On Friday night we got a 15 hour night train to Chang Mai. They didn't have a first class on the train so we couldn't have air conditioning on the train and it was very hot. When we got on the train the first people we spoke to were also from Britiain and they were staying in the same guesthouse as us.

Once we arrived in Chang Mai we went to look for a shop to get some water and the woman at reception gave us the wrong directions so we got very lost. When we were trying to find our way back we realised there were two Panda guesthouses and the only one on the map we were using wasn't the one we were staying at!

Once we got back to the guesthouse we decided to go to see some Thai Boxing with the couple we had met. This was really fun and the guys that did it looked pretty tough. There was also a lady boy caberet show in the middle and the 'women' were very confusing.

On Sunday morning we began our trek into the mountains North of Chang Mai. On this trip we began by going on a bamboo raft. The raft was fun but we were quite worried about swollowing the water when we started going over rocks, especially when we later found out that elephants used the river as a toilet. We also had to lie down to fit under a fallen tree so we just shut our eyes and hoped for the best. Danny lost his bamboo stick he was meant to be steering the raft with so he had to keep jumping out of the way of hanging branches.

When we had finished the raft we began the trek properly. We hiked throught some rice paddies to a waterfall, where we showered and spent our first night. Our guide, Bino, played the guitar for a bit trying to get people to sing along but no-one was really into it - we were too tired from the trek and Michelle had lost her voice. The group stayed together in a hut which just had a roof made of dried leaves and mos nets hanging from the top.

The second day was a three hour uphill trek to a hill tribe. This part was terrible, we were out of breath for the whole time and thought we would pass out. We were sweating in places we didnt know you could sweat it was awful and we had chosen to do this! once we got to the tribe the children all got together and sang for us. The all the men came out to have a few drinks and offered us something to smoke (obviously we said no).

The third day was a gentle walk for about an hour and a half, mostly downhill. Danny sprained his ankle half an hour away from the end so that slowed everyone down, and we also went swimming in another waterfall to cool down. Once we had finished the trek we went on an elephant ride for an hour, which was actually quite scary because the seat was very wobbly and the elephant was made to walk up and down very steep hills. We also kept being sprayed with mud which the elephant was putting on himself to cool himself down.

After this we were taken back to our guesthouse, very sweaty and tired, and had a well deserved shower.

ps - thanks for the messages