We had a really good time in Chiang Mai, it was very different from the islands and was more like real Thai life. Chiang Mai is the second biggest city in Thailand after Bangkok.

Our 1st day there we went for a look around some of the many different temples in the city. There are over 300 temples in total in Chiang Mai, so we did only go visit a tiny percentage. We spent a few hours looking around some of the bigger temples which was cool as they were all different in there own way.

In the evening we went for a meal down by the river which was really pretty and then headed to the night bazaar which was massive and full of lots of different types of stalls selling so many things. I went a bit crazy around some of the stalls as the local crafts are lovely, if only I had money and space in my backpack!! After a couple of hours looking round we got a tuk tuk back to our room.

The next morning we were up bright and early for our 2 day 1 night trek in the jungle. We went to an orchid and butterfly farm and a market before beginning the trek after lunch. It was hard work! We started trekking uphill for a while up to the top of a hill and then back down the otherside to a cave which had lots of bats in it. We then continued downhill to a village tribe where we had a rest and a drink. We then set off uphill for what seemed like forever in the heat, i swear some bits were vertical! I don't think I have ever sweated so much! We probably went for around 2.5hours, not all of it uphill, until we reached our camp around 4pm. We stayed out in the jungle in a really pretty location. We had dinner and sat around the fire as it was freezing on the night, singing songs and dancing and being taught traditional Thai songs about elephants! It was a really good evening except for the fact that Matt got really ill and spent the majority of the night running back and forth from the toilet!

The next morning after breakfast we trekked for around an hour, again this was really hard work, until we reached elephant camp. I took loads of photos of all the elephants before we went on our trek! The elephant trek was really cool, it took about an hour in total and we went through the jungle a little bit and then back through the river. There were about 10 elephants in total for our group. 2 little baby ones came along too for the trek and they were so cute! After the elephant trek we had lunch and then went bamboo rafting, which was really tranquil aong the river. After this we got picked up and taken to 2 tribal villages; long neck and big eared. We spent a while there before setting off to our last activity of the day; white water rafting. We walked up to a waterfall before we went which was lovely to see and some of the lads on our tour slid down the waterfall from the top in the lake at the bottom! We then went white water rafting which was really good fun. Unfortunately Matt was feeling ill again and so he didn't take part. I got soaked as I kept slipping off my seat when we were going down the rapids and falling into all the water in the bottom of the boat!! We set off back to Chiang Mai after white water rafting after a really good if not tiring 2 days in the jungle.

Our next stop is Bangkok after a 12 hour journey from Chiang Mai so i'll let you know what we get up to when we get there!

Speak to you soon

xxx