I think I must have had around a few hours sleep on the train from Bangkok. It left the previous night at 7.40pm and arrived at about 7am in Chiang Mai. The ride was so much better than an equivalent bus ride would have been - at least on the train you can get up and walk about. Our seats (no sleeper accommodation available) inclined nicely and I was pleased to get some shut-eye.
Gabi and I walked the 2km into the centre of Chiang Mai and found a guesthouse. Chiang Mai so far looks very well developed - clean roads, nice cars etc. Ever since the Cambodian border we had been remarking on how Western looking Thailand is. It was still early and the Same Same Guesthouse owner was sat on his balcony barking orders down to the staff below - it looked like they were doing some kind of spring clean. We secured a room for 200 baht (3 pounds) and got showered. It had been a long old journey from Siem Reap over 24 hours ago and we were both feeling satisfied but tired.
After wandering around the neighbourhood we found the Day Market and had a look around. Nothing special really but we had some nice noodle soup at a local's diner. We walked the long way home and got settled in a net cafe to catch up on emails etc. We'd heard good things about Chiang Mai's night market and headed there in the evening - loads and loads of street sellers, market stalls and a real buzz in the air. We didn't find the food area which I was hoping for and we had to settle for a pretty boring restaurant where I got my first proper Thai green curry in ages. We were both exhausted so we didn't stay out late - tomorrow is the start of our hill-trekking tour so we need our energy for that!
Chiang Mai Hotels
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