Lamphun a small sleepy city 25km south from Chiang Mai is surrounded by lakes and mountains and is one of the oldest settled city’s in Thailand, founded in 661. The Haripunchai kingdom ruled originally by Queen Chama Devi was very powerful until in 1201 it was overthrown and came under Lanna control who then made Chiang Mai it’s capital. It’s nestled by a tributary of the Ping river, the Kuang, which borders the city on the east side and a moat and defensive walls from the 19thc surrounds the rest.

The road from CM is lined with thousands of tall rubber wood trees (dipterocarp) wrapped in orange cloth which signifies the route to an important Temple, it’s impressive. The temple has remains (a hair) of the Buddha and is called Wat Phra That Haripunchai.

We hadn’t been for many years so decided to go and stopped at a very busy small cafe filled with Thais for a lunch stop just out of Lamphun. We had a long conversation with the owner who had worked in New York and Manchester USA amongst other places, he was friendly and chatty and we had very good food. A woman sat outside eating and asked where we were from so another long conversation. Her English was excellent and we found out she had been teaching English at the local technical college for 30 years. It’s great to visit these places but it really is the people and their friendly curiosity which is very endearing.

We looked at everything and then had a blessing from a monk who was really young and trembling nervously when he saw the ‘farang’ approach. He asked Chris for his phone so he could use google translate, it was very surreal but very lovely

There was a bunch of young school children, hands in prayer circumambulating the Chedi 3 times following a monk, they seemed easily distracted by strange people smiling at them, us.

We needed a coffee and there was a man on site who made the best coffee ever and showed off his barista skills all for less than a pound, delicious.

An older Thai man sat having a coffee shared his biscuits with us and had a long chat. Then a Thai woman who lived in France who was a Manchester United fan joined in, these are the best moments for us just connecting with people, it made our day. Just before we left a local school band was playing ‘happy’ outside the temple, and we were.

The weather here has been unusual; unusually hot for the first 2 weeks of our stay and unusually cold for the last week with everyone scurrying around finding big jumpers and woolly hats, even the dogs have coats on!

It is changing again next week and due to peak at 33c so we have decided to head off for Pai, 90 miles north of CM near the Myanmar border. It is always a few degrees cooler.

Pai used to be a small quiet town inhabited by Shan people (ethnic Thais) whose culture was Burmese. It is now a hippy enclave with circus schools, yoga centres, kombucha and wheatgrass shots, turmeric chai lattes and many a dreadlocked extinction rebellion New Age traveller cross legged playing his didgeridoo, just my sort of crazy place.

Lying just beneath the mountains there are waterfalls, hot springs, a canyon and higher up many tribal villages, mostly Hmong, Karen, Lisu and Lahu. They are all very different, clothes and culture.

The local Wednesday market attracts large numbers of locals and tribal villagers selling their wares. It’s very popular and sells everything. We haven’t been to Pai for 6 years so it will be interesting to see any changes.

We are going on the bike and it’s a daunting ride. It’s a steep and winding road that will make you feel every single one of its 762 turns for three, maybe four hours straight. I fancy the ride more than the mini van we took last time, the driver was like mad max on speed they are a bit mental… I’d rather take my chances on the bike.

“IF YOU THINK ADVENTURE IS DANGEROUS, TRY ROUTINE, IT’S LETHAL” ~ PAUL COELHO

Chiang Mai Zoo was established by Mr. Harold Mason Young, an American missionary who volunteered to teach forest survival guide to soldiers and policemen during the Korean War (1950-1953). He had grown up in Burma and it all started with him looking after injured animals.

He opened the small private zoo for the first time around 1952 and hired a few local people and tribesmen to take care of it. He had to seek permission directly from the Chiang Mai Governor to utilize a reserved forest area at the foot of Doi Suthep. He finally obtained the permission for the location and was open from 6 April 1957 until Mr Young passed away in 1975. The zoo was transferred to be under the Zoological Park Organization of Thailand.

Talking to an American man who first came to the zoo 30 years ago all the animals were looked after by mostly tribal families who lived on the site and cared for their particular group or singular animals. It is now on a huge 200 acre site and has a lot of people working there.

Whether you like zoos or not it is the most natural of zoos with big enclosures and they have spent an enormous amount of money on it in the last year. They have a lot of schoolchildren visit and now have dedicated educational spaces where they can teach animal welfare, protection, conservation and how the zoo works.

It takes at least 3-4 hours to walkaround it and there are some really unusual animals. This fennec fox is one of my favourites, it’s only little..

The Binterong, body like a bear and the face of a cat with a long fluffy tail

We are pleased that there is no longer an elephant chained up and many other things have changed for the better due to tourists and animal welfare groups with bigger and more modern enclosures for many animals. I really liked hand feeding the hippos where you could stroke their chins but all that has changed in the last few years, that’s health and safety for you!

You can still feed them but you have to throw it into their mouths from about 6 feet away

It costs 150 baht (£3.80) for a day out at the zoo and for me I like seeing the unusual animals and having a good walk.

You don’t have to go to the zoo in Thailand to see wildlife there are butterflies, strange insects, snakes, spiders and everything you would expect in a tropical climate. These are just a few we have seen mostly in trips out on the bike and walking up trails. This is a fulgorid plant hopper or lantern bug.

Several Huntsman spider species live in Thailand, and many of them can grow up to the size of a grown man’s hand. Unlike most spiders, they do not build webs, but instead rely on their speed and agility to catch prey. They can often find their way inside houses and other dwellings in search of cockroaches and other insects. This one was under my flip flop a couple of years ago outside my hotel room

An orb weaver

This phobia-inspiring spawn of Satan can grow up to 20 cm in length, and eats all kinds of prey it can overwhelm with its size and venom. Those include small reptiles and even mice for the bigger specimens. They behave aggressively if they feel the slightest bit threatened, and sometimes attack even without any provocation. This large one was just crossing the road so we stopped to have a look it was about 8”.

Getting bitten by this species means severe pain, lasting for 4 to 5 days, along with bruising and swelling of the bite site.

We haven’t come across many snakes apart from a few squashed ones on the road but we did see this green vine snake whilst out on a ride which is harmless

So not to give you nightmares here are a few pretty butterflies

And some random creatures

”The most beautiful gift of nature is that it gives one pleasure to look around and try to comprehend what we see“. Albert Einstein

We usually miss out the Saturday walking market as it’s very busy and shoulder to shoulder people. If you are anyway claustrophobic it would be a nightmare but the city seems quieter than normal so we chanced it and went in early. This is quieter believe it or not..

There are very few Europeans or non Asian people here at the moment it might be the strong baht or that it’s just a couple of weeks earlier than we normally arrive. The food is always good and plenty of things to buy and wonder at.

People here are so creative.

A young entrepreneur selling off his toys

Because there is no welfare state people have to find other ways to raise cash. We have seen these guys many times, all blind who sit in a row in the middle of the market and play instruments and sing.

Many Thai people give small amounts of money to them and so do the visitors. It makes you realise what a great social service we have at home and that people who moan have no idea how life can be so hard. There are many with no legs, no arms victims of land mines and work accidents all trying to make a few baht without begging. There are very few beggars most try and sing, entertain or make items. There is absolutely no social safety net for these people only the goodness and generosity of the Thai people.

We hadn’t been out into the mountains so decided to do the Samoeng loop which goes all around Doi Suthep (the main mountain in CM) and is a very scenic route which takes about 3 hours. Once you are out of the city and past all the zip line, monkey shows, elephant tours, snake farm tourist attractions it’s bliss. Locals just doing their thing passing all the fruit growers and little rural markets, it’s heavenly.

The aromas of cooking and produce, animals and life itself surrounds you. Now I feel at home, this is what we really enjoy.

This is how the Thais like their Sunday lunch with the family. There are many small rivers around the mountain and you find them with little seating platforms which hang over the river.

You order your food and sit on the platforms. Kids play in the water it’s a fun day out. Everything revolves around food in Thailand

We stop at a Temple every year to see how it’s progressing. It’s now covered in scaffolding for its paint job, the inside is mostly finished. Another couple of years and it might be done.

Another really blingy Temple, full of mirrors is also on our way back so we stopped and looked. When we last came it was still being built and a lot of women work on the building sites, mostly Burmese they work really hard. It’s finished and looking good.

I can’t believe it’s come around so quickly, our winter trip to Chiang Mai in Thailand. The journey can be arduous and long winded but we had the 2 easiest flights ever and the planes were about a quarter full. It all went very well the crew were very attentive with as many bloody Marys as you wanted, I’d heard you need the vitamins from the tomatoes…

We arrived at 6am at our hotel and just fell into bed and passed out until midday. We changed money in town to pay the hotel and see our friend David with his ‘can’t live without’ tea bags, corned beef, cheese and sweets. David also rents us a motorbike for the duration and has been a font of information since we first came. We were invited to a BBQ in the villages with David & Nuy and her family, all very lovely.

We soon have great accommodation and a fairly new motorbike.

We got a local SIM card, joined the gym, money in pocket and ready to rock and roll, woo hoo, which we did that night

It’s unusually hot they say. Normally it’s coming into their winter and mid 20’s but it’s been mostly 32c during the day, I brought a gel pillow with me and put it in the fridge. It came out like a big flat ice lolly but it did work really well and helped me sleep regardless of the near frostbite in my right ear…..when we left the U.K. it was -3, haven’t quite adjusted yet, phew.

This is a picture from our balcony

This is one of a pair of bul buls who visit the big tree opposite every afternoon

And this view is from the side of the hotel of Doi Suthep where we have just walked up the monks trail to Wat Doi Suthep, the Temple at the top. We set an alarm for 6am and set off up the mountain.We were on the trail for 7.15 it was nice and cool armed with lots of water and bug spray.

The first half of the hike takes you to the Temple in the jungle Wat Palad

And the second more arduous section up to the most important Temple in Chiang Mai, Wat Doi Suthep

We got up to the top and all the way down in good time for a hearty, albeit late breakfast at about 11. We plan to walk this more often as practice for our Himalayan adventure next year.

It’s wonderful to be back and we have had big welcomes and super big hugs from all our friends, shopkeepers and especially the friendliest laundry lady in town…

Well we are in our last few days of our winter escape in Thailand and just trying to pack in as much of the lovely things we like to do here as possible. We went for a long ride up to Doi Inthanon (the highest mountain in Thailand) and drove through the hill tribe villages on our favourite route. It is the prettiest of all the bike rides we do, twisty turny roads up and over into lush green valleys a heady citrus scent lingers in the air, it’s spectacular.

The Mae Wang National Park has miles of forest, waterfalls, hiking trails and a large reservoir. Camping is a great favourite for Thai people, especially at the weekends, and around every lake and reservoir and in every National Park are campsites, lots of them with moderate facilities and is incredibly cheap to do. It’s proper round the campfire have a party, they know how to have fun in big family and friends groups.

Pha Chor is a geological feature within the park. It came from the erosion of river sediments deposited 5 million years ago. Like a mini Grand Canyon!! It was pretty good, better than I thought it would be. When Chris said we’re going to see a wall on the way I thought he had lost the plot……

Doi Inthanon is also in a National Park. There are 5 major National Parks within 1 hour of CM and many smaller parks it’s very green and mountainous . We didn’t ride to the top of the mountain this time we turned off into the villages half way up. It doesn’t take long to get into narrow rural lanes and chickens running and dogs asleep in the sun in the middle of the road. Everyday life unfurling in front of you. Hardworking women hauling unfathomably large bundles of greenery about and men fettling around in the fields, food cooking, motorbikes dusty and noisy toiling away taking all sorts of ‘stuff’ here and there. It’s fascinating

I do like being out on the motorbike, I think you would miss so much in a car, the aromas the noise of life and people working, the hum of insects and other things moving around as you slowly meander along it’s very appealing. Stopping for a cold drink and making the villagers laugh with our rubbish Thai, they are very friendly endearing folk who are quick to smile and laugh. The landscape, food and weather are brilliant but the people make our escape the joy that it is.

On the way back from the bike ride we have to come through the area that has all the elephant tours, near the Mae Wang river. We have been lucky before to be able to go and see them. There are no tourists around, the elephants are off duty in their corrals for the night.

We have done this before: we ask if we can go and take pictures of the elephants and the mahouts always seem happy to let us and even happier when we push a couple of drinks worth of money into their hands for letting us. I could cry with happiness they are beautiful animals and we managed to have a proper cuddle with a very friendly Nellie who liked air blown down her trunk and then she would do the same, good game. Bliss.

Typically we found the local public outdoor swimming pool last week. We looked at it last year but it looked deserted and desolate but no more it’s refurbished and great 50 baht a day, big clean pool and the best bit is it’s really quiet. We have been 4 times now it’s great especially since the heat has just turned up to 37degrees, phew. Better late than never….

6 of us went 10 pin bowling, that was fun. £3 for 3 games, a bar and a very good time had by all. We keep finding these things always as we are leaving….. we went to the cinema and saw A star is born. I’d missed it at home so enjoyed it here, great film.

Thailand is highly addictive. When we first got here we said maybe we will go somewhere else next year but the longer we stay, the more people you meet and it gets almost impossible to not come back. We would really like to come in November the end of the rainy season, it’s supposed to be at its best then with the waterfalls full and the fields lush and green. That must be really really green because it’s as green as a green thing now!!!

Things change quickly here, lots of things we really liked last year have gone or changed but new things have appeared, it’s a very fluid life here. Businesses come and go really quickly. The band we loved and spent many a night with a ‘mugarita’ in hand have split up but we have found table tennis, a few new friends, new food we like and new places to visit. We have found a local eatery who make a fab Tom Yam soup and they are going to show us both how they make it before we leave. The people really make this place special….

We have been out shopping for things to bring home, birthdays we’ve missed and things you just cannot get in the UK easily.

This trip we especially liked Mae Hong Son and Chiang Rai and will definitely return. We loved the guesthouse in Mai Sai and will return there next time. There are still plenty of places in Northern Thailand we haven’t been to yet, there is almost a plan.

Here are a few pictures that didn’t really fit in with anything in particular

Chris nearly threw me off the bike stopping really quickly, I wonder why? Drove really quickly past the interesting shops……..

Food is such a big thing in Thailand for us while we are away. Thai food is often spicy and incorporates 5 flavours; sweet, sour, spicy, salty and bitter, good examples of which are papaya salad and TomYam soup. Rice is often served alongside dishes to counteract the spicier moments and if you have rice and meat you get a bowl of bone broth too, bonus.

We eat out twice a day so food is the most talked about activity on the agenda; where, what, no more noodles/rice/soup/pork it’s an ongoing conversation. We mostly make our own breakfast; muesli fruit and yoghurt and occasionally do scrambled eggs, beans or avocado on toast when we want comfort food. Or we might go to a very good bakery run by a French guy and buy ‘to die for’ croissants and danish loveliness. We have a toaster, kettle, fridge in our room and a microwave downstairs in the hotel reception so you can do some things but not much.

There is a fresh food market about every mile in the city and our local one sells all sorts of food.

It has very fresh salad on a salad bar which has pulses, beans, fresh cooked sweet corn, sprouting beans, assorted leaves tomatoes, veggies lots of great, fresh produce. It costs 100 baht (£2.20) per kilo, good value. We normally spend 80baht and buy an avocado and some chicken or fish for a good, healthy lunch.

You can buy many different dishes on the market you put it in a bag and eat it at home, mostly around 50p. There are vegetarian, tofu, meat, fish, offal, lots of choice on lots of stalls. They are made at the market in enormous big woks and great to watch the young guys who cook. You can buy rice 5 baht, easy peasy.

They sell a huge assortment of fruits and veggies, spices, herbs, sauces, desserts and all other ingredients. Around the edge of the market are small shops selling nuts and dried fruits, flowers and all other things.

I could wander round them for hours, people want to chat it’s not easy to leave…they don’t mind their photo taken either, as you can probably see, they all know how to pose for the camera.

There is a street food market just round the corner from the hotel (they are all over the city) who do a great spicy papaya salad and assorted cooked meats; duck, sausages, crispy chicken, meat and veggies bbq on sticks, fish, soup, Chinese dumplings, sweet rotis with honey and bananas. There is no end of stuff to eat and it’s all very cheap.

The vendors often have a few tables and chairs so you can eat there or take it back to the hotel. You are sat on a busy chaotic main road which sometimes can be well worth doing just watching the world go by.

We found ourselves at the biggest wholesale market in Chiang Mai where a lot of the restaurants and smaller market traders go. Couldn’t believe the pick up trucks almost full to the brim with cabbages, garlic, yard long beans, salad and ginger with the owners asleep on top of the piles.

The meat sections are interesting if you like anatomy or Gunther Von Hagen. There are pigs faces, whole pigs heads, lots of intestines and a few bits you rarely see, alien bits of something or other. It can seem very surreal a happy smiling face arising from behind a pile of pairs of pigs ears just with the foreheads attached, very strange. Didn’t get a photo of that, too traumatised. Apologies to my vegetarian friends for what’s coming next……

I don’t particularly like the strong earthy cloying smell of blood and guts so I don’t stay long. I do admire the way the Thai’s eat every part of the animal and relish it. I inadvertently ate (peer pressure really) bbq intestines, quite tasty and a black beetle like insect which was just salty and a bit mushy. The legs stuck in my teeth, I’ve had better experiences.

If you want high class dining there is a restaurant called ‘ David’s kitchen’: It’s in the worlds top 10 restaurants, Michelin starred and reasonable in the scheme of things ie less than £120 for a proper blow out with drinks for 2.

There’s also everything imbetween…..you can get Italian, French, Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Middle Eastern food you name it and you can get it. When you get fed up with noodles and rice why not.

We try to eat mostly Thai food. It’s mostly better, cheaper and there is so much competition in Chiang Mai to produce good eating it’s probably the best food in Thailand it would be crazy not to. The ingredients are always über fresh. Sometimes after ordering what you want you see someone go out on the scooter and 5 minutes later are back with a big bag of veggies or meat from one of the many markets. No one is rushing…..it’s all very chilled.

”One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well”

Virginia Woolf

The Golden Triangle is where the Mekong and Ruak rivers meet within a vast mountainous area overlapping 4 countries; Thailand, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. It was a 25 mile drive from where we were staying.

Just a few km’s before we got to the ‘Golden Triangle’ park we stopped in at the ‘Opium Museum’ created by the Thai Royal family, it was fascinating and disturbing.

I never knew much about the ‘opium wars’ or the ‘Boxer rebellion’ and hadn’t realised the huge part the British played in the whole affair. Between 1839 and 1842 British forces fought a war on behalf of drug traffickers. Their victory opened up the lucrative China trade to British merchants. This was all done with the full blessing of the British government. The British traded opium from India for silk and tea causing havoc among the Chinese population with at one point almost 10% of the population addicted. The Chinese originally wanted to be paid in silver and not trade there was a second war a few years later.

After 1916 the Chinese were then ruled by harsh Warlords, no wonder Mao Tse Tung managed to lead the nation into communism in 1949. From appearing to be a man of the people he also left a legacy of fear and death with his ‘cultural revolution’. No respite for the embattled people.

It also explained in the museum that from the 1950’s how much of a role the CIA played in today’s world drug use of opiates and heroin. All for the fight against communism…..not just Asia but S America, they always seem to pick the bad guys.

Early 1950s, Southeast Asia

“The Nationalist Chinese army, organized by the CIA to wage war against Communist China, became the opium baron of The Golden Triangle (parts of Burma, Thailand, and Laos), the world’s largest source of opium and heroin. Air America, the CIA’s principal proprietary airline, flew the drugs all over Southeast Asia.”

1950s to early 1970s, Indochina

“During U.S. military involvement in Laos and other parts of Indochina, Air America flew opium and heroin throughout the area. Many GI’s in Vietnam became addicts. A laboratory built at CIA headquarters in northern Laos was used to refine heroin. After a decade of American military intervention, Southeast Asia had become the source of 70 percent of the world’s illicit opium and the major supplier of raw materials for America’s booming heroin market.”

The museum explained the history, impact and social problems of opium and the effect it had on the hill tribe people who grew the poppies and used the drug initially as medicine and as a cash crop but after a while many became addicted. They explained how it was picked and processed. It was a morning well spent and was well worth the visit.

Every day is a learning curve as they say…You have to know where you have been in history to know where you are going. Now China is producing fentanyl in the bucket load which is killing thousands and increasing addiction and misery in the USA and around the world….it’s a very vicious circle and they thought heroin was a problem!!

The Golden triangle park I thought was a bit disappointing, just a tourist trap with the normal touristy tat on sale and the obligatory big gold Buddha. It was worth seeing to stand and look at 3 countries at once. It was very disappointing to see the huge casinos built by the Chinese in both Myanmar and Laos just over the water accessible by small boats because gambling is illegal in Thailand. You can go over for a couple of hours and lose your money!!!!

This picture below is taken with us in Thailand, Myanmar straight ahead and Laos to the right.

We followed the Mighty Mekong river valley and very different vegetation and scenery for a few miles stopping at ancient ruins of the Wat Chedi Luang built in 1344 AD on the banks of the river before returning to the guesthouse.

The next day we wanted to go to Doi Mae Salong which is 6km from the Burmese border and is a very scenic mountain range about 30 miles south from Mae Sai. We left early with layers of clothes on in the cool morning air.

We stopped for breakfast and hot coffee to try and warm up…Once we were on the road to Mae Salong we noticed lots of people off the road all heading somewhere in all their finery.

We stopped the bike and headed towards the people and music. There were hundreds of people in their best bib and tucker from all the Akha hill tribe villages, it was an amazing site.

It was an Akha festival!! We were the only ‘farang’ there, Chris asked if we could take pictures and they were delighted to pose for the camera.

When we got to the main event the only way I can describe it is like May Day, dancing around a big decorated tree. We took a short video

Maybe a hundred people all in their own individual villages traditional dress, dancing to hypnotic music round and round, it was fantastic. A glorious spectacle. This was the highlight of the trip without a doubt.

We carried on the journey buzzing from the previous experience to carry on up the mountain. Mae Salong is a Chinese village high in the mountains which principally grows tea. The road was spectacularly steep and windy along a road on the top of a ridge with steep drops, hairpin bends and lush mountain vistas either side.

It had been a long day, my bottom was numb from the bike so we headed back to the guesthouse for our final relax around the pool and a well earned drink.

We were invited out by our new friends Tony and Thip for dinner in town and a good time was had by us all. We selected amongst other items what looked like chunks of chicken on a stick. When it came back to the table Thip said ‘you like chicken arse?’ questioningly; we had inadvertently chosen a stick full of parsons noses. Chris tried some, I’m becoming vegetarian, aargh………

We will be returning without doubt next year, it’s our new favourite place.

Chiang Rai in the far North West of Thailand was the capital of the Lanna culture from 1262 and called ‘the million rice fields’. It is also the gateway town to the ‘Golden Triangle’, a phrase coined by the CIA as it was the epicentre of opium production in the 1920’s a lot of it bought and traded by the British!! This is where the Mekong and Ruak rivers converge at a point with Myanmar, Laos and Thailand. The Thai government had banned the cultivation of poppies in 1959 to try and counteract the drug trade and encouraged farmers to grow other crops; coffee, macadamia nuts, cabbages, avocados, assorted veggies, and latterly strawberries and oranges.

This region abounds with fruit production and supplies the whole of Thailand. Having said that they say the production of opium is on the rise again in the lawless and mostly impenetrable border regions in Myanmar and Laos.

Chang Rai itself is a sleepy town on the Kok river close to the verdant lush jungle and untouched, peaceful mountainous landscape, dotted with many different hill tribes. I couldn’t resist having a picture with this very elegant man……

A bus ticket for the 4 hour drive for 2 of us was £9, a bargain! It was an easy journey.

There is a vibrant night market selling many of the local products. Close by is a vast seating area for hundreds of people with maybe 50 stalls selling seafood, noodley things, pad Thai and many many different dishes. Cheap as chips, most dishes £1 or less and delicious.

At one end is a big stage with all sorts of stuff going on. It was a really good spot for watching the world go by. I don’t think I have been anywhere with such a diverse range of people and cultures, interesting faces and friendly smiles. We are smitten with this area and may come back here next year to explore it some more. This is the one of the statues at the gate of the blue temple In Chiang Rai.

We hired a brand new bike in Chiang Rai and next day set off for Mai Sai which is about 45 miles towards the Myanmar border. We arrived at our new guesthouse to a warm welcome and a fantastic big stylish room, lush gardens and a pool. Tony our host from Norwich and Thip his wife run the place.

It is the most stylish, well appointed place we have stayed in Thailand and all for £18 a night. We immediately extended our stay. Thip’s food is delicious too.

We had to renew our visa for the final month so decided rather than doing it in CM in the immigration office we would take a trip to Myanmar. When we originally got our visa they mistakenly gave us 6 extra days. Unheard of !!! We wanted to stay for the flower festival and then renew. When we got to the border the stern looking immigration official started counting on the calendar and said you have overstayed and wanted to fine us. We said no look at the date stamp in our passport, another official was called and we were asked to wait. This went on for 45 minutes and eventually they came back and we went back to the desk. Mrs grumpy was still there and filled in a form for our fine, again we objected and she was having a proper hissyfit with a large queue forming behind us. Eventually her boss came and gave her a proper dressing down and when she stamped our passports she nearly broke the desk. I looked at her and said sweetly ‘is there a problem? which I knew would make it worse but couldn’t help myself. She apparently had to pay our fine, whoops. We weren’t sure if we could get back in.

Tachilek in Myanmar is like a wild west frontier town. As soon as we got over the bridge there were hundreds of stalls selling every brand of counterfeit goods, food, clothing you name it. Lots of people everywhere, it was an interesting place. We found a bar ordered a beer and watched the world go by for an hour or two. When we did cross back into Thailand we got our 30 day visa extension, whew.

Only 3 km’s from where we were staying in Mai Sai is the Tham Luang cave where the football team were rescued. From being a very sleepy nothing happening place it is now heaving with tourists who were 99% Thai. I have never seen so many people. There is a statue, a shrine, school trips and lots of photos in a newly built hall and a host of stalls on the road. It’s now a booming tourist destination.

From the cave we followed a ridge between Thailand and Myanmar which runs right along the border for about 35 miles on windy roads over 1200m high. There are 3 army checkpoints along the ridge and at the second one we spoke to a very chatty soldier who asked where we were from, ‘Manchester’ we replied ‘City or United’ he said and on it went. We found out he supported Liverpool and had a long footbally chat.

There was a tribal village with a great view so stopped and had coffee

It had been a long day so we decided to head back to the guesthouse and jump in the pool, lovely. We are off to the ‘Golden Triangle’ tomorrow, exciting.

We got up early and rushed into the city to watch the parade of the Chiang Mai Flower festival. Again it was fantastic with float, marching bands and many beautiful Thai and Hill tribe people in their national dress.

There were vibrant displays of modern and traditional floral art which exemplifies the traditions of the ancient Lanna Kingdom.

It’s great for the city and local agriculture and brings in thousands of tourists from not only Thailand but all over SE Asia. Its the end of the cool season and a perfect climate. It’s also Chinese New Year which makes it even busier with huge crowds taking pictures and enjoying the sunshine and the spectacle. Everyone was having fun..

The parade lasts well over 2 hours and then everyone piles into the park to look at the displays and picnic around the lake. All the people who were in the parade have a drink and a well earned breather and sit down after a 4 mile walk.

It’s a riot of colour, flowers and people…..we left the park to return to our hotel have some lunch and return later in the afternoon when it had quietened down.

We returned just as it was going dark to see the park lit up.

Because it was incredibly busy we got up early on Sunday morning to look at all the exhibits and hopefully get some better pictures.

It was a lovely weekend as always. We have bought our bus ticket for Chiang Rai and up to Burma to renew our visa for our final month. The adventure continues…….

The Queen Sirikit Botanical Gardens just 45 minutes outside of Chiang Mai, near Mae Rim are always worth a visit. The gardens were opened in 1993 and cover a massive 2,500 acres. Three streams which run through the park eventually converge into one with lots of benches and shade for just admiring the view and the displays of flowers and plants. It’s a perfect site, cooler in the mountainous area and used for research, conservation and the study of plants.

We last came 2 years ago and were blown away by the size and spectacular layout of the big site. We arrived early and getting to the ticket booth the young Thai girl said ‘ how old you are’, I replied ‘very old’ and she said ‘over 60 free to come’. Woo hoo there are some benefits of being older. We drove straight up to the greenhouses at the top of the gardens and parked the bike.

Everything here is so big and healthy, I’m sure you could grow house bricks. The 12 glasshouses contain many varieties of cacti, succulents and other exotic weird and wonderful plants. Many biomes and different climates add to its appeal and it is the first botanical garden of international standard in Thailand.

There is an orchid house with many different colours and varieties from big and blousey to small and delicate, all lovely.

The waterfall with its enormous ferns and rainforest setting is amazing with fish in the pool and all the leaves glistening with fine water mists discreetly positioned around the building. It’s the tallest of the greenhouses with a walkway which circles around the waterfall.

There is an ethnic villagers medicinal plant section with some great photos of village life

And a constructed village house and garden

Leaving the greenhouses we took the bike past the lake with fountains and rows and rows of purple cabbages with hundreds of white caterpillars flitting delicately above them.

Further down are the walkways which run high above the forest canopies for about 500 m. The walkway is 20m above the rainforest below with a fine view of the surrounding mountains. Good photo opportunity. There were many ‘Thailand’s next super model’ photo shoots going on…I definitely need to practice

We left the gardens deciding to continue on the loop behind the Doi Suthep mountain to Samoeng. The traffic had been really heavy on our way to the gardens because of a Buddha Day at a large military school. There were thousands of people and a big traffic jam so we thought we would go the long way back. It takes an extra hour but the scenery is amazing, travelling through where all the elephant camps, zip wires and adventure tourism takes place.

We stopped at a viewpoint over the Samoeng Forest where there was a fruit stall. I had a punnet of prepared strawberries and Chris had some sticky rice. They cook the rice over a fire in bamboo sections sometimes with a few peanuts or in this one slightly sweetened; it comes out like a solid rice pudding. It was very tasty. Along with a kilo of avocado to take with us £1.50, bargain. Gave me time to stretch my legs and try and get some feeling in my rear end…..

A little further along we came across the same elephants we had seen on our last journey on this road heading back to their coral after being washed in the river and loved by tourists. You can normally smell their deeply earthy aroma before you see them, love seeing them. Not timed it right to get in for a free cuddle yet but we will.