11.03.2008 Chiang Mai

Heading north

I had to get up at 4.30 in the morning in order to pack and get ready to go to the airport. We had meant to book the later flight at 10am but had found out when K received the booking confirmation that we had accidentally booked the earlier one. Hey, traveling is not as easy as it seems ;) The flight was good and although it only lasted one hour we managed to catch up a bit on much needed sleep.

At the airport I took all the brochures with me that looked interesting. We then took a public bus and tried to find the home stay that K has picked for us. He wanted to book it before I came to Thailand but they said that they don't take reservations that much in advance. He tried again yesterday but when he called they said that they take no bookings at all and that we should just turn up and see if there's availability. As we got out of the bus trying to find the street of the home stay a Thai guy approached us. He introduced himself as Sam and said that he has a good place to stay. He showed us pictures and it looked really nice. I was sure that we couldn't afford a place like that - or I wasn't willing to spend that much money anyway. I don't really like it when people hit on you like that and was about to walk off when K asked for the price. He offered us a room with two single beds and our own bathroom for 200 Baht per night. Wow, we spent more at Starbucks in Bangkok. Since the room was really cheap we went with him to have a look. We really liked the room and were happy with the price so decided to stay at this lovely place called Bonmee . Too bad for the home stay we initially wanted to stay in.

We soon took off to find the best noodle place in Chiang Mai (who said that by the way?). K said that according to the map it's not far to walk. We walked for what seemed like ages and still no sign of the road we were looking for. K asked someone and that person said that it's still far to go so we decided to grab a songthew (minibus). K loved it but I wasn't too happy with my food. Probably because it was too spicy and I had trouble eating it.

After our bellies were filled we started to look for a nice coffee place and soon found something that looked comfortable. Not sure how long we stayed there but it was a nice air conditioned and comfy place. We looked at all the brochures I had brought from the airport and started to make plans for our stay in Chiang Mai. Once our program was roughly put together K wanted to read a bit and I had to write my journal - three days behind already.

Around three o'clock we went to the travel agency around the corner from our home stay. We booked a trip for tomorrow and rented a motorbike for the day. Because Thailands traffic is a bit crazy when not used to it and also because I have never driven a motorbike before, I let K do the driving and just sat on the back. We drove up the Doi Suthep (mountain) in order to look at the Wat Phrathat (temple). We parked the motorbike and started to climb hundreds of steps up to the temple. It was quite big with many buildings. K told me that there is an original peace of Buddha's bone at this temple and that's what makes it so special.

After the temple we drove on and went to a really nice view point from which we could see Chiang Mai. Then it was time to get back. It was so much fun to dash down the mountain.

In the evening we went to the Great View Restaurant at the river. It was a really nice place only that now I had to experience Thailand's mean mosquitoes. The mozzies don't seem to like K so I got them all to myself :(

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Part of trip: Round-the-World Trip Part I

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