Tribes and tigers: North Thailand

In Northern Thailand we visited Chiang Mai and had a relaxing few days exploring the old town, temples and enjoying a fine range of vegetarian restaurants that cater for travellers. It's a nice historic city popular with tourists and there are many activities available in the surrounding mountains and valleys. Though we'd have loved to see some elephants up close, after some careful consideration we decided against the elephant parks and rides that seem to be numerous in the region as we're not convinced about their conditions and treatment. However we couldn't miss the chance to visit the tigers who are successfully bred at Tiger Kingdom and seem to enjoy playing with the waiver-signing tourists.

Whilst not fully concentrating, Leila agreed with Ali's idea to go rock climbing at 'one of the most challenging climbing destinations in south east Asia'. Fortunately, she (literally) rose to the challenge, despite the guide's motivational advice at a tricky spot to "just go up - no top, no lunch!"

Further north, near Chiang Rai we stayed in a cosy bungalow (bamboo shack) in a resort called Naga Hill where Leila could recommence her swimming routine - this time with a better view of the surrounding mountains. The 'Golden Triangle' region is the mountainous triple border of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos and was traditionally a major opium growing area for the hill tribes but they have cleaned up their act and instead the area is now a tourist destination. After visiting the Hill tribe museum however, we weren't convinced that the tour parades to the far flung villages were really a helpful influence.

So we hired a scooter for a couple of days and ourselves explored the hills and valleys along the Kok river, passing through the villages and stopping at some waterfalls, buddha caves and the hugely impressive all-white stucco temple (Wat Rong Koom).