The rest of my time in Chiang Mai has been very fun its a really great place where you can do lots of things you'd find hard to organise anywhere else!

My 2nd day in Chiang Mai I headed into the village where we are staying with Esther a girl staying in our dorm from Holland, she's really nice, we decided to get a juice from this really cool juice bar and then a manicure and pedicure was nice to be pampered and really cheap too!! We then got some lunch and it was yummy! I need to stop ordering chicken with cashew nuts wherever i go but its the best food here haha. That evening Noom the guy that runs our hostel organised a visit to his home town which was sooo much fun, Me, Esther, Craig, Joe, Noel and Michael from the hostel all went along and our first stop was a bar/shop/hang out for locals where we all tried local whisky and rum shots and some of the food there too, Noom told us all about his village and we met this guy called Dip who was the drunkest man in thailand who giggled non stop the whole time we were there - he was a legend!! We then went to Noom's house for dinner it was really good his Mum and Dad prepared it all for us it was so sweet of them! Noom's mum was in the process of preparing an offering for the monks - it's part of a festival they have here in November and she has made a really nice flower gift with all sorts of goodies attached to it.... lucky monks! After dinner we went cricket hunting it was the most random activity I have done on my travels yet!! We had torches attached to our heads and all sorts - so funny! Esther and I spent the majority of the time in fits of giggles as the boys were taking it seriously lol - we were just wandering through people's gardens no one cared! We saw some random things including a cow on the way! Earlier on in the evening we had seen a thai man setting out for cricket hunting he looked so funny walking along doing little exercises and stuff! We caught about 9 it was good fun and then we took them back to Noom's house and his mum fried them for us and guess what WE ATE THEM... grim!

The next day I was setting out for my 3 day Elephant Mahout Training Course - it was great! It's the best thing I have ever done! My elephant was called Wanalee and each elephant has a mahout - mine was great he was such a good guy and really made my course fun for me and took all my fears away! We bathed them, did shows with them. fed them and trekked with them. I was sooo sad when I had to say bye! I met some really cool people there too I am hoping to meet up with Jill and Amber in Phuket if our paths cross. On our second day we trekked the elephant up to where they sleep around this lake and the walk back was literally through puddles but as usual my mahout made it so much fun! playing tricks on me and Jill the whole way down so we were all just laughing the whole way back! I got really sick on my last day and am still sick now 3 days later which is a shame - I missed the last show we did with our elephants but still got to see my elephant and mahout and said my tearful goodbyes :(

So the next few days ive been in bed or watching films in the hostel I havent had a meal in 3 days so feeling really tired but today I am a little better and am going to attempt to grab some food in the village and see if Noom has anything organised for tonight.

By the time I write my next blog Bek and Nic should be hereeeeeeee yay! x