futurafish

It's a good job we didn't take the local train. After 16 hours on the Chiang Mai express we have arrived.

Apparently last night when everyone was sleeping the train encountered a mechanical problem of some sort. The result of this problem was a delay of around 3 hours in our arrival time. We should have arrived at Chiang Mai at 8.30am but instead we arrived at around 11.30am. This in itself was no major problem as we are hardly in a rush and in fact was probably a useful delay as we probably would not have been able to check in to the hotel so early anyway. Besides it gave us even more opportunities to look at little villages in the jungle, the scrawny cocks, skinny cows, three legged dogs and one eyed farmers.

When we did arrive we said our goodbyes to Jules and Giovanni and wed left the two new friends to fend for themselves.

As with most Asian countries when you arrive at any train station you get mobbed by taxi drivers offering their services, this is probably one of the trickiest parts of the journey. We quickly identified the most trustworthy looking driver (who happened to be a one eyed taxi driver) and exited the station for our hotel.

We are staying in a hotel called Bodhi Seren. This place lives up to its name! It's very quiet, the staff are very friendly. Everything about the hotel is serene. The people of Chiang Mai are supposed to be some of the most peaceful and friendly in Thailand. You hardly ever get hassled here by Tuk Tuk drivers and the like and if you and you turn down their services the driver smiles back at you like he's just won the Euro Millions.

Chiang Mai is the Buddhist temple capital of Thailand. After a quick lunch Gisela headed back to the hotel pool whilst I investigated some of the local Buddhist action. There are only so much Buddha's I can take so once I was templed out I headed back to the pool to join Gisela.

Every night in Chiang Mai there is a 'night market'. The night market is huge and mostly consists of Thai handicrafts, clothing and most of all fake tee shirts, bags, watches etc. anything with a logo on can be found at this market and if it has a logo on It's fake. As my 1 euro flip flops that I purchased in Bangkok are at the end of life stage already I brought a brand new pair of Birkenstock shoes for the bargain price of 4 Euros. I hope they manage to last the remainder of the trip but at this price I can renew them every day!

Back to the hotel via Tuk Tuk for dinner at the 'Hot Chili'; steamed fish in banana leaf for me and Patai noodles for Gisela.

Another day in the bag!

Jason & Gisela