From bad to worse

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There's really not a lot to say about the 22nd except that I woke up with a killer hangover and rotted in bed all afternoon. I vom'd numerous times, couldn't face drinking water, had a walk in the fresh air, and attempted to eat some pasta (in Art cafe with El at about 8pm), but hit a whitey and vom'd again. It was horrific and I'd convinced myself I would never touch a drop of Alcohol ever again in my entire life. We had meant to leave Chiang Mai yesterday, but had to put plans on hold until I could stomach the thought of another coach journey.
Fast forward 12hours to the 23rd, and I was bright as a button after sleeping from 9pm the previous evening. Had breakfast in a trendy place not far from our hotel, which looked fab from outside but the menu was strange and very limited. They're idea of breakfast was "Toasted bread topped with butter and sweet milk". Nice. Was lucky and chose the Florida Chicken baguette which was surprisingly very good.
Walked to another hotel called Top North which we'd heard you could use the pool for a small fee. Got a sun-lounger and an ice cream sundae each, and took the occasional dip in the pool (which was so cold it took my breath away). Collected our bags from our hotel, said goodbye to Noooo (our wonderful Info lady on reception) and promised we'd come back one day and we'd take her with us.
Got a Tuk Tuk to the bus station but he didn't speak very good English so we ended up at the Train station and had to get another Tuk Tuk to the correct location. Our Coach to Laos had a really noisy Air Con system, but we seemed to get used to it after a while. In fact it went off at one point and the silence was deafening. A guy approached us on the Coach - we thought it was the ticket man - until he flashed horrific images of decapitated bodies and bloody faces from a portfolio. We waved him away, could hardly look at him, and when he turned it said Volunteer on his jacket. We think he may have been a Volunteer collecting money for perhaps the Thai version of the Red Cross.
Read throughout the journey and got a Pot Noodle at a service station on the way (Pot Noodles are actually really nice over here... no, really!). Tried to sleep but drips of condensation kept landing on us from the roof. Every time this happened I'd shoot upright to scrub the offending water particle off me, before it could penetrate my skin and (dare I say it?) become part of me! Urgh... isn't it funny what goes through your mind when your half asleep! We even mounted a few big bumps so eight drips would land on me at once, which pushed me over the edge and I was a jibering, twitching mess for the rest of the journey.
A girl took pity on me and lent me her head torch so I could read my book, and while I felt mildly ridiculous (like I should be hiking down some mines), it certainly helped to pass time.
These coach journeys were becoming the bane of my life. They fill me with dread. The final straw was when it started to rain inside the coach due to the leaky roof. Drenched and miserable doesn't even come close to how I was feeling.

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