Chiang Mai Arse

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Well, 2 nights before we left we went to watch the sunset which was amazing - we got pictures but are still on the hunt for a usb cable that will fit the camera and so far, nae luck. Had some drinkie poos and met a great American guy. He wobbled up to us with a t-shirt that had the word 'Irish' emblazoned across it. He talked some rubbish - the conversation started with music 'You've never heard of Wormbox? I can't believe that. Wormbox man. What about Typhoidcoaster? Man! You haven't heard of them? Are you serious? What about Crunchyblahblah....and on it went. Those names might not be entirely accurate. Then he said 'When people find out I'm Irish , I get challenged to drinking competitions. Man, I get challenged all the time and I drink those guys under the table" Yeah you do. Then he says 'Man - you look like the guy from American History X'

Paul: Ed Norton

Drunk Guy: You know that film - the main guy from that

Paul: Ed Norton

Drunk Guy: The guy who plays the main character in that - anyway, you look like him man.

Paul: Is it Ed Norton?

By now he had gone on to tell us how his sister-in -law was from Thailand - yeah man, She's like Taiwanese (??!?). He said that about 10 times before warning us against going to a Ping Pong Show - 'It sounds inviting (eh...) but I ended up having to buy those girls like, 10, 12 drinks'. Then he fell over. Seriously.

We watched the Euro Final at the cocktail bar, although we were only drinking the fine Singha beer, on the big screen and met two lads from Shannon who were great craic altogether! We said our sad farewells to Pum the barman and headed home. We got up and headed off for our 35, count em, 35 hour journey by taxi, boat, bus, train, taxi to Chiang Mai. It wasn't so bad and the views from the train were lovely but Buddha knows we were happy to disembark. We booked in somewhere fairly lively and slept slept slept. Last night we went to an Irish Bar (for shame) which is actually a pretty cool place with nice beer garden and good food and then rolled onto a rooftop bar called T.H.C. Lots of fellow hairy travellers and gap year heads downing all manner of drinks. This morning we moved guesthouses cos the one we were in was a wee bit like a comfortable prison cell - roasting hot, no windows, away from the action so now we are in a much nicer place nearer the fun. We went temple gazing today - fabulous places - and then wandered round a market bemoaning the fact that we would be foolish to buy stuff cos we still have quite a bit of travelling to do. Chiang Mai is a lovely city - air is much fresher than Bangkok and it's a lot smaller so easier to wander around - the main part of the city is surrounded by old city walls which look like a castle fortress - quite cool.

We are hoping to go see some elephants tomorrow and are just trying to work out the best way to do it. There are a lot of interesting treks on offer but all of them seem to involve going to gawk at a remote tribal village and we both think that might be a bit, and forgive the grandiose language, icky. Anyone out there who has done it and has either good or bad reports, do email them on. Maybe we're completely wrong on that one. Anyway - we've about 10 days left in Thailand so just have to try to fit in a few more of the things we want to do.

Time for scran.

Hope all is well with all.

Will update soon

xxx

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Comments

[Shane]

Fecking Trecking
Do the trek, we did ours from Pai which meant there was only Me Caoimhe our guide and his wife. Highly recommended. We expected something from an anthropology documenary but they all have Nike clothes and electricity (they were big fans of Shinawatra because he sorted power to the villages). Defo worth a look and a big part of there economy. And we got to eat insects. hurry up and get the photos up!!