Scooter of death

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Chiang Mai - reached May 2, have been in a monastery for ten days - is almost too busy after the relatively small-town feel of Sukothai and Ayutthaya. We stay in a rather horrible guest house which has one tiny prison cell window and is shedding bits of its ceiling.

Ellie decides she wants to hire a scooter. She rode a motorbike around a car park once, so believes that's plenty of experience. She'd decided to visit Wat Doi Suthep, a lovely temple on the top of a mountain. The woman at the bike hire place is dubious, but Ellie mentions the car park experience and due to language barriers she lets us have the bike, though she does say the Doi Suthep road is rather windy and hilly.

I insist she has a go on the scooter by herself and as she jerks up the street I wonder if she'll ever return. She doesn't, for a while, and I think she's already mangled under a bus, but she rumbles back, jerks to a stop and I hop on. As we take off into the traffic, I am trying to manage my anxiety and a large map. Chiang Mai has a large square moat in the middle, so we have to go around that to get out which is all rather complicated, but we manage it and hit the right road and then go the mountain which means a few dodgy turns and a lot of clenched muscle, from me anyway. And as we negotiate another hairpin bend I'm thinking we have to get down again ...

Obviously we do, though as it looks like rain, there is an element of urgency. The summit was worth it, snacks, great view, elaborate temple and a jade factory we only visit to use the facilities, but end up having a lesson on jade quality and Ellie nearly buys a ring.

Then we find a lake, and end the afternoon with smoothies on the terrace at the Four Seasons Resort, which is like a cleaner, more tasteful, Architectural Digest kind of Thailand. Aaah. I could live there.

Then back to Chiang Mai in peak hour traffic, get lost, find ourselves again and by some miracle are still alive at the end of it. Ellie has even started overtaking other bikers ... I have too many safety precautions in my head for this kind of thing.

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