Waiting for a room

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Geo: 18.8, 98.98

Uneventful journey without our usual toilet and snack stop at Phitsanulok. We do stop for some petrol and everyone makes a dash for the loos at the same time. Arrive in Chiangmai at 08:00 with the last few hours really dragging. Its nice to see the mountains again and there has been a lot of low lying mist as we drove from Lampang.
We take a tuk-tuk to the Kong Court Guest House where we have arrived too early for our room to be ready. They are full so we cant even get an alternative room and have to wait.
We leave our bags with reception and walk to the Chinese area near the big market for some breakfast. We always eat 'blah tong go' - 'golden fish'? - for breakfast here. Small bread/batter concoctions deep fried in oil. Back at Kong Court still no room and they and palm us off with a single room for our first night but were not having that.
At 11:30 still no room so I walk to see Lily at my travel agents here to book a ticket on the visa run bus to Mae Sai on Monday. Her small office nearby is closed so I have to walk all the way to the main office near Tha Phae Gate and by the time I get back to Kong Court my knee is really hurting again.
Stay in the room and watch quite a bit of football on TV and then go and exchange some money. Almost an identical rate to that I got in Bangkok when we first got back at the end of August. I was supposed to be paying it straight into my bank account here but forgot that it was the weekend !
Walk to my usual bookstore later and find that he is happy to exchange books for me again. Struggling to walk back to Kong Court and was thinking about getting a tuk-tuk when Noi from reception stops and picks me up on her motorbike.
Go out about 19:00 and walk, very slowly, to friend Ben's bar to eat and for a couple of beers. She is excited that finally she has got a 10 year US visa come through and will be going for a holiday with husband Bill next year. She gives me some Iraqi banknotes that Bill brought for me.
A very heavy storm starts up and takes out the electric just as they were tuning in the satellite for me to watch Gloucester v Sale rugby. Electric comes bacvk just in time for the Eng v SA match but it neednt have bothered as I thought both teams were equally dull.
Ben gave us a lift back to Kong Court on the motorbike she uses for her shopping with a sort of sidecar fitted.

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