Chiang Mai

Well like I said, I'm stealing time in Chiang Mai. I probably won't end
up doing half the things intended like an overnight trek, but I have
seen the long necked tribe from Myanmar who have set up a small tribal
village close to Chaing Mai so they can earn a living without having to
pass it to police and soldiers back home. It was the highlight of an
overly touristy elephant 'trek', bamboo rafting and sacred caves trip. Seeing elephants was cool, but seeing them playing football and painting was just a bit too much and unnatural (although I had to be impressed how much they could be trained, and how delicate they could be...even with me 'driving' solo on the front). While I realise that hill tribes must make a living, seeing the authentic hut with a satellite dish outside, and a Mitsibushi truck covered over in a blanket round the back didn't really do justice to the real tribes that must still exist, with no official Thai residency to speak of.
There is a world of things to do here from gun shooting to 4x4 to
climbing from rafts, to endless trips around the area. The shopping is
so good and cheap I wish I knew someone with a transit van heading back
to the UK.
And that's about as much as you'll probably find out until I return to
the UK as I have a beer waiting and a bottle of whisky in the fridge,
and I'm stinking after wearing the same short and tshirts for days......