Arrived in Chiang Mai by train around 3pm – bleary eyed, lack of sleep, I’d sat for the last 5 hours in 3rd class to take photos of the sunrise and scenery. I’m pretty glad I didn’t sleep, and likely in future I’ll take a long train journey during the light hours so I can photograph, because it seems that I can’t sleep on any public transport.
I went to meet Julia and Nina in the next carriage when we landed, and we grabbed our bags and moved off. They’d met two German guys Chris and Simon the day before and we all met up off the train. I was a bit stressy from the lack of sleep so I meandered off outside the station to the café nearby and ordered a mixed fruit shake, shoo-ing off tuk tuk and taxi drivers wanting my fare!
The four of them joined me and ordered food, I chatted to the two German guys and found out that they’d booked a guest house in Chiang Mai, close to the outer wall, North West and so I approached a taxi driver to see if he could take us there, and to haggle a good price (from 50 baht each to 35) I told him to wait 5 minutes until they finished their food and when they’d finished we set off to SpicyThai guest house.
Because the German guys had a reservation they were let in, and the owner asked if we had one, to which we were then told that only 1 night for each of us as they’re full. Fair enough, and not willing to go to another place, we checked in, payed the 220 baht + 200 baht key deposit and 30 baht towel deposit.
This was around 29 hours since my last shower, so the first thing I did was that.. cold, aye, stinging, aye, comfortable this was not, but I was clean, and that was shower marked off the food, shower, sleep list. I wanted to chill for a bit so we sat, met the other residents, and a few of us wanted to go and get food “FOOD CRAWL” was shouted, and a couple of others joined.. We wandered around 500 metres to a recommended local good Thai food place, and en route I chatted to Emily from the US, she was planning to head up to Pai on Saturday by bike – 149km – I said that I’d join her, up for the challenge and Pai sounded like a nice place to visit.
After dinner I headed back to relax, preparing to mark the last thing off my list. I hooked up online, half watched a couple of films and wrote a couple of blogs so that I was up to date, sorted my accomodation in Pai, and also for the next night in Chiang Mai. I knew that I’d have to get up early to hire the bike so I had a not late, but not early night.
Shake Awake!
Woke up quite frequently in the night, but around 7am to the guy in the bunk below “rhythmically” shaking the bed.. thinking that he was on his own, I made aware that I was awake thanks to him and tried to go back to sleep. I couldn’t though as the bed started shaking again, so I got up.. on the way out I noticed two pairs of feet sticking out of the bed.
I grabbed a shower and headed back up, they were still at it! So I took all my gear and checked out, then sat in the lobby saying hi to everyone from the previous night. I left my luggage and went out to hire a bike. Each place wanted my passport (no!) or a 3000 Baht deposit, so I wandered to an ATM – ended up wandering quite far and somehow did a round circle back to the guest house… I watched the latest Total Recall and chatted some more to the other guests.
The guest house owner had heard rumours of the libertine guy in the bunk below me, and asked me for more details, then went upstairs to sort it out – he also said that after hiring a Thai girl, he had a Western girl in his bed after! Nina and Julia came downstairs, but really only had time to chat quickly before I picked up my stuff to go to the next guest house.
My first, and only tuk tuk in Thailand – Chiang Mai
A typical Chiang Mai street
I did my usual zig-zagging through the city to find it, stopping at the rather awesome Villa Duang Champa for a refreshing small beer.. It also gave me the chance to find out where I was in relation to the guest house, quite close, so I relaxed a little before heading there. Near the guest house was a laundry and a seamstress.. my bag had broken on day 6 leaving me carrying it with one strap, a bit of a pain in the arse so I enquired how much it would cost to fix – 50 baht and done in 15 minutes (a far cry from the ‘all-day £14’ the lady in Kingston charged me) – I said I was going to go to the room and unload the contents and bring it back. I checked into the Green Oasis and unloaded, took my laundry over to the place across the street and paid a little extra (50 baht instead of 40) to get a two hour service instead of next day.. Then I took the bag to the seamstress and headed back to the room for a sit in the reception area.
The Villa Duang Champa, a really nice place to sit and while away the hours
After picking up my bag again and loading up, I hit the town.. I tend to breadcrumb wherever I go, mentally, left, left, right, right, that way I know right, right, left, left on the way back. I turned one street and saw a hostel I’d seen listed on TripAdvisor, but hadn’t looked for the reviews, I sat there and had some food, talked to a French guy who does a lot of travelling around, made a note of the place as it looked like it was okay, friendly staff and people and the price was the same as what I was paying at my current place. I paid a deposit for my return from Pai and meandered back left, right left, right, left, right to get my laundry.
Chiang Mai is a bit cooler than Bangkok, by around 6 degrees, so it’s really nice – not too hot, not too cold, and no need to take #2 of my usual 3 daily showers (travel days an exception) Though I did wash my feet, the Macbeth’s I’ve been wearing are near toxic, so it’s unfair to force that on anyone but me. After getting my laundry I hit the town again.. As I liked Villa Duang Champa so much I thought I’d head there to see about some food, and sat down – on my own.. I ate and drank and paid.. not long before leaving, the musician who had been sitting behind me the whole time presented me with a drawing!!
Tom, the musician at the Villa Duang Champa drew this of me whilst I ate
Love it, it hit a certain note with me, something about the loneliness yet serene mood I was in (lonely is not a negative in this meaning) I thanked him profusely before offering a tip for the drawing of 50 Baht. Smiling all the way back to the guest house I took a few pics
One of the many wats, or temples, in Chiang Mai, Thailand
Chatted with some of the guys and the owner in there before realising I needed to head to Pai quite early as well as hire a bike the next day and then turned in.
Photography and Adventures 