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Published: February 11th 2011
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We left Bangkok and splashed out on super comfy air condition seats on the sleeper train. We tried to book 2 upper beds but the train was full so we took 1 up and 1 down next to each other... however the bottom bed was so spacey that we both slept in the one bed!
We arrived in Chang Mai very early and after shrugging off the pesky tuk tuk driver we headed into town only to discover everyone was asleep. We gave in and walked back to the tuk tuk drivers , made our apologies for ignoring their 'lovely advances' and hired one to take us to our guesthouse the Banilah. It took a while for the guy to find (it didn't help that we didn't pronounce 'Ban .. i.... LAH' correctly) but eventually he got us there.
We found the guesthouse on the ever reliable 'Trip advisor' and like so many other recommended places we had stayed at Banilah did not disappoint. It's placed a little out of the 'main' circle of the centre but has everything you need including a black witch like cat that he/she would be our room mate during our stay. The owners
and staff are just the best!... SO SO SO friendly and accommodating. They sat down with us that morning explaining where everything was and answering our 1 million questions with ease.
Anyway, once we checked in we headed out to the 'local' food market to get a strange frothy coffee and weird bread like morning snacks. Later in the day we headed into the main bit for a wonder and endured the mad Sunday night market with its endless streets of stalls selling unusual goods and school children playing random musical instruments raising money for their school.
We bumped into a family we had met on the train and it seemed the kids had took full advantage of the bargain kickboxing shorts, hairclips and bangles made far up in the hill tribes of northern Thailand. It seems the dad was all smiles but we knew they had covered only a few streets of the mammoth shoppathon and many more lay ahead to conquer!
After so much walking we opted for a street massage with a twist. We both asked for a Thai massage from 'WOMEN'... Michelle was prompted one way me another, until suddenly my 'WOMAN'
had not shaved, was very stocky (even for an Asian) and spoke with a more than usual deep voice. I looked back at the owner who we had just booked in with and said...'she is nearly a woman'!!! I didn't agree and swopped my 'woMAN' for a 'WOMAN'!. The massages were great and it was criminal that it was only our first Thai massage after visiting the country so many times. For those are yet to experience a Thai massage well... they bend your legs over your back, your head gets twisted around 3 times more than normal and your arms touch places you would never guessed... a truly bendy but fun experience.
The next day we hired a bicycle. Noticed how I write 'bicycle' because it had 2 seats. One at the front the 'peddler'... someone who does ALL of the work, pushing each leg down full force with almighty strength to move a few yards, while the second person sits on the back and watches passers by. I shall let you guess who got to do the peddling!. We headed off to the free entrance 'world of insects' museum which turned out to be 6 quid
each to get in (we didn't go in as it looked crap). Next up was a veggie only place for lunch... they do a lunchtime buffet all you can eat for about 2 quid each.. bargain!!! However lunchtime was 15minutes ago so we got the evening prices menu... to be fair it was good food.. and on the way back we stopped off at a legendary place called i-Berry. I-berry is great... it sells the most amazing ice creams, shakes, fruit drinks you can shake a stick at!
The rest of the week in Chang mai was uneventful. We strolled around town, down side streets and to the local outdoor cafe that sold very cheap beer. Witnessed Liverpool lose there opening match to spurs. Hired a moped and explored little villages on the outskirts of the city and had one more bash at the Sunday night market picking up a few last minute treats.
After our time in Chang mai we found ourselves once again wondering where to go next. Maybe we should find a map, spin around blindfolded a few times and stick a pin into a country?.... (we didn't do that). We booked tickets for another
sleeper train back to Bangkok hoping the journey would cast some inspiration upon us and lead us into an exciting new location!
See you next time!
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