Chiang Mai

When we got to Chiang Mai we checked out a Hotel called RCN and it was really nice with free wifi. It had been a really long day on the train, so we dumped our bags, and headed out to find something to eat. We walked down to the main street and found a nice place that served good beer and good food. Mai had chicken and Cashew nuts with rice and Jon had spicy pork and rice with a few beers each before heading back to our guesthouse and some much needed rest.

The next day we decided to hire some bikes and explore the city. We have found the best way to get to know somewhere is hire a bike and get lost for a few hours, its actually pretty fun.
As the second largest city in Thailand, surprisingly Chiang Mai is pretty small. The old city where we stayed and where the Sunday night market is, is surrounded by a very pretty moat. On the other side of the moat are bars, shopping centres and the night bazaar. Whilst on our bikes we decided that Chiang Mai is exceptionally beautiful and probably spent too much time looking at the scenery rather than concentration on where we were going as we crossed the moat and soon found ourselves on a 6 lane by pass on our bikes which was a pretty scary experience. We managed to find our way back to safety without any injury, but it was a lesson well learnt – don’t go on a bypass on a bike! After a couple more hours cycling around we took the bikes back and then headed to the Sunday night market. The market was like no other market we have been to, they close down around half of the inner moat and people set up stalls selling just about anything. The first thing we saw a corner covered with slouchy chairs and people being massaged. There was also a section for food, this was cool you could buy anything, we brought the freshest sushi ever and some lovely chicken. So Good! We spent around four hours there and only did half of the market due to being shopped out and the fact that it had become so packed. To help us unwind for our shopping trip we went for a nice cold beer or two before heading back.

On our third day in Chiang Mai we hired some more bikes from a cool little guesthouse around the corner from us and best of all saved ourselves 20 Bhatt each! We cycled around the outside of the moat this time and looked at cool big buildings and found the cool book shop called Geko. That night after a nice chilled out day we decided to get dressed up and head out for the night. We went to a bar called Jon’s Bar which was cool and the busiest out of all the others, after we had a few cocktails on the roof, Mai had a mai thai with a massive slice of watermelon. After a few mai thais we looked for a place to party some more but there wasn’t really anywhere besides the go-go bars which were a no go bars. So we headed back up to where we were stayed and found a cool Mexican bar and had some more drinks there, We then had the munchies so walked and brought a pizza which wasn’t great so we found a place that sold cheesy chips and then we were happy, we ate these on our walk home!

The next day we got up and went back to our favourite place – The Wall - for breakfast. After that we booked a two day trek into the rainforest and up a mountain through our hotel. We cycled to the big Mall to find Jon some trekking shoes as he only had flip flops. After a few hours we found some shoes that were just about big enough for Jon to squeeze his feet in and decided to go and watch Harry Potter in the cinema. It was awesome!!! The cinemas here are really cool and really cheap. Before the film starts the national anthem is played and everyone stands up. Oh and you get loads of popcorn and coke for like a pound.
After the cinema we got all into Harry Potter and tried to find the last book but couldn’t and so cycled back to the hotel.

The next day we managed to find the last Harry potter book before it started to Rain really heavily. To escape the rain we went to a cool little café where all profits went to helping underprivileged children and read Harry Potter. The food was really nice but you didn’t really get much of it and so after eating there we went back to The Wall for a proper breakfast. That day was a really chilled out day as the rain continued to pour.

The next day we started our trek. We were picked up at around 9.30 and met the rest of the group. A bunch of girls were very twatish but there were two really cool Spanish guys and a few other cool blokes. We drove in a Sang thaw which is basically a pick up truck that has a roof for about an hour before stopping to pick up supplies. It was pretty tight in the back so when we got moving Jon stood up and held on to the roof at the back of the car whilst Mai was stuck in the front with one of the annoying girls. We eventually made it to the national park and it wasn’t long until we had lunch. Whilst we were eating they brought over the elephants and me and Mai climbed onto the biggest, because Jon is a big bugger we needed the big elephant. After you get over the fear that it is just bloody massive and you have absolutely no control over the thing its actually pretty cool riding an elephant. We decided to call our elephant Herbert and he kept raising his trunk for bananas and when we ran out he would blow his nose on us so we were soon covered in elephant bogeys. After about a 40 minute ride we got off the elephants and began our trek. It was seriously hot and humid so within the first couple of minutes we were literally drenched with sweat. For the first hour or so it wasn’t so bad it was pretty steep but manageable. We then arrived at a mini waterfall were we all stripped off and jumped in, it was freezing but lovely as we were just so hot. The next few hours were a mix of near death knackeredness and amazing views. The mountain got very very steep the higher up we went until we were almost climbing and it didn’t help much when it began to rain as it made it quite slippy. After about 4 hours we made it to the top of the mountain and found our village where we were to stay for the night. It was very pretty and the views are amazing but I personally feel the villagers are a bit bloody stupid to live up such a steep hill cos if you want something from the shop it’s a helluva way to go to get some milk.

We all stayed in a communal hut with straw mattresses on the floor and a mozzie net over us. Our guide told us that there were no mozzies this high up and that the nets were there to keep away massive jungle spiders which was a little bit disconcerting. We were pretty much left on our own to explore and the village was very pretty and very basic. There were pigs, chickens and children all running around and women cooking over fires. Our guide explained that it’s such a hard life growing crops on the mountains that after a day in the fields they all come back and smoke opium to relax!!!! That night we were cooked a lovely dinner and all just chatted and played games whilst our guide played the guitar. The next morning after breakfast we began the walk down the mountain and that was nearly as hard going as getting up the thing as it was incredibly steep with sheer drops on either side of the path. Our guide disappeared into the jungle at one point and started carving up bamboo poles with his machete to help us get down the mountain. Mai looked very much the explorer when she got hers. After a couple of hours we arrived at a massive waterfall and it was very beautiful. Probably about a 30metre drop. We chilled there for a while and went for a swim to cool off a little bit before heading on down once again. We eventually made it to a river where two of us were put in a cage dangling on a zip wire and pulled across the river. It was not very safe but pretty damn fun.

Once we were all across we were all given helmets, life jackets and a paddle and given a safety lesson on how to raft in pretty hardcore rapids that lasted about a minute and included – ‘don’t fall out’ and ‘when I stay stop paddling, stop’ which I feel made us pro enough brave the rapids. Mai and I got in the raft with the two cool Spanish guys and we were brilliant, overtaking the other two groups and going through all the rocks pretty well and only getting stuck once. At one pint all 3 boats got stuck on a rock over a waterfall and it was pretty hard going to correct us all so we could go over safely, well safely in Thailand anyways.
After about an hour we were all knackered so jumped out the raft and decided to float down the river. It was really peaceful and scenic and because the current was so strong we zoomed by. When the river became calm we traded in our white-water raft for a bamboo raft. It was meant to be a relaxing meander down the river with us all sitting down and a guy pushing us along with a pole but as we were all crap we kept on sinking the raft and falling off which was pretty fun. Eventually we arrived back at camp and had some lunch before all getting in the Sang thaw back to Chiang Mai. We were all completely knackered and covered in mud so most people fell asleep in the car. When Mai and I got back to our hotel we had a steaming hot shower and went for a snooze.

That night we headed to the night bazaar and had a look around and bought some nice presents for people back home, including one for little Nan. The night bazaar is just outside the old town of Chiang Mai and is amazing. There are literally thousands of stalls and places to eat. The Asians definitely know how to shop.

The next day we cycled around again and exchanged some books so Jon had something to keep him occupied and then as it started to rain went to a cool internet café where we had some nice tea and a disappointing carrot cake ( we really miss cake ) That night we decided we wanted to do some more shopping and went to the night bazaar again. WE had an amazing dinner at a street restaurant with a few beers before hitting the shops. Our bartering skills are now second to none and we bagged a few bargains. Mai had a little bit of a dodgy stomach and we went back to our hotel and chilled out and packed up ready for when we would leave the next day.

The next day we got up early and got a tuk tuk the bus station. We had to wait four hours for our bus and got very hungry. The street food around the station didn’t look very appetizing at all and none of the locals were eating there – a definite clue that the food is crap and so Jon decided to get a tuk tuk back to town and pick us up a subway, very Asian. Thank God he did though as though Chiang Khong (the border town from where we would cross into Laos) is only 100km away it took us 7bloody hours to get there as we had to go through the mountains and the buss was literally going at 5miles and hour in parts. We arrived in Chiang Khong at around 10pm and tried to find a guesthouse. We eventually found one after a long walk and settled into our room which was pretty awful. The doors lock had broken and we had to padlock it up. We had some dinner overlooking the Mekong River and then went to bed as we had to get up early the next day to cross into Laos.