An elephant built for two..

Our week in Thailand was spent in Bangkok and a northern city called Chiang Rai.  While in Bangkok we stayed with friends so I have no info on hotels there, but info-thai  should be a help.  The Buddhist Temples were incredible.  Don't miss the Grand Palace, the Emerald Buddha and the Reclining Buddha. There is a nominal fee to enter each temple and you must dress appropriately, no shorts, sweats, bare arms, etc...

We took a night train to Chiang Mai in the north and then traveled another 4 hours by bus to get to Chiang Rai where we went trekking to see some hill tribes.  You can't get to Chiang Rai directly by train but you can fly there in a matter of hours for under $100. We were cheap, the train and bus together cost well under $50 roundtrip. The people we stayed with took care of getting the train tickets, but I do know that there are trains running this route several times daily/nightly.  Buses run between Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai almost hourly.

We thought the Ben Guest House in Chiang Rai was great!  Beautiful teak wood doors, cool little geckos eating up all the mosquitos (they make a funny chirp too).  They have general prices on their web site but you make the final package deal with the guide when there. There are many day and overnight options at great prices.  Elephant riding was the most unusual part of our trip.  Elephant snot was the most disgusting. You see, when an elephant wants to cool down but hasn't been by a river in a while, he just... well, I'll leave the rest to your imagination..:-)

You can trek other places too, like directly out of Chiang Mai but our first impression of that city was a mass of guesthouse bookies and tuk-tuk (cab) drivers all yelling their prices in our faces the second we stepped off the train.  In my opinion the prices there were higher but it is more convenient for some people.

There are always great places to eat in any marketplace. They all cook the food fresh and everything is right there to see and point at to get what you want. You always get a big plate of rice and then pay for however many "toppings" you want. By toppings I mean the various meat and vegetable dishes on display. Just point to them and they will add them to your plate of rice.. It's a great way to try a variety of things for real cheap.