Chad and Sharon Moore

We started off early catching a shared taxi to the airport.  We actually shared the taxi with the same English guy we caught a taxi with when arriving in Hanoi a week earlier... spooky !  So, after wishing him safe travels again, we settled into the airport lounge only to bump into a couple we had had dinner with when we went out with the Croydon boys.  We were all going to Bangkok so after a pleasant and cheap flight on Air Asia we shared a cab to the Banglamphu area of Bangkok.  Spent the rest of the day sorting our bags out again with our stored luggage and booking the overnight bus to Chiang Mai, and then met up with Ollie and Sophie again for a few beers.  They are off to Oz after Bali so we may see them again in Sydney which would be great :-)  The overnight bus to Chiang Mai was okay I suppose, we've had worse, but the air con was leaking on the left-hand side of the bus so a few unlucky people had to put up their umbrellas or wear their raincoats for 12 hours.  I'm glad we sat on the right-hand side :-)

Chiang Mai is approximately 700 km north west of Bangkok and is the northern capital of Thailand. There are over 300 temples here and the old city is bounded by a moat and partial walls.  We are staying in the old city in a great little corner room overlooking a temple and monks' living area.  It's weird to see all the orange robes hanging out to dry on wash day :-)

We have been lucky enough to experience the Sunday night market in the old city.  I must say it is amazing, even if shopping is not your thing it's great to see so many locally produced handicrafts.  It's a bit like Paddington market in Sydney or Camden market in London only ten times better!  The market is very popular with the locals so it doesn't feel like a tourist trap.  There are cheap food stalls selling some divine dishes and with local musicians playing various instruments every 50 metres or so, it all adds to a wonderful atmosphere.

We are here for a few days so I'm sure there will be more to share soon. I'll spend the rest of my internet time uploading some photos, I'm a bit behind!

Hope everyone is keeping well, we are gutted we missed Paul's 40th in Manly, the porn party photos look awesome!!! Maybe it should be an annual event ;-)