Banilah Chiang Mai

... Our taxi driver started telling us how he can give us a better deal on sightseeing in Chiang Mai than the tour companies. He was all prepared with brochures outlining the tour agency's price and what he can offer. He even has a old copy of the Lonely Planet book as well. Right before arriving at the resort, he pulled to the side of the road and took out a white board (which I thought was very clever) and writing what he can offer ...

... br>hills and fields of rice.



The digs were unusual to say the least, the first night sleeping in a
hut in the middle of a jungle with a waterfall raging in the
background, the second in a tiny village with the Karen tribe.
needless to say the toilet facilities werent exactly the Ritz!

it included being absolutely scared
out of our wits on the back of ...

... slowing I am becoming tri-lingual.....I know 6 words in Thai...the essentials - Hello, Thank You, Yes, No, Good hearted person, and Delicious.
8. Thailand has no brewery regulations. A Chang beer which is 30 baht ($1) is 6%-12% achohol content depending on the plant the beer was brewed...moral of the story...drink the cheap beer.
7. The metric system is used here. Slowly I am learning to convert ...

... eg yrdi ein, akvad eg ad taka 9 daga pakka svo eg gaeti adeins nad attum. Tok 13 klst naeturlest til Chang mai sem var aedi! Eg kynntist strax Debbie fra skotlandi og fljotlega kom madur og bjo um okkur. Svo ur vard litid 'cabin' sem eg gat dregid fyrir, og skrifad hugdarefnin min I dagbokina. Sedan tok eg upp eyrnatappana, grimuna fyrir augun (sem eg fekk svo eftirminnilega fra Qatar Air), dro teppid upp ad hals og sofnadi. Svaf reyndar ekki fast tvi that var eins ...

Sawasdee krap

Last night in Chiang Rai ..........and it rained and rained and ......oh.......did i mention?...........it RAINED!!!.............and as we set off for Chiang Mai it was still raining!!......but hey that is Thailand!!!

The man from Hire Car firm arrived on time at 9:00AM..........so it was give back the Vigo to Maew (i have just found out the correct spelling.....not Mau!!.....oh well i always was a fast learner ...

... idea. 8am came, but no sign of white water rafting people. Long story short, there had been a mix up! We weren't to go. Damn! As an apology, we were offered a free room for the night. so we settled for it (as long as we also had breakfast!) After chatting with Tom + Greg, we decided to shoot on up to the border to catch the boat to Luang Prabang. So our complimentary room was changed to a complimentary drink. Never mind! 8pm pick up to take us to the border (6 hours drive away!)

... all asked us "Where are you going"? But this was not the case, they just wanted to help us because they were Thai and knew the city so well. One man was a banker vacationing from the islands and he sat down on a bench with us and circled everyplace in the city we ought to go to.  Another woman stopped us to tell us about a monument to the king we were passing and also to tell us we should go to a festival tonight across the street ...

... we didn't realise we would be sharing a cabin with 30 odd other people. Considering a private cabin was 3 times the price though it wasn't all that bad. It was fairly noisy, there was a lot of bumping around and every time we stopped we nearly got thrown out of bed, but we still managed to get a few hours shut-eye and we were ready to take on the hostel hunt in Bangkok. After phoning all of the recommended guest houses from the Lonely Planet guide and finding they were all ...

... time ever twas very good. Then about 10 of us carried on the evening going out for a few drinks and to dance! Even though some of the clubs shut really early (about 11) we managed to stay out talking to a different group of french people till almost 6 this morning!! Now knackered but we dont have much to do today except catch a train back to Bangkok so all gd! After that we head down to the Islands on the east coast, can't wait.