From Bangkok, our journey took us to northern Thailand and the cities of Chang Rai and Chang Mai.

These two cities seemed much more relaxed than the bustle of Bangkok, but we actually spent most of our time out of the cities in the hill country. The hills were beautiful.

We visited an Akha village in these hills. They were holding their traditional New Year's celebration, also known as the Swing Festival.

The villagers erect a giant swing for the festival to promote a good harvest. In this picture, the swing can be seen on the right, it goes out over a very steep hill. On the left is an ingenious gravity powered ferris wheel. It all looked like good fun.