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Published: February 20th 2008
Or as Rinna affectionately calls it ... Stubbtoesville.... Rinna and the footpaths of Chiang Rai do not agree with each other... there has been blood, sweat and tears... several times!
Sooooo after we hightailed it out of Laos we headed over the border to the dodgy little town of Chiang Khong which we promptly realised had no money exchanges open on a Sunday.. kind of a problem when all you have are travelers cheques... luckily the 2nd ATM machine we found was working, we loaded up on Baht and decided to be stubborn "NO WE DON'T WANT A TUK TUK" and walk the 2.5kms to the bus station (Like we hadn't had enough walking that morning hiking out of the jungle!) - our sole intention to hightail it straight to Chiang Rai where we were due to catch a plane on the 19th! We made it to the bus station (read: the local 7/11) and Rinna minded the bags while I went to stock up on some supplies for the 2.5hr bus journey... As I came limping out of the 7/11 (yes my bloody Havianas gave me a blister on the 2.5km walk) I saw our bus pulling away from
the curb around the corner.... I sprinted off after it (amazing what you can do when you have to!) & managed to alert the driver... raced back for Rinna and the bags and 15 seconds later we were sitting on the back seat of one very dodgy local bus (57 baht for the trip each though... bargain!)
Halfway to Chiang Rai and halfway up a SEMI-steep hill the bus stalled... the funniest thing happened.. maybe its a location joke, but the drivers assistant gets out of the bus with a wooden block which he put under the back tyre while the bus driver started the bus and attempted to move! A few attempts later (including some serious rolling backwards and honking from cars coming up behind us) and lots of videocamering from Rinna, and we were on our way... Only in Thailand!!
Upon arrival we decided the blisters weren't so bad and set off to find a guesthouse that Lonely Planet recommend... A great recommendation.. Jansom Hotel.. 450 baht per night including a TV with english cable shows, hot shower, twin beds, airconditioning and free breakfast! Bargain! We showered (for the first time in 2 days) and set
Not Happy Jan!
Its been a long day and now our bus has broken down!off to find some dinner....
Lets just say... from the moment Rinna and I stepped off the bus we fell in love... Chiang Rai is GREAT! Our two days were spent eating, shopping, eating, getting massages, eating... you get the picture....
So where was I? Thats right .. dinner... we settled on a little Italian place and OH MY GOD.. we had some of the best pasta we have ever eaten! I had the Gnocci and Rinna had the Lasagna... My serve was pretty small and so I was determined to come back the following night and order two serves.. no matter how fat it made me look! LOL!
After dinner we wandered around the corner to the Night Bazaar which was fantastic.. a massive food court, a live band & plenty of really really good shopping... Again I spent way too much... mostly on jewellery! How much jewellery can a girl have? ALOT! We were still a little peckish after dinner so went to the food court to grab a snack... We ended up with a plate of grasshoppers and grubs... seriously.. bought a bottle of water and tried to prepare ourselves mentally for the task
True Backpackers Now!
Tired Smelly and looking like a real backpacker! Check out the colour of our pants in these shots... we were so gross! ahead....
Rinna went first (since she wussed out at the Gibbon Experience) while I filmed it... She was a good girl and swallowed.... unfortunately I was not so brave.... both the grasshopper and grub refused to slide down my throat and both ended up chewed up and spat out on the table while I continued to gag! LOL! Yes I am still a wuss at heart, despite my bravery at the Gibbon Experience!!
Day 2 was pretty much spent in a similar way.. breakfast was at a little scandanavian bakery that not only had the best breakfasts (real milk in our hot chocolate and caramel latte & real cheese on our ham/cheese toasties) but also was for a good cause. All profits go to a local childrens charity... from there we caught up on the other blogs at a fantastic internet cafe which served cakes, coffees and the best frappes ever! Lunch was at a local thai restaurant (are we seeing a theme here yet?) where we had some really good thai dishes.... after lunch we went across the street for massages...
Rinna decided to brave a thai massage while I had a foot massage... we both
True Backpackers Now!
I am excited.. the chemist just gave me some antibiotics to clear up my travelers diahorrea! Yah! agree these were easily the best massages we have had so far (and yes in 17 days we have had 9 each!) and so after our hour massages we swapped therapists and I went in for a thai massage and Rinna has a foot.... Two hours of pure bliss!
Dinner soon followed at the Italian restaurant again (and yes I ordered 2 Gnoccis!)... Rinna had a Gnocci and a Pizza... and yes we did feel fat afterwards! We then went to the Night Bazaar for more shopping where I found a funky little shop of original clothes (handpainted tshirts, denim and bags) where I shopped up a storm for myself and others... and then we found a guy who was painting pictures on nails... so we both got our toenails painted (and Reet had the fingers done too!)
Rinna : Seahorses and Ladybugs
Reet : Flowers and butterflys on toes. Spiders, Guitars, Panda Bears, Snakes, Penguins, Strawberries and other weird things on her fingers!
Home to bed.... This morning we woke up, packed our bags in preparation for our trip south, had breakfast at the same bakery, grabbed some takeaway lunch from a popular local restaurant (Duck
for Reet, Pork for Rinna) and some Icecream from Svensens for the ride to the airport... and we were off.... LOL.... Have we put on weight yet? Maybe!! LOL!
We arrived out to the airport for our 1pm flight only to find out it had been cancelled and we were now on the 4pm flight! Doh! We ate our lunch, started to read some books, drank some beer and did our best to fill the afternoon.... AND that is pretty much it! We are now in Bangkok for one night and tomorrow we head down south on the overnight train to Ko Phangan.... bring on the beach.. I need a tan desperately!
One thing that I forgot to tell you about last time was that on the way out to the Gibbon Experience we witnessed our first Road Accident! Something not to be missed! In all my travels through Thailand, Cambodia and Laos, and all the crazy driving I have never witnessed one... and not only did we get to see it but we were almost part of it... We were driving along, and a motorbike was heading towards us on the other side of the road... a
van came up behind the motorbike and rather than wait until we passed to go past the motorbike it just squeezed in! We swerved to try allow room but it just went straight and cleaned up the motorbike.. there were two ladies on the motorbike (one pretty old) and the old lady went straight up over the handlebars and the bike ended up on top of them... Do you think we stopped? Nup! Not in Laos! We just kept on going! The old lady was sitting up and seemed ok and the younger lady had limped off (on an obviously broken foot) to a fence.... We were all so shocked .. it was pretty awful.
Sorry if this is boring! Hope the photos are amusing!
Love to you all (only the ones reading and missing us of course!)
Reet & Rinna
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Kristina
non-member comment
wow!
wow you guys sure know how to have some wild and crazy adventures! i have been following your current trip...and i wanna come travel with you both! i will be coming to Thailand March 4-24th. just posted a question about my itinerary on the Tripadvisor...hope i get some feedback. reet you are such a great travel writer. thanks for the pix and the armchair travels! rinna...did you eat that whole plate of bugs?