After our first week in Bangkok, we took a train to Lop Buri. Nothing special, except for some old temple ruins that are now inhabited by monkeys. The Thai believe the monkeys to be the ancestors of the guards who once guarded the temples. The monkeys are an attraction and are really treated well. Tourists feed them, there is an annual festival to honour them and they are buried in a special graveyard. As a result, the monkeys are fat and cheeky, and they take what they want by steeling it out of one's hands or rug sack. In Lop Buri we met Jan and his Thai wife Ly, and we spent two afternoons with them at the pool of their hotel.

Next stop: Chiang Mai in the North of Thailand. We took the night train, 2^nd class sleeper, without airco (but with fans). Not sure whether this was a good choice, but airco would have been much more expensive and probably too cold. Our choice turned out well, very comfortable sleeper and Lasse and Sil could share a bed as they were both under 150 cm tall. Upon arrival in Chiang Mai we were ‘attacked' by local taxi drivers all offering the best deal / cheapest hotel / most interesting day trip. Something that we will never get used to. Chiang Mai itself is off little interest to tourists, but the city bursts with small tour operators all offering the same package deals: elephant riding, down-hill MTB trip, whitewater rafting, bamboo rafting, rock climbing, flight of the gibbons, Karen longneck, etc, etc. We shopped around a little for some nice-price deals. Claudia went on a one-day Thai cooking course, while the male half of the family went on a combi-trip of elephant riding, white water rafting, hiking and bamboo rafting. We all thoroughly enjoyed our day, Claudia was the only participant so she enjoyed a private lesson, while Lasse, Sil and Peter discovered what it feels like to (try to) steer an elephant or, even worse, be kissed by one. You do not want to know what that feels (and smells) like!

Meanwhile, the temperature has become a bit more bearable, as the end of the rainy seasons draws near. However, Peter did not notice this when he embarked on a serious, 35 km mountain bike tour in the hills near Chiang Mai. Serious climbing, serious sweating and serious down-hill riding. But after 5 months of travelling (without being able to do any exercising), it feels good to wash off the laziness.

It was not only Peter who was in dire need of some exercise, so we booked a six-day biking trip in Chiang Mai with Etienne, a Belgium guy who has set up a well organized bike rental company that provides detailed route-descriptions and hotel accommodation around Chiang Mai. The day before we are to start our biking trip, Sil fell ill with an ear-infection. To be on the safe side we did hire a tandem, so Sil can just relax, in case he is not fully fit. So as we are re-packing our bags for our biking trip on our last night in Chiang Mai, we (again) wonder what tomorrow will bring us.