Chiang Mai, Thailand, SE Asia

I arrived in Chiang Mai at 6am, and quickly sorted myself out before heading off on a 3 day / 2 night hill tribe trek. A chance to trek up into the mountains to sample the traditional hill tribe villages of the Pai area (North West of Chiang Mai). Each tribe normally has its own language, dress and culture and quite often they have originated from Tibet, Myanmar or China over the last 200 years.

Our journey began with a stop at a local market to gather food supplies for the next 3 days before heading to our first village, Lisu for lunch. Originally from Tibet, with a population of 28,000 people, we were free to wonder around their village absorbing the simplicity of their every days lives. A couple of hours more trekking and we reached the next village, Lahu where we were to stay overnight. Basic thatched huts, with the floor as beds and a running tap as showers, basic but authentic nevertheless.

The 2nd and 3rd day consisted of more trekking plus riding an elephant through the jungle - very chilled out, and also bamboo rafting. The bamboo rafting was hilarious and shouldn't be attempted if you expect to stay dry! Well, certainly not with our group, a relaxing time down river soon turned into carnage with all of us hopping onto eachothers raft in an attempt to sink them, and then when that didn't work we simply just pushed eachother into the river - he, he, very funny!

Back to Chiang Mai after the trekking, and some of the group decided to go into town to find a bar. However, this group consisted of 4 girls, and so when we walked passed a massage parlour with 'Happy Hour', the bar was soon forgotten! Now, a Thai Massage... I have one word to describe it - brutal! I am still trying to work out how that hour was in the least bit pleasurable. My bones cracked in places I didn't know they could, and my limbs were twisted and turned in ways that made me question whether I had just discovered I was double jointed after all these years - the pain soon confirmed that I certainly wasn't! After the torturous hour (in which I did open my eyes at one point to see a grown man standing on my back!) I did feel good, stretched and prodded and my trekking muscles a little relieved, so I guess it was worth it.

Thai food is yum, and so what better thing to do than try to learn to cook some of your favourite dishes. I did this at the Pad Thai Cookery School (I highly recommend it for anyone wanting to learn in Chiang Mai). A whole day cooking a total of 7 dishes; Pad Thai, spring rolls, Thai green curry and bananas in coconut milk to name a few. This has to be every food lovers dream, because not only do you cook the food, you also get to eat it all too, plus have a little rest in between courses! So that's, cook, eat, sleep! Perfect!

Next stop - Chiang Khong to cross the border into Laos.