It's the final countdown...

Well we're into the very last week of our travels and I have to say it feels good knowing that we're homeward bound.

We've being having a great time in Chiang Mai, doing far too much eating and drinking and very little exercise!! Last week we went out with Alan and Apple and some of their U.K friends to a brand new 5* hotel for an all you can eat buffet. The hotel is the Shangri La and it only opened on the 22nd December last year, so you can imagine how new everything is, you can actually smell the fresh paint when you walk in. Not a familiar smell in Thailand!! The carpets are those that sink as you walk over them they are that plush, and the attention to detail was amazing. The food was also 1st class although being a veggie my options were slightly limited. They had a sushi bar, an Italian section, local Thai dishes and an abundance of fresh salads, not to mention the delectable desert section. I think it's safe to say that between us (me and Matt) we polished off about 8 portions of desert!! You may find this difficult to believe but I'm not a big fan of sweet stuff either, probably just as well! It was a lovely night and it cost us just over 5 pound each. In currency that is not weight.

On Saturday night we headed to the Riverside on our mopeds (Apple and Alan driving) to a really busy bar where all the wealthy Asians and holiday makers hang out. It was soooo busy that we had to wait to be seated. We had another good night in there with some fine Thai tucker and lashings of Singh Beer. There was a Thai band playing too, doing covers of The Eagles, Queen, Coldplay etc. We were a little bit worse for wear when we left, or should I say I was! Sunday was spent sobering up by the pool.

Monday and yesterday we headed off to the Thai Cookery School for an introduction into Thai cooking. The classes are anything between 2 - 9 people. Luckily for us there were only 6 in our group, the only downside is that 4 of them were ozzies!! I'm only joking they were a decent crowd actually, it's not their fault they're from Oz. The first day we made a Pad Thai, a crispy Catfish Salad, some green curry paste (which involved a lot of pounding) and then a green curry with the paste. It was all delicious, despite the cockroaches jumping out of our eating bowls as they were set out ready for us to serve up our food!! We finished off with bamboo shoots in coconut milk, I wasn't too sure about those?!?!

Yesterday we made Chicken and Cashew nuts, I had to substitute all meat with tofu which was incredibly bland, despite the over powering presence of chilli's in everything. If I was cooking at home I would change tofu for fish. We then made a chicken and glass noodle salad with a chilli dressing, red curry paste and then a red curry with the paste we had made, and some Thai fishcakes with a chilli jam. Again the results were fantastic, even if I do say so myself. Both days before we started cooking we headed out to the local markets to get all our fruit and veg, it was great to be in the markets were all the locals do their shopping. Also everything was so cheap. At home we buy a Thai cooking kit from Waitrose when we want to make a Thai curry, it has a few shallots, a couple of leaves of coriander, garlic, lemongrass and a few other random leaves and it costs us 5 quid. At this market we were getting massive bunches of coriander and huge bulbs of galangal and all for about 20p each!! The cookery classes were great and we both enjoyed the experience, but the recipes are quite similar and we decided that we didn't need to do the 4 days that we had planned. We both got a recipe book to bring home so we can always refer back to that for some pointers. God only knows where we will get all the ingredients.

We have done a fair bit of shopping since we arrived too, our room is starting to look like Del Boys lounge with dodgy knock off gear in every corner and on every surface. I'm sure we will get hammered for excess baggage on the way home. We will just have to layer ourselves in clothing, adorn ourselves in jewellery and fake watches and carry a couple of designer handbags each and we should be ok. We don't plan on taking much (if any) of our original clothing home with us so we should have created a bit of space in our packs by the time we leave.

Today and tomorrow we have/will be lazing by the pool soaking up the last of the rays before we brace ourselves for the biting temperatures back home. I'm getting regular updates on the weather from my mum and dad and I think it's safe to say we are in for a very cold welcome when we get home :o(