"One night in Bangkok"

And so, after another flight (OK, it is not very overlanding to fly, but it works for us!), we arrived into Bangkok. I had been to Bangkok before and remembered it being incredibly hectic and noisy and smelly and I was preparing myself as we touched down. Perhaps it is the contrast with truly mental countries like India, but I couldn’t believe how ordered and civilised it was – from the airport, immigration, the air conditioned coach into the city, the quiet (no car or truck horns the whole way! Amazing!), to the lovely hotel in the centre of the tourist area, with internet cafes on every corner and a cashpoint / ATM in the foyer. It was such a pleasant surprise! I have been assured that it is just because of where we are staying, but no matter what the cause, our stay in Thailand so far has been an absolute joy.

We arrived into Bangkok around lunchtime and headed straight to the hotel and to the restaurant opposite to grab a bite to eat. My first (of many) Thai curries. The next two days were spent in the rather smug knowledge that I had already seen the sights, therefore I could do things like go shopping. So on the first day I headed off with Maura and a couple of the other girls (and guys, it must be said) to a huge shopping mall in the centre of Bangkok. The cultural part of our trip was to take the boat down the river, past the temples, and then to catch the Skytrain (it is air-conditioned, London Underground take note!) directly to the shopping mall. Maura and I were transfixed by the shopping opportunities that presented themselves! There was every imaginable luxury brand (albeit the vast majority way outside our budget…) and a fantastic department store that gave us the opportunity to browse for many a contented hour! I ended up falling victim to a lovely dress, and even (much to the amusement / disappointment of the crew) a pair of heels! We had decided that as we were back in civilisation, it was time to get a little bit dressed up! After shopping we headed back to the hotel, dropped off our precious purchases, and went straight to the hairdresser for the first time in 4 months. It was great, and a little overdue it must be said… Our girly day of pampering was finished off by a quick drink on the way home, then a shower and meeting up in Maura’s room to get ready for the night out. We even put makeup on. We then met up with the others, and headed out for a lovely dinner by the river, a couple of drinks on the famous Khao San Road, and then a club somewhere deep in the depths of Bangkok (don’t ask me to try to find it again!).

The next day was understandably quiet…

From Bangkok we headed up to Chaing Mai on the overnight sleeper train. Our last experience on the train had been from Delhi to Agra, a very sweaty, noisy, hectic 3 hour ride each way, so we were a little nervous about the prospect of 13 hours in similar circumstances, but we shouldn’t have worried, and our fears were allayed as we climbed aboard our airconditioned carriages, saw our lovely padded seats, and worked out how they converted into beds, complete with white sheets and pillows. Very civilised! We arrived into Chaing Mai the following morning, and after a while spent at the hotel working out which of the many activities we were each going to do, a quick lunch and a bit of a snooze, it was time to head to my Thai cooking course with Cheryl, Edel and Elaine.

At the cooking course (no, I didn't know what colour the apron would be, it was just a lucky guess):

The cooking course was great. Our first stop was at a local market where the chef explained the different ingredients that we would be using, and then we headed to the “shed” at the back of his house which was set up as a full teaching kitchen, with each of us having our own gas ring and workspace. After watching him demonstrate what he wanted us to do, we headed off to our own areas and proceeded to cook 5 courses of delicious food. And we were all given a recipe book at the end of the night, so prepare to be dazzled!

Sitting down to our feast with Edel, Elaine, and Cheryl:

The next day I headed off with Cheryl, Jo, Shinnick and Mike H to The Ride of the Gibbon, an “exhilarating opportunity to soar through 1,500 year old rain forest, high above the forest floor”. Being the adventure queen that I now am, this appealed, and so we headed off. First step was to walk up to a waterfall which was lovely. After walking back down we were treated to some lovely food, and then it was “time to fly”. After being harnessed and helmeted up (I seem to have spent a disproportionate amount of the last couple of weeks wearing a harness and helmet), we were driven a bit further up the hill and then proceeded to spend the next 2 ½ hours zip-lining or abseiling down 2km of wires set up for the purpose. It was great fun (even if I never did quite work out the braking thing), and we all had a fantastic time. Not sure what the next adventure will be, but will be hard to top the ones that I have done recently