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Published: April 26th 2007
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After a day of sitting in 3 different airports, we finally arrived in Chiang Mai and for a change the airport was deserted. We proceeded to get a taxi driver who didnt seem to have a clue where he was going, and asked us for directions. After many radio calls for help, we got to our hotel which only happened to be 10mins from the airport. Due to the long day, we sat and had a beer with the night guard and hit the language barrier head on, but the universal language of premiership football prevailed! However, from then on his answer to every question was 'Man U'. The next day we had a walk to Wat Phra Singh, the main temple in Chiang Mai, dating back to the 14th century (see photos!). Here we saw an impressive array of shrines and some thought provoking buddhist proverbs nailed to the trees.
That night we met Michael, the Thai guy who we believed to own the place we're staying in, and he insisted that we were to accompany him to a thai bar that night. Firstly, we had a stroll down the 'walking streets' - streets that are closed off
for a 2km night market to take place. Our budget was momentarily forgotten and we went on a spending spree buyinig trainers, flip flops and t-shirts (as the ones we have are a bit crusty and smelling slightly). With our pockets 6pounds lighter we returned to our hotel and awaited Michael's arrival. He pulled up on his moped wearing a jazzy hawaiian shirt and casually told us to 'hop on'. So there were 3 of us on his moped, and he informed us that he had to go slowly incase the police spotted us - although he did assure us that they would all be asleep. The club we arrived at was all thai, and we were the only farang in the place. At first we were a bit dubious as there was a bit of trouble about us getting our bottle of Mae Kong - and it resulted in michael taking the manager and owner outsided for a 'chat' his communication was good as he was thai and also tee-total! We ended up having a quality night though, and Michael drove us back to the hotel safe and sound.
On Monday we took a tuk tuk to Chiang
Mai zoo, 200 acres of land that the guide book said was impossible to walk around on foot... oh how we regretfully proved them wrong! We began at the giant pandas, who were rather disappointing due to the hype that surrounded them. They are on loan from china for 10years, so this apparently warranted an extra 200baht each to see them - they were rather tired to say the least when we arrived (see photo). The famous pandas seemed to detract attention and affection from the other animals at the top of the zoo, as after the 20min climb up an incredibly steep hill, all we found were rather depressed monkeys and crocs. After 3hrs walking around in the baking hot sun, and getting lost in the aviary, we found the exit and headed home - readying ourselves for the muay thai boxing later that night. However, after a meal in a quaint thai restaurant, an affliction took over Darren. It could have been caused by the soup that smelt like feet, or something more sinister. Needless to say, we did not attend the thai boxing that night as the fever gripped Darren. The night ahead was really bad, with
only a few hours sleep each - Darren due to fever, Alex due to worry.
The next two days for Darren were spent in bed, while Alex sat with the night guard who spoke english to the extent of 'Man U' and 'Boom boom', and drank cheap beer. We got some anti-biotics which cleared up the diseased throat, but left Darren with heart palpatations which have hopefully been cleared up by a visit to the hospital, resulting in a bagful of medication.
Yesterday Darren was feeling slightly more alive, and so we took FULL advantage of the day. We hired Meng, a 70yr old Thai man, to be our driver for the day. He took us up a macka hill called Doi Suthep, which is 1000(+)metres high (Darrens ears popped on the way up!). We visited the King and Queens winter retreat, which wasnt as oppulent as first thought, which is the reason for the lack of photos. Next we went to a hill village, which was basically just one big market and a picturesque opium garden overlooking a valley. Wat Doi Suthep was next on our list, and it provided a spectaular view of Chiang Mai. The
temple is situated on the site, where legend has it, a sacred white elephant climbed the hill, trumpeted 3 times, and died on the spot. Our last stop on the hill was the waterfall, which if we had known, would have provided a full day of frolicking fun, but unfortunately we were without swimming shorts (due to the amount of children, anything else would have been inappropriate!). meng then drove us across town to the Ping river, where we took a long tailed boat up the river. It stopped at some thai gardens, which provided us with free fruit and drink. Even though we had been gone for 2hrs, loyal Meng was still waiting at the jetty to take us home, but we had hired him for the day. To complete our day of fun, we eventually got round to seeing some muay thai boxing - which was both exhilarating and disturbing at the same time. The first 2 fights invloved 6-7yr old kids kicking 7 shades of s*** out of each other! Both fights were ended by the referee, with one kid throwing up due to the torturous beating he endured! Disappointedly there were no lady fights as promised,
but the card involved another 8 fights - which brought a lot of entertainment, especially for Alex as Darren owed him 5pound from the evenings bets.
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yo yo yo me sister
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If you think that's bad you should have stayed at grandads on a friday
Hey darren, hope you feeling better, love you and that but this one's for Alex. Thanks for looking after me Bro when he was poorly sick, from the ageof until he was six, he used to throw up at my Grandads practically every friday due to tonsilitis, and believe me after 6 pancakes and about 1 pint of strawberry milkshake it wasn't pretty, so in short i feel for you, but i owe you a beer when you get home, especially as i know how much of a bad patient he is. Darren Glad to here your feeling better and thepanda reminded me of you when you lie on the sofa after a good (or bad ) night in digital. Continue to have fun!!! and as for the proverb, lets be honest lads - don't really think it applies to you both !!! lol. Love and kisses to you both, Darren don't forget to take your medicine. Gemma xxxx