Chiang Mai, part 2!

So the day after the waterfall, we got chatting to a group of 10 Irish. Ian, one of them, had been in Koh Tao and is a Divemaster, hence the start of conversation. They had all met up in Bangkok, from the Emerald Isles, Dublin area, for a hedonistic culture filled craic. I have seen and met so many Irish when ever I go abroad, I am surprised to hear there are still some in Ireland.
The group had all been trekking which Amy and I found interesting. Trekking in the hills of Thailand, meeting the hill tribes, rolling around with the Elephants, bamboo rafting. Off we went and booked onto a trek. Only to find that the day we booked was to be cancelled shortly after booking. Due to lack of people or something. I however wasn't too dismayed as I knew we were basically gonna be trekking for a long while just going to Laos. Amy decided it wasn't such a bad thing either, when the guys told us about the way the Elephant's were tormented by there bully captives/trainers. Apparentley been seen kicking and punching the Elephant, and burning with lighters, etc. Some people have absolutley no idea, and had I seen it would probably be in serious trouble for kicking the shit out of a Thai fella.
We changed our trek ticket into 2 tickets on the slowboat to Laos. It was to take 2 days, and "apparentley" not a pleasant ride. The thought of having 10 Irish on board made it seem almost exciting, we would have fun for sure.
That night we found a Reggae bar with live music so sat there and listened to two bands play, an Alanis Morrissette fanatic, and a Thai Reggae band covering all sorts of decent songs, mostly the original, "Marley" tunes. Was cool. Amy stayed to dance with the Irish girls, Asling, and Sara. I am too old for dancing throught the night, and watched the deserved win of the Italians.
Te shopping in Chiang mai is amazing, you have a market every night, where you can find and haggle anything , from fairy lights, to Ivory Daggers. I bought a real cool T-shirt, hand painted. Amy got some nice silver, dead cheap. Also there is a huge shopping mall where you can get real genuine brands, no more rip off Bangkok. Sweet.
I, at this point, couldn't wait to get to Laos. After hearing so many cool stories from travellers, it was in the post........