This morning we got up to the refreshing sound of the river down below, where our rafts were waiting for us! After donning our jackets we hopped on the rafts, 4 to a raft, we were with two northerners Gabby and Nathan. We had the most brilliant time. The rafts are literally just that, our bags were attached to 3 poles which suspended them above the water at the front, and water constantly flowed over the surface so we were always partly submerged in water. Our to...

We got up early this morning to trek 4-5 hours to the Elephant camp. Our path took us up to the top of a mountain from which we could see all the lush rainforest below, and we crossed streams and rivers over bridges made from bamboo bound together. The elephant camp was our lunch stop, then we climbed onto the massive creatures sitting on little wooden platforms. The elephant skins were so rough and hairy, though their eyelashes were beautiful up close, so long. ...

This morning was an early start, we were picked up by songthaews and stopped off at a nearby market called Mai Malay where our porters stocked up on food supplies for our 3 day trip into the jungle. It was filled with fresh fish, fruit and meat, and there were people feeding elephants in a truck outside. In the songthaew with us was a piglet which we had bought as a group for one of the village families who are very poor. We named him the Notorious BLT (bacon, le...

We arrived in Chaing Mai early in the morning, and after bumping into Lyndsay, a girl from Salisbury, at the station (!) we took songthaews to the hotel. These are like tuk tuks but are normal cars at the front with kind of trailers on the back with two benches on either side. They carry about 8 people in each and are a rather bumpy ride! The hotel had a gorgeous swimming pool, but as our rooms weren't ready we headed up to Doi Suthep, a temple on the hill about ...

Today we decided to return to Chat Chu Chak market with 3 other tour members, though this time we took a tourist boat which allowed us to see even more of the city sights. We did loads more shopping, barely having time to stop for lunch, before heading back to the hotel to leave for the sleeper train to Chaing Mai at 4.30pm. The station itself was a maze of food stalls, and the train was very comfortable with massive seats which turned into huge beds with curtain...