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What a cracking long weekend!
The accommodation we found on friday morning was ok during the day and we spend an extremely hot afternoon reading in the communal area which was very chilled an friendly. We travelled by tuk tuk to the night market which runs every night from dusk to midnight. The size of the market was quite overwhelming. The original market (indoors) was fairly quiet, well laid out and lit very prettily. By contrast, the street vendors that spilled out in every direction outside were chaotic and very lively especially later into the evening which is obviously when things really get going.
Now, very briefly i will explain how the accomodation worked for us that evening (then i will be happy to never think about it again)... on return we realised that the place was basically a commune, the room like a prison cell and the toilets indescribable. I was struggling to sleep and a middle of the night incident with a critter gigantorus ensured i wasn't going to. Icing on the cake was the huge rain storm testing the drain just outside our room and convincing me that flood was imminent. Needless to say we moved
on the next morning but not before we were thanked for sharing our spirits (stealing our souls more like).
Saturday we chilled, did some washing then headed out to a western bar to watch the rugby. A nice evening and food was surprisingly good but not suitable for this climate - too stodgy and especially bad because a very hot night followed (even the locals were complaining).
On Sunday, after reading about what the locals get up to, we hired a moped and rode north out of the city to huay tung tao lake. We found our way out of the main city, over the moat and river then, after a bit of trial and error, the right road. The lake was nice and breezy and a nice change for us from the city. It was surrounded by alternating groups of fishermen and lines of bamboo huts beneath the odd rustic cafe. We took a hut and ordered beers and food. Math bravely went for the spicy shrimp salad and was warned that a) it was very hot and b) shrimp were raw. In fact the shrimp weren't just raw they were in fact alive and were jumping around the bowl. Taste was amazing though - a real treat. With the help of the bamboo hanging very low, the hut was quite private but we could just about see the family of 13 in the next hut and see their huge feast and we were entertained by kids mucking around in the water. We did on more tour of the lake on the hog to make the most of our freedom before heading back to chiang mai.
That evening we stayed out later than before to watch wimbledon in a bar but were disappointed to realise that the area is so full of rowdy brits at this time and we felt quite embarrassed.
Yesterday we agreed hire of the moped for a second day and headed out again, this time to a waterfall. This was further than we first thought and hard going on the hog but well worth it. Almost as soon as we arrived at Bua Thong it started raining. The sound of the insects in the tropical jungle around along with loud thunder was amazing. We admired the falls from the top but were completely soaked trying to protect bag, camera etc. On the way to the spring. The water ran over limestone and so was incredibly clear. Even the spring's pool which was at least 10 foot deep was clear to the bottom every with rain pelting onto the surface.
We walked then down the steps along side the waterfall and watched apparent dare devils descending in the water. When we reach the bottom of the first part and scrambled around in the pools we realised that it wasnt in the least bit slippy and i climbed up the fall and later math too even with bad ankle. The second part was steeper, i went down and met math at bottom with bags. The third and final part (we think - we didnt go further) descended to deeper pools where a small group were jumping in. I found another spot to sit under a part of the fall and cool off. The water was really refreshing, clean and soft. We dried off and changed before the ling ride back.
We made use of the hog hire last night by riding all the way around the perimeter of the city following the moat, we stopped to eat on one side after spotting masses of vendors. We ate out favourite pad thai and spring rolls and also tried some new things - sticky pork on skewers, mushroom balls on skewers then mango sticky rice to finish. During dinner, luckily tucked under the shelter of open market front, we witnessed an incredible storm - the rain lashing down naturally brought everyone under cover and we all watched the lightening and listened to thunder - probably the loudest i've ever heard. The rain eased a little and we jumped on the bike to get soaked for the 3rd time today.
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