Into the deep Thailand...

Hello my friends!
Here I am in Chiang Mai, in the north of Thailand. We have been on the go for nearly a week now and we were exhausted so we decided to take a wee break in this wonderful town. It is quite nice here. Not so hot and not so touristy as Bangkok. On the way here we have visited many ancient cities, from the past glories of Thailand, but, to be honest, all that was left were temples, and more temples, and most of them were broken!! only a couple of stones left!

No, but it was very nice to get out of the city at last, it is too noisy and stressful and a lot of hassle. You have to haggle your way through! (mind you, I was getting very good at it!) . But out of Bangkok everything is easier and more friendly, if that is possible. We stopped first in Ayyuthaya, the ancient capital of Thailand, only a village now. But what I liked most of it was not the temples (that were gorgeous) but the elephants!!! yes, you read right! we went to visit the elephants after work (they work in the temples carrying tourists around) and saw them bathing in the river (a very versatile river, by the way, used for dishwashing, clothes, human and animal bathing!) with their mahouts on them (the drivers, I mean) and they are such powerful creatures, and they dived fully into the water while the poor drivers tried to balance on top of them! you had to see it! and then there were the babies! there was 3 of them running around the place playfully, attacking the tourists ant thais alike,... quite a spectacle. They seem to like my skirt particularly and started running after me, which was a little bit scary, since they were very strong and they could push quite hard! still, they were very cute and I survived!

you are going to have to excuse me, I promise I will finish my story tomorrow! but now I am running out of credit in the computer and have no more change with me. Sory! I will keep you awake tonite with the prospect of the next story: the tiger temple!!! nighty night!