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After the action packed Songkran, it was nice to settle onto an overnight train north, even though it required a 6 hour wait at the train station - thank god for WIFI. While waiting at the train station we got the news that Marks brother had just proposed to his girlfriend back in Australia, we luckily had enough time to put a call through with congratulations.

The train ride is an easy journey with a nice comfortable bed to get a good night’s sleep. We arrived in Chiang Mai around 9.30am (two hours later than it was scheduled to arrive, which was fine by us) and stepped off the train to a swarm of taxi & tuk tuk drivers all vying for our attention. We crammed our bags into a tuk tuk & arrived at our new living quarters for the next 6 nights. We got lucky with an amazing serviced apartment with fully equipped kitchen & lounge room right in our budget.

Our first introduction to the town was to head into the old quarter and get soaked with water as the Songkran celebrations continued. The mote surrounding the Old Quarter provides perfect bucket refilling opportunities for the locals to drown anyone who walks near. We celebrated heavily in Bangkok two days earlier, so we felt little guilt in retreating to our room with further plans to explore more in a dryer environment.

Ur first night was spent in, eating microwave pizza. Night two it was time to explore a little. We found a nice looking bar with quite a few patrons in the outdoor seating area. Not until we were seated and asked for our orders by the Lady Boy did we realise that we were at a ‘Girly Bar’ and the other patrons were all men. Surprisingly, very tasty food, however.

Our first tact when arriving in a new area as large as Chiang Mai is to scout out the best scooter hire. This time round this did not happen until our third day as these were spent both sick in the confines of our apartment. Day three saw us hire our first manual scooter and we set off to explore the Old Quarter, and did a week’s worth of grocery shopping. Obviously we hadn’t thought too far ahead, as I found myself on the back of the scooter with my lap and arms full of grocery bags.

Mark checked out the Map and suggested we go and visit the Wiang Khum Kham Ancient City ruins built over 1200 years ago. Mark said it was not far, and only 3km down the main road. Yes, 3km is certainly not far when you are on the right road. Needless to say the ruins were given a miss and saved for another day.

Our last day in Chiang Mai we went to explore the zoo and then further explore Doi Inthanon National Park and took a bike ride up the mountain. The temperature drops quite considerably in the mountain which is a welcome relief. We are not raving about the zoo. Partly because we chose a 40 degree day to go.

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