Thailand Part 1

The next leg of our adventure got off to a horrible start when we were delayed for 3 hours in heathrow. First of all engine no. 4 didn't work and had to be jump started. Then whilst on the runway a man had a seizure and so we had to go back to the gate for the paramedics to get on! Arriving into Bangkok went a little more smoothly until we had trouble getting a taxi and then communicating with the driver, who's english went as far as "Bangkok....good shopping!" Luckily for us our mood was brightened by the comfy, air conditioned Nap Park Hostel. We spent 3 nights in Bangkok where our days were spent wandering one of the most famous backpacker streets in the world, eating phad thai and chatting to other travellers whilst lying on the padded floor of the hostel! 

We also decided to take a day trip outside of Bangkok which included visiting Dumnoen Saduak Floating Market. This is Thailand's biggest market and it takes place in narrow wooden boats on a series of waterways. We took one of the boats through the market passing stalls selling everything from tourist souvenirs to everyday items for the locals. Some of the women were even cooking using a gas stove on the boats. We had our first successful barter and tried some weird and wonderful fruit. 

The day continued to a zoo where we saw elephants doing tricks and a man stick his head inside a crocodiles mouth and then finished with a visit to the Rose Garden where we saw some Thai boxing and dancing. 

After the busy, smoggy city of Bangkok we were happy to move north to a place called Chiang Mai. We took an overnight bus for 12 hours (which exceeded both our expectations as we were given food and a blanket!) and arrived at a very multi-coloured hostel. A Thai cooking class was the first activity on the agenda, which turned out to be on of the best nights so far. We met our teacher at a local market where she taught us about the different ingredients we would be using and the alternatives we would need to use at home as many of the ingredients we had never heard of! It was then off to the kitchen where we made 4 dishes each, such as chicken in coconut milk soup and sweet sticky rice with mango. 

Before...

...after! 

Having eaten more in one night than ever before we headed back to the hostel for a lie down before hitting the night bazaar. This market is open every night till midnight and sells everything from souvenirs to knockoffs. Along with two Americans from our hostel we wandered around and ended the night with a foot massage at midnight when they were supposed to close however they kept it open for us for only £2! 

"buses" in Chiang Mai