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We made it. With a few hours slept, a few quick wake ups and sleeping like ninjas, we made it safe and sound without anything being stolen or drugs being slyly smuggled into our bags! Can't say much for the comfort nor the size of the beds but we didn't wake up to grumpy. We were even greeted by a group of soy dogs ( for some of us the first groups we had ever seen). Carrying on the train we had the Train conductor meet us to put our bed backs to seats,meaning us tallies could sit up straight again. We arrived into Chiang Mai as the sun was rising and were greeted by a huge swarm of taxi drivers all wanting our business. By now we are getting used to the custom of ignoring and walking our way past, thus not being sucked into the scams of these drivers!! we headed to the cafe across the back street for breakfast of spicy noodles, vietnamese rolls and chicken fried rice.... Plus a beverage or two for some... ? we then managed to score a taxi ride to what we thought would be our first hostel, but kidding... Lol... fully booked.
our lovely taxi driver conveniently pulled out a laminated poster of his mates hostel down the road, we thought we had dodged these scams but we went for it any way and again it turned out well again... 6 dollars a night And we had ourselves a bed each in a 12 dorm room. We meet Katherine a solo traveller from Canada must of been in her 60's had only left Nepal two days before the earthquake struck, she was full of We got ourselves settled and after hiring bikes, heading around the city (without falling off.... Only minor injuries/near misses ) we decided to head out and explore. Before we knew it, 3beers towers and many friends later, Anna and Josh called it a night... Followed a few hours later by Michelle and Britany. Subsequently the greeting from Anna yelling for baby wipes from the bathrooms whilst wearing shitty pyjamas was not quite the welcome home they were expecting. Not quite sure of the other room mates feeling towards this Episode. JABM Success. We all rose in the morning once again slightly dreary but packed our bags and decided a new hostel was for the best... (I'm sure so
did everyone else) .. There began our stay at the Mountain View Guesthouse, 2 bedrooms with fan and aircon for 20 dollars each for 3 nights! A gorgeous garden and a kitchen below. However this was also the start of three bad things.... Firstly Annas continuation of her bum wees meant she spent her first day in bed, accompanied by lollies, Pringles and electrolytes. We left her to her devices and headed out for a feed at the street markets Across from our hostel. We aren't quite sure what the 'chicken' actually was but we ate without looking and were still walking the next day. Josh headed back to take care of his love whilst Michelle and Britany headed to he night markets for a bit of R'n'R...not quite Auckland style... Pants and waffles later we headed back to our sleepy family members and called it a night. we woke up early and spent breakfast in our kitchen followed by a group decision to hire scooters... Little did we know how this would turn out. We spent the day zooming up the mountains to palaces and temples.. With gorgeous girls dressed in national outfits, and steps making us sweat like
nothing before. this gave us the stunning view of Chiang Mai from Kms above. We then headed back to the city and zoomed around a little bit longer before attempting to head to the elephant office to book our tours! (More on that to come). We were faced with blocked of roads and police lined streets.... The China empress was in town. We thought it may have been for us ..... ??? we made it to a Mexican restaurant on the main road for dinner (we know....... ) -and enjoyed our selfs before heading off to teach Britany how to ride scooters. Oh where the fun begins....... #2 bad thing. 4 grazes and gash later, josh hoons back to the girls to tell them in reply to ... Where's Brit , "nah, she fucked herself up". we were met on the side of the rode to a dripping and bloody Britany, and a lady who had zoomed of the the 7/11 to return with cotton wool, gauze, alcohol and iodine. What sweet sweet people the Thai are. With a roadside pressure dressing and blood flow minimised, we headed home. Some nursing skills came into play, alongside joshuas bartering skills with
the motorcycle company (only cost 80 Nzd for repairs) and before we knew it we were back on the streets heading to the markets. Following some food and a few our hours later we decided we'd had enough of playing Asian tourist and paying for the stuff we didn't need, so bed it was. Big day tomorrow with the elephants!! Little did we know #3 bad thing was yet to come....
JABM xx
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hazel
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Great to read into your trip good luck Brit with the injury's. Hope they clear up soon