Part I: Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand, 12th August 2008

I have had the most amazing 24 hours of happy occurrences(see 'Happy Accidents' below, posted yesterday) which I have logged on to tell you all about. I had the perfect night's sleep, had the perfect breakfast and found what I thought would be the perfect internet cafe, raring to go. Alas (does anyone actually use this word anymore?) it just won't do. The aircon is too cold (I'm even equipped with an extra sweater), the screen is at an odd angle with the settings off kilter, the keyboard is an unfamiliar layout, there's an incredibly annoying Google pop-up that keeps appearing on the right hand side of the screen obscuring the functions there and, most annoyingly of all, a constant hammering has started up just the other side of the partition. So I'm going to have to move. I have a LOT of online stuff to do today so I need to be comfortable and able to think straight. Which, due to my excellent night of sleep, I'll be able to do for the first time in weeks if not months.

As I've already downloaded my photos from my camera onto this machine, I'll upload them here before I move and fill in the gaps later on. So here they are (captions below)...

My favourite shoes. I LOVE these shoes. I bought them about 2 years ago from a discount sports shop for a fiver to wear to the pool when I belonged to the local swimming club. They have outlasted every other pair of flip-flops/hiking sandals on the truck and are still going strong. Shown here after a much-needed thorough clean. They're still my fave, along with my Ecco's (not shown) and my hiking boots (shown below). Hey, shoes are important to a girl!

These went round the world with me in 2003 and here they are on the road again. They've seen a lot more mud this time round.

6th August 2008 - Kat, Mo and I in Kolkata airport awaiting our flight to Bangkok. Note: hiking boots - as every traveller worth their salt knows to wear their heaviest shoes while flying to save having to carry them.

9th August 2008. Out for dinner in Bangkok just off the famous Koh San Road. I haven't yet found a good Pad Thai but I'm having fun trying. This was our last night before the overnight train to Chiang Mai.

There are many sad realities about Bangkok life and this is one of them. A baby elephant in the middle of the noisy, polluted tourist district. The poor baby was in obvious distress, crying pitifully for its mother and swinging its head desperately from side to side. These things can be very upsetting for travellers if you a) know about them; b) let it get to you; and c) care. It's amazing how many people don't a) or c). Or worse, a) but don't c).

Self-portrait in the back of a tuk-tuk on my way to meet Mum's friend, Anong. The sunglasses are hiding bags big enough in which to hide the Eiffel Tower. I've been scaring myself every time I catch a glimpse of my reflection which obviously I've been avoiding as I don't enjoy being scared.

Lunch with Anong (sitting to my right) and her friend, Dang (sitting to her right). The two attractive young people sitting on either side are her son and daughter-in-law although it's unclear as to which is her child and which is the in-law. Anyway, one of them owns the restaurant and it was a rare pleasure to eat with locals in a local restaurant without an English name. Of course it was lovely to meet Anong and Dang.

From right to left: Lynda 'big-bags' (don't zoom too closely), Anong and Dang. Anong has played lawn-bowls for Thailand and showed me many lovely photos of herself around the world with other champions playing bowls. She also showed many photos of her and Dang dressed to kill for the after-parties at these clubs. Quite the stunning pair.

10th August 2008 - Three King Monument, Chiang Mai. We arrived at 8am in Chiang Mai after a sleepless night (I can't sleep in upright, airplane-style chairs) on the train. Blissfully there is a pool in our guesthouse so while everyone sat around drinking coffee waiting for our rooms to be allocated, I was doing laps and easing out the cricks from the journey. This unwound me enough to get a couple of hours sleep before heading out for a wander. Made no difference to the eye-bags though (again, don't zoom, ta).

Right, I'm now going to do some admin and give some long-overdue replies to emails before continuing with Part II which may or may not be today. Have a scroll down just in case you've missed something as I've been blogging like mad the last few days (and still have loads more to tell you!). Bye for now.