasis. The Mosquitos have found us but particularly Lee, his legs look a little worse for wear and the tennis rackets specially designed to zap all things that fly come in very handy. We have no plans for tomorrow as we simply want to see where the day takes us!

Chiang Mai feels good!