Chiang Mai

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So last Thurs (7th Jan) we boarded our 15 hour night train to Chiang Mai. We had been tight again and booked the reclining seats as they were much cheaper than the sleepers. Turned out we should have learnt from our mistake when we did the seated train in China as we hardly got any sleep! But hey, saved some money! Train was ok, woke up early friday morning to the most amazing scenery travelling right in the middle of the jungle, it was sooo beautiful. Little bit chillier up this end in North Thailand (when I say colder I mean 28/29 as opposed to 35!) Finally arrived, got a free tuk tuk from the station to this guesthouse that persuaded us to stay with them $10 again although no a/c not that we needed it, room was lovely and it had a pool, although water was cold and wasnt really warm enough to jump in it. Glad we got a nice cheapey room again unlike Bangkok! After settling in wondering around our end of town, was a nice area a few guesthouses, and a few local restaurants for some cheap food (less than a pound) we seen some adverts for Muay Thai Boxing which Ste was really keen on going to. Tickets were 8 pound each which was much cheaper than what they would have been in Bangkok so we got them and headed off there that evening. The poster said it was at the largest stadium in North Thailand...bit overrated, more like a large warehouse with some wooden benches and plastic white chairs set out, but gave it some dirty underground character. Boxing started off a bit strange as the first match was children! It said their weight was 42kg, they must have only been about 7/8, they didnt get too vicious in the first few rounds but after they threw a few nasty punches or some kicks, wasnt that exciting, just weird watching children fight. To be honest it was more interesting watching the crowd, you had all the tourists there (2/3 of the crowd) just sat their kinda freaked out they were watching kids fight, then you had this group of rowdy locals cheering and gambling shouting and having a great time. Anyway, the next few rounds the boxers were older and it got much more entertaining. They have some ring side music which the boxers seem to kinda of dance too in between their punches and kicks. One round was pretty good with this guy getting stopped about 1 minute into the first round, they dont really have knockouts, the ref just calls the match off and the guy throwing all the punches wins. Then at the end was the big international fight, an american this huge chunky well built man vs an overweight tubby thai man. The thai man last I think 3 rounds before the ref called it off, this is where all the tourists cheered and the locals didnt look too impressed! So yeah a really good fun night 😊

Saturday we did a bit of research into doing a trek as Chiang Mai is famous for trekking, adventure activities and visits to local hill tribe villagers. We managed to find one for 900 baht, about 18pound each for 2 days 1 night all food included leaving tomorrow. Saturday afternoon we had a wander around town visited a few temples, they have a lot!! Almost on every corner! And ended our day in the night market whcih was amazing. It was good because it was mainly a locals market, so quite cheap and just had some amazing things there. Its so difficult as there are so many souvenirs we want to buy but we have to wait till the end as we just have no room in our tiny bags! Tried out some local snacks and some cheap food and I purchased a funky bag and some shorts (for our trek), good evening.

So sunday we were off. Picked up 5 other people who were joining us, german guy, finnish girl, a british-polish couple and another english girl, all sound people so a really nice group for us. We had a brilliant first day, a few of the activities were a bit over exaggerated in our itinerary e.g. it said on the way to the jungle we would visit a butterfly farm (bit random) which was litterally a room with about 10 butterflys in, not quite what we were expecting. And the visit to the local farmers market which they raved on about was a toilet stop off grab some water from the shop, while our guide grabbed some fruit from the market...but anyway once the trek got going it was amazing. As you probably know Ste and I are not the fittest of people 😊 and sometimes this trek was pretty intense, a lot of going uphill really steep which killed our legs, but then we would go downhill which at some points was just as painful as going up. We trekked for about 3-4 hours with a few stops in between, but the scenery was just stunning, at some points we were almost right on top of a mountain overlooking miles and miles of jungle. Right inside the jungle it was quite refreshing as it was in the shade so really cool, but when you were out it was boiling!! We spent that evening in one the of local hill tribes, which again was a bit over exaggerated. It was made for tourists. We had our own hut with blankets on the floor and a mozzie net, then an outdoor dining area with a bamboo table, they even had a little shop selling beer, oreos etc. We showered after our trek local style which involved putting on our swimwear and having a wash in the river! Which was freezing! Then all sat around a campfire whilst dinner was cooked for us. Most of the evening we didnt really see any of the locals or speak to them, it was mainly our guides. The dinner was lovely, Thai Curry which was nicer than the others I had tried but the chicken here is awful, all bone! Bit off putting. Then later in the evening we returned to the campfire where our guides tried to impress us with their show of local music consisting of one banging a drum and one on the symbols. It was awful! It was kind of embarrassing to watch, it was like they were actually taking the piss out of their own culture. He started making some funning noises and tried to make us all get up and dance round the fire which wasnt very successful. Finally they stopped and our guide played a couple of nice songs on a guitar which was pretty cool and of course Ste played a couple too 😊 Then this little girl came out dressed up in traditional hill tribe outfit and started dancing for us. It was weird as the dancing just involved stepping and moving her arm in and out or up and down and us copying her, she didnt really look like she was enjoying it much. Was a strange evening, far too put on for tourists, not much interaction with the locals but after a hard trek it was a nice evening relaxing in the jungle, an nice early night and meeting some other travellers.

Monday day 2 of our trip we had some activities organised. First we had a nice slow bamboo raft ride along a river in the middle of the jungle which was nice, then we spent an hour elephant riding which was good, bit weird being so high up and they had these little benches on top of them for us to sit on. It was quite calm, think Ste was a bit worried as he had seen videos of elephants flipping out but these were fine, nice and calm, quite relaxing. After another nice lunch we were off to do some white water rafting. It was quite a basic level as none of us had done it before but it was soooo much fun. There were 5 of us in our dingy plus a guide and to start with the water was quite calm but then every now and then you would get some bigger rapids with some drops splashing into and over rocks, ah it was brilliant, cant really describe it, just good fun! And that was the end of our trip. Got taken back to Chiang Mai, found a cheaper guesthouse for 4 pound a night. After chilling out for a bit we then headed down to this little bar area called reggae street to meet up with the others from our trip for a drink. Ste and I were planning on getting up at 6am to get across the border into Laos so though we would just head out for a few then come back...wrong...got back about 3am and didnt get up to get across the border! We had a great night though, found this little bar with this live band on playing all funky ska/reggae music. Drinks were a bit cheaper than what we had seen in Bangkok too, I was drinking a local rum and coke for 1.20 and Ste had beer for 1.60 for a large bottle, so not too bad. Think Chiang Mai has changed our opinion on Thailand, well think we both preferred it over Bangkok anyway.

Anyway on Tuesday after waking up late and slightly hungover 😞 we managed to get a bus at least to the border town so we can cross the border first thing in the morning. Bus was about 7 hours, so all day on the bus, to make things worse Ste had a bit of an upset tummy, nothing too bad, just had to wait for the bus to stop which it didnt seem to want to! Finally arrived in the border town, got a lovely little guesthouse right on the river with a lovely view of Laos at night on the otherside.

Wednesday morning got a free transfer to the border which involved Thai immigration on a one side of the river, a boat ride across and then the Laos immigration. Border crossing was fine, $35 for a visa. Got a tuk tuk to the bus station where we got our bus tickets to a town called Luang Nam Tha in the North of Laos, arrived fine and safe, seems like a lovely place so far! Will write more when we have done more 😊

Take care,
Lots of Love,
Layla & Ste xxx

Again apologies for no piccies, got some serious viruses on our memory cards!! xxxx

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