A day of planning....

After a sleep in this morning we decided to walk around the old town today and enjoy discovering the Wat's (temples) here as there are so many and they really are beautiful.We walked to get watermelon and pineapple for breakfast and set off on our walk. We need to decide if we are taking the bus or the plane to Bangkok so will find a cafe somewhere to enjoy a drink and do some research. Going into the Wat's is a very special thing, they are so peaceful and beautiful with murals on the window shades and many Bhudda's of different sizes. There is lots of bling inside and out and they are very well maintained. Ok, enough photos it is time to find a cafe. Alvo wanted to try an iced Thai tea which she enjoyed and I had a mango slurpy....both were refreshing. We talked with a friend in Bangkok about the travel options and she recommended flying, we were kinda sold on the idea so we will find the cheapest we can. Walking on we passed many school kids finding street food snacks during their lunch break and practicing instruments and marching. School here would be really interesting. We stopped in at our favourite little upstairs cafe for a chai tea and a rest after walking for quite some time, we love the chai there....it is delicious and Laura, the girl that owns the place, is really nice. We sat and chatted with her about lots of world issues, she is very interesting. The time has come to meet with our friend Alila who will take us to meet her friend who takes people on not so touristy treks. She met us on her moped and told us to climb aboard, we have never done 3 on one bike but hey....when in Rome. She took us to a little backstreet that was nice and quiet, her friend runs a guesthouse too and she waved us off as she said she has things to do and left us to chat about trekking. Yesterday she told Alvo that I need to go out and spend time in nature and if we can we should stay out in the jungle for a night. We didn't know if that was the experience we wanted but there is no harm in finding out some information. Mr Jungle, Alila's friend explained to us the one day tour that we are interested in but wanted us to look at the two day and one night trek. The adventure he explained was something we could not pass up, I won't spoil it by telling you the details because we decided to do it. We will leave Chiang Mai on Friday morning and venture into a part of the jungle that is not a touristy area, Mr Jungle wants people to get a true understanding of Thailand and offers something that no other does. We also looked at his rooms and for a cheaper price than we are paying we have decided to move house tomorrow as it will not only be cheaper but due to the early departure time on Friday it will be easier to be there. Ok, trek sorted. Again we walked and walked before getting back to the hotel to collect and sort our laundry. On the way back we decided that because we had not eaten much today it would be great to go to the all you can eat sushi restaurant......it did not disappoint. The sushi train was the longest I have seen with so many types of little dishes with things that you cook in your chosen soup. So many different types of sushi and best of all, ice cream. We were allowed 1 hour and 15 minutes to enjoy sushi greatness and it only cost us $11 each. We sampled so many different little bits of this and that and finished it off with four different flavours of ice cream. We rolled out the door and embarked on the 30 minute walk back to our hotel, we needed to burn off some food. Time to retire for the night, if I wake up early I will head to the park for Tai Chi-Chi Gong but am making no promises. Tanya xxx.