It's been a busy week in Chiang Mai so far! We found an amazing 'guesthouse' called Ban Kong Rao on Tripadvisor, about 10 minutes from the main centre - the price is reasonable but the quality is outstanding. My uncle emailed me to let me know my cousin, Mahesh, was also in Chiang Mai which was a nice surprise. We met for dinner at a vegetarian restaurant near where he is staying, and this part of Chiang Mai is a trendy area where mainly wealthly locals live.

We were recommended to do a cooking course in Chiang Mai so we chose Ban Thai, one of the most established schools. What a wicked day! We started off with a morning market tour - normally you pass food markets without a thought, but after being explained about which foods are what, it was encouraging to think we were going to cook with these fresh ingredients. The course was great - it was all so simple to prepare and cook! I cooked chicken Pad Thai, prawn Tom Yam (hot and sour soup), pork & veg spring rolls, pork Paneang curry and Mango with sweet sticky rice. I couldn't believe I cooked the food I was eating - rare. It all tasted amazing.. Definitely will keep that up at home!

Mahesh called the following morning to ask if we wanted to go to Doi Suthep, which is a sacred temple/area 1700m high in the clouds. It is seen as one of the most important places of worship in Thailand and people from neighbouring countries often come to visit as a kind of pilgrimage. The ride up on a red 'bus' was.. windy.. felt quite sick when we got up. The golden temple was beautiful. We were with Mahesh's Thai friend too, which was great because she showed us what to do with the candles/flowers etc. Mahesh decided to tell us in the evening that it was his 23rd birthday, so of course some birthday drinks were in order at a fancy local bar.

After a day of rest (always nice to chill in a good room), we went on a one-day trek around north of Chiang Mai. A lot of traveller's do a 3-day jungle trek but we just *couldn't* be bothered. The amount of treks we've done since leaving London is ridiculous so we were happy with just the one day. This trek entailed elephant riding, bamboo rafting and a couple of hilltribe village visits. I wasn't impressed with the village visits, as they were literally all about selling tourist tat rather than actually showing us around the village. We've done some similar treks and this one didn't really compare.. although, my first time on an elephant will of course be remembered..:

Seeing as we have so long to wait for the Full Moon party on the 9th May (it has to be done), we have a lot of time to play with. We plan to leave Chiang Mai in a couple of days for Bangkok.. A lot of you have been to Thailand I know, so if anyone can recommend cool places to visit please let me know. We're even pondering going to Malaysia to soak up one week.. so any suggestions much appreciated!