Hello everyone!

We have been having a great time so far. We arrived in Bangkok last Thurs and after a long, tiring flight from Heathrow we managed to find our hotel we had already pre-booked (no thanks to Rob who forgot the map and address of the place so we were left on a bit of a wild goose chase!) We then managed to get ourselves into Bangkok's busy Kho San Road and one word we can use to describe the place is MADNESS! There were people left right and centre trying to sell us anything and everything, and there were street food stalls everywhere selling fresh Thai food which on the onset looked scary but we later discovered was much more tasty and reliable than the restaurant food - and only about 2 quid for both of us to have a huge meal!

We ended up going out into a few of the bars where we met another English couple - called Chris and Leanne who we later travelled up to Chiang Mai with and are now staying with at our guesthouse. We spent 5 days in total in Bangkok, in which we managed to cram in quite a lot. We saw the beautiful Grand Palace and the Emerald Buddha shrine which is where the King of Thailand has his own private chapel - we weren't allowed to take a pic of the inside but if you can google it it's incredible and we have pics of the outside which is pretty impressive in itself. We also took a river cruise along the Chao Phaya River and Rob sampled some bugs off the street market - yuk!

On our last night in Bangkok we decided to treat ourselves to a cocktail on the 61st floor of a very posh hotel called the Bayan Tree. The views were breathtaking and we could see the whole of Bangkok from the roof bar, our ears even popped on the way up in the lift it was so high! We also took our first ride in a Tuk Tuk in Bangkok - we have never been so scared in our lives the first time we went in one as we just couldn't believe how fast and crazily they drive over here. We now take them regularly and are quite used to them but we did find it hilarious when we drove into the Bayan Tree Hotel in one and every other car was a Bentley or a Merc! It was rather embarrassing.

We also took a trip into Downtown Bangkok where we were shocked to see so many ladyboys and young beautiful Thai women with old, fat english men, we found it rather sad but have come to realise this is all very much a part of the Thai lifestyle and it had made us realised how privileged we really are.

We found 5 days in Bangkok perhaps a little too long as it was all very much a culture shock and it was very, very dirty. But we took the train up to Chiang Mai on Monday and although a 12 hour train ride ended up taking 19 we are much happier here as it much cleaner, safer and relaxed. We are staying in a lovely little boutique guesthouse and there is lots of beautiful scenery up here. On the train journey it was lovely to wake up and just see green everywhere. We have been on a Thai cookery course today and are going on a 2 day trek into the jungle tomorrow, where we will stay over night in a hilltribe village, we are also doing elephant training on the trek where we will get to ride, bathe with and learn the elephant language. But we will upload the Chiang Mai pics and tell you all about that soon in our next blog!

Lots of love and missing you all very much,

Louisa and Rob xxx

PS. Sorry there are no pics yet. We have had a nightmare getting onto here and now we finally are it won't let us upload the photos. We will be back from the trek on sat so we will do it then! xx