Ian Rambles
John took us to Chiang Dao caves, north of Chiang Mai, the seond day we hired the car. The guides carry pressure lamps ( Tilley Lamps ) to show the way - we had two for our group. These have a quality of light which enhances the natural formations much better than the coloured electric lighting in the Merrimac caverns in the USA.

Our last full day was a Sunday. John had been endlessly telling us how good the Sunday Market was all week, since we missed the previous one going treking, so it had quite a lot to live up to. It didn't disapoint. It went on for street after street. The range of stalls was enormous - many of them craftspeople selling their products an without the cheap "made for tourists" souvenirs that blight most markets.

The lady operating the puppet in the picture below was raising funds to start a traditional puppet theatre in Chiang Mai. The puppet operation was quite complex. She grips the stand between her knees but cn get hip motion into the puppet by moving her knees up and down.

Fiona's Journal
The second time we had the car we went to Chiang Dao caves. They were every bit as impressive as the Meramac caves in America and less tamed which made them more exciting to explore. At a couple of points we had to crawl through quite small openings between two caves, following our guide's hurricane lamp, and John had baulked at this last time, overcome by claustrophobia, but he did it this time. That was great because some of the best stalagmite and stalactite formations are in those deepest caves.

On the way home we went to the big Tesco Lotus in Chiang Mai, partly because we wanted instant coffee for our forthcoming train journeys and partly just out of curiosity. We went to Tesco in Prague, when we were there, and were amused to find dumplings amongst the blue and white striped value range. In Thailand, predictably, huge bags of rice are amongst the value range. More mysteriously they have the most enormous range of toothpastes, a whole full-length aisle of them. I know the Thai people are famous for smiling but really!?!

Thailand to Hong Kong, August 25th/26th
The overnight train from Chiang Mai to Bangkok was a bit more expensive than the bus but it was much more comfortable for sleeping, it did not break down and the loos were only mildly unsavoury by the morning. We departed on time at 5.55pm and watched the beautiful scenery of rural Thailand trundle past our carriage window until the sun set.

Shortly after darkness fell stewards came round and made up everyones bunk for them and we retired, each to our own little curtained chamber. I read for a while but the classic rhythm of the train, clackety-clack, clackety-clack, clackety-clack, soon sent me off to sleep.

We were woken by the stewards, just before 6.00am, and they stripped and stowed the bunks and served coffee and very meagre breakfasts (which we had only ordered for the coffee and orange juice ) and we alighted at Bangkok station just before 7.00am. Total journey time 13 hours. Train beats bus hands down!

We caught the Airport Express bus from right outside the station and arrived there with 5 hours to kill and very little Thai money left to spend. We sat in an airport cafe and made one round of drinks last an inordinately long time while we watched a Mr. Bean movie on the cafe's TV screen. This immediately reminded me of James, the cockney Thai, because he told us he loved Mr. Bean but he wasn't much use for learning English. For those who don't know Mr. Bean he is a character played by Rowan Atkinson, rather like Monsieur Hulot in the Jacques Tatti films, and he doesn't speak!

Our two hour flight with Emirate Airways was enlivened by the fact that the plane had cameras on the fuselage projecting a pilots view and a “stowaway strapped to the undercarriage looking straight downwards” view onto our video screens. Harry and I sat next to each other and selected one view on each of our screens; it made landing in Hong Kong look really scarey.

The airport ATM gave us HK Dollars (once someone told us that they use 6 digit pin numbers here and you have to put two zeros in front of our 4 digit ones) and then we bought our first £3.00 cup of coffee since leaving UK!

Arthur's Log:
Again we have a car for the day and went to see some caves out of town. We got there and had somthing to eat with the lady serving us had a tiny baby in her arms which would never happen in a english restaurant. Its all because so many are family owned so the more they make the more they're payed, but in the english ones owned by someone who hasn't even stepped inside it in years wether they do a good job or not doesn't affect there pay in the slightest.

We entered the cave and did the free bit which was great and felt at least half a mile deep. The other part of the cave was unlit and confusing to navagate for the first time. So we had to take a guide with us for that bit. At three points you were down on hands and knees crawling through wet water channels. John, who is farly claustrophobic wasn't ecstatic about the idea but felt obliged since he was here and we were were going. I could tell he didn't find it pleasant in the least but he was glad he did it after.

I could tell the cave was big but it was only ocasionally, when the lantern held its light for long enough for me to focus. However, in the short flickers of focus, I could see thousands of bats on the roof and the whole place stunck of their excrement.

In a typical Buddist way they did not show rock that looked like people and mudane item like the american caverns - instead showing animals. Lions and tigers and elephants.

Got back a little later and went for a swim with um, Harry, and George. George was learing to dive and mum was talking to a woman named Debbie who was on holiday with her friend Debbie. (see im learning)

John has been telling me about some of the weird jobs people think up here. The weirdest was to massage men's shoulders when there using the urinal in a public bathroom, and rely totaly on tips. (I haven't used a urinal since)

Most of today was meant to be spent packing but we ended up going swimming instead. I could tell all the other people (most of them sunbathing) weren't to happy about having Harry and George running around and having fun. But Iknew they wouldn't kick up cause they knew i had something on them. The insult of "you come to Thailand and you spend the whole time sunbathing by the pool!" They all buggered off after a while and we had the pool to ourselves. By now I was getting tired and went for a last dive before going in. I took the dive just a tiny bit too deep and as I used my momentum to ark me up to the surface my elbow caught the very corner of a tile. Blood everywere! It was streaming down my arm and dripping off my fingers. But it was a small cut, only about a inch and not very deep. When a pool dude came with a medical kit I declined and just walked back to Johns. I got a lot of funny looks in the street, which I enjoyed, and by the time I got back it had clotted and was just small scab.

Every Sunday at 4 o'clock they close Johns road for the Sunday market. The market starts on Johns road (they choose it because it stretches from the city gate to the center of town) but it is basically everywere.

We had been told about the "six o''clock supprise" but didn't know what it was. Bang on 6 the Thai national anthem started up from tinny speakers all up and down the street and everyone stopped (apart from the odd tourist) and stood totaly straight for the remander of the tune. It was amazing and when it finished they all just started walking again.

Mass typing this afternoon untill 5pm when we got a sontay to the station. A sontay is a pick up truck that acts as a bus/taxi. It will take you whereever you like for much cheaper than a taxi but will pick up other people on the way and may go via their stops.

After the average hassle we got on our overnight train to Bangkok.