Chiang Mai was a breath of fresh air (literally) after Bangkok. The place has a small town feel to it, unusual in a city that has more inhabitants than Manchester and Birmingham combined! The city is surrounded by a centuries-old defensive wall, originally built to keep out Burmese invaders. Only parts of the battlements are still standing, but the moat remains intact, and forms a watery boundary, interspersed with fountains and footbridges, around the city centre.

The first day we rented bicycles. The bikes were set to a perfect gear that required minimum effort to attain a leisurely pace. Once we got used to the inane traffic signals – Amy had a few near-misses (don’t worry mum my road coordination is much better now!!) – the bikes were a terrific way to see the city.

The next day we went on what they call a trek in the jungle; it was more of an activity day really. We visited an orchid and butterfly sanctuary, went on an elephant trek, dropped in on a tribe of ‘long-necks’, went bamboo rafting, visited a waterfall, and went white-water rafting.

The elephant trekking was great fun for us, but not so much for the poor elephants. The tribe of ‘long-necks’ was an interesting aside – the woman of the village disfigure themselves according to an ancient Burmese legend by artifically elongating their necks using gold bands weighing over 6 kilos. But undoubtedly the activity of the day was white-water rafting! There were 6 boats, each with a team of 4 or 5 people, all racing eachother to the bottom of these frothing, rocky rapids, and trying to get eachother as wet as possible in the process. We loved it, a fully active day in amazing surroundings.

After a few thoroughly pleasant days in Chiang Mai we caught two public buses (the last of which was a real bone-shaker which left us sweaty and saddlesore!) to get to Chiang Khong, the Laos-Thai border.