Hello & Merry Christmas All!

You'll all be pleased to know that we got the bus in the end to Chiang Mai & it wasn't as bad as expected! It took 21 hrs in total and that included waiting around for 5 hrs for the sun to come up & the border to open.

The bus was a good one & we had reclining chairs & a blanket each, although when i tried to recline ,y chair i was told off by the monk behind me! Sam popped a few sleeping pills & slept the whole way. My night wasn't quite as peaceful... we werer at the front of the bus & as well as the driver pulling over every few minutes, he also kepy hocking up big bogies & spitting them out of the window which i must say is a lovely noise, if you haven't heard this particular noise you should!

The border crossing was very quick, once the Thai border opened at 9am, we hopped on a little boat across the river for about 2 mins & passed through immigration.

We arrived in Chiang Mai & found our hotel very quickly so we set out to explore Chiang Mai. Sam's parents had sent a package out to us to the hotel we had booked for Boxing day - New Year so went to find it & collect it. The package had arrived but was locked away in a safe place & the person who had the key wasn't around. We explained that we had planned to go to Pai the following day and wouldnt be back until the 26th Dec and seeing as it was a Christmas package we needed it. The look on their faces when they realised we wanted it for Christmas was soooo sweet! They promised to email as soon as the safe room was unlocked & we could come back & collect it. They emailed that night & we collected it the following day. Sam was a Happy Camper!

We got the bus to Pai which took 3 hrs & cost $5. They say there are 762 turns on the road to Pai as its very mountainus so we took some motion sickness pills, only problem is theymake you drowsy so we were pretty comotosed for the duration of the journey and on arrival trying to find a guesthouse was not the most efficient we've ever been! we decided on a bamboo shack also known as a Bungalow as it was fairly cheap at $10 a night. It was a nice little room with an outside bathroom attached. Once the sun went down the creepy crawlies came out and we ended up sharing our bathroom with a HUGE spider who wouldn't go away even when i tried attacking him with a hose pipe! Both of us too scared to use the bathroom after that so we went out for some food.

Pai was nice & hot in the day but bloody freezing at night! seeing as i hadn't packed any trousers and only bought 2 wafer thin cardigans i put both of those on and froze whilst trying to find somewhere to eat. There was plenty of street food but we wanted to sit down so walked the large block of restaurants & stalls until we decided on the first place we'd seen...an organic restaurant that served Pesto Pasta. Portions were tiny & they didnt serve alcohol. Didn't go back there again! :)

After a night in the bungalow, scared of the creepy crawlies & cold even with the 4 duvets they provided us, we checked out at 8am and found a hotel with a hot shower & WIFI :)

Pai is all about the activities than the sights but seeing as neither of us wanted to do any of the activities we decided to hire a moped & go exploring. Sam drove the ped for about 5k looking for a waterfall but we both missed the turning & ended up going for about 10k, once we'd turned back, we found the waterfall we were looking for and it was lovely. On the road up to the waterfall lots of women were shouting at us & motioning putting food to their mouths, we were a bit confused as there wern't restaurants around and then every man, woman & even child we passed started doing it to us, we then realised they were motioning to smoke & that they were trying to sell weed to us! We politley declined and carried on.

The lonely planet says "The Hippy Trail is well and truly alive in Pai" and its right! There are a lot of dreadlocks around and lots of nice little shops & bars. Over all its a nice place.

We went out for some drinks in the evening & had a semi early night. Woke up in the morning & i had litteraly been eaten alive! All over the back of my legs & bum i had big, hard bites which i thought was odd as i'd been drinking Gin & Tonic and i didnt think mosquitos liked Quinine, aparently these ones loved it as they went hell for leather on my backside! Feeling pretty sorry for myself as they are well itchy, i bought some creme and am religiously applying it 3 times a day. :( Bloody Mosquitos!

Left Pai the follwing day & arrived back in Chiang Mai. Checked into our hotel & went exploring again. Met a couple by the pool that evening and went out for some food, we're all going to the irish pub on Christmas day for our christmas dinner.

Went to the night Bazaar last night, hundred of stalls of tat available, if thats what you like. :) i couldnt be bothered to haggle for anything so didnt bother buying anything. Walking home we say a brass band playing Christmas carols which was nice but thats the only hint its Christmas we've seen really so its cropped up on us quite quickly!

Sam bought himself a pair of trainers yesterday as his made him look like a quote "tramp" :) They seems to be ripping his feet apart today so he is moth physically & metaphorically in pain as a result of the purchase.

We opened the Christmas package from Ken & Lynette this morning to find a DIY Christmas set full of christmas decorations, sweets, candy cane lollipops & a nice picture of a turkey (which included a recipe to cook the said turkey, 4hrs on gas mark 4 i think it was!) Very Cute! We put the decs up & gave each other our presents and sat by the pool until the sun went in then i popped off for a massage :)

Booked a flight for New Years day to Bangkok at 9am (Eugh!) and from there we will make our way down to Kho Samui & to Kho Phangan for the full moon party on the 8th Jan (Yey!)

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas but not too merry as we're not there to join in.

Lots of Love

Sam & Vickey

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