Chiang Mai, Thailand

We arrived in Chiang Mai at just about six this morning after leaving Phitsanulok. The train itself was ok, the bunks were comfortable with clean bedding and it was a bit strange as all the sleeping bunks were packed in one after another. I had the lower bunk which was nice. I tried to sleep but got very little of it as every time I finally felt I was about to the train would pull into a station with about an hours interval, and for some reason when the train stopped moving I became awake. The tracks were really noisy too. For some reason I had this idea that trains were smooth since they could only travel on tracks but all night long you could hear the clickety-click. It wasn’t too bad though and next time I’ll be prepared with earplugs and an extra layer of clothing since there was mesh at the windows.

When we pulled into Chiang Mai it was just getting light. We got a tuk tuk to the guesthouse which took forever due to the driver dropping some people off on the other side of town, and then stopped outside the wrong guesthouse - ’seven sun’ instead of ’sarah’. Eventually we got out a map and he redelivered us to the right place. It’s quite nice. It’s clean and they do a good breakfast and we have an adequate bathroom and shower.

We took the day fairly slowly and walked around the city and saw a pretty white temple. Well, several white temples in a huge field.

We found the Hill Tribe Foundation shop which sold products made by the local tribes and they recieved part of the money. I personally think that’s better than going to see the local tribes as they parade outside their huts for tourists to take pictures of like a living zoo. So I bought a black fabric bag with colourful patterns woven in.

This evening we’ve just had fish and chips at a place run by an English guy. It was quite comforting, and a change from Noodle soup or curries that we’ve been having since arriving. The food here is really good though. We might go to the night market tonight, suggested to us by some people we bumped into on our way to the internet cafe, who we met yesterday at Sukhothai. Tomorrow, hopefully we’ll be going further north into the countryside of Doi Suthep to find waterfalls and to get away from the city.