The sleeper train (or lack of sleep train as we came to know it) was actually really good fun and a real novelty experience. At 9:00 a train conductor came and converted our seats into bunk cabins, complete with privacy curtains. Whilst most of the train went to bed immediately the three of us piled into one bunk, drank lots of Chang beer, and laughed about the slow and rickety train! Later we stole the train conductor's hat for some comedy snaps. Sleeping was not particularly successful as it felt rather like being in an earthquake! Particularly as the train constantly stopped and started.
However the wake up scene was worth the bad night's sleep as we were surrounded by lush rainforest and rice paddies complete with dome hatted peasants. This was the real Thailand we had all been searching for and was Colin's first experience of jungle landscape. Danny managed to continue sleeping right the way through this, whilst the rest of the train ate breakfast! We managed to negotiate some toast and jam from a very confused train conductor, the nicest meal since being in Bangkok!
We arrived two and a half hours late, not really surprising with the speed of the train! We headed to Julie's guesthouse, recommended by a friend. It felt like walking onto the set of The Beach, with a load of dreadlocked hippies hanging about and multi-coloured walls. We were gutted to discover they had no free rooms but I do believe in fate because as we stood near the door deliberating over where to go they received a cancellation for a triple room! The place is a bit of a hole with only a fan and an ant infestation (which Danny solved with water and chewing gum) but the awesome backpacker atmosphere more than compensates!
We spent the afternoon having a look around yet more temples, but were generally fairly exhausted and the heat here is surreal! 5 minutes in the sun left us all feeling literally drained! We then went for an incredible 1 hour Thai Massage, for around three quid! It took place in an incredible teak room, where we were given white linen clothes to wear.
In the evening we met some other cool backpackers in the chilled garden, smoked some cherry cigars, and headed into town to discover the local nightlife. I was once again apalled to be British as we were surrounded by the sex industry, fuelled by middle class white men. I was particularly upset by the children who are no doubt doomed to a life of prostitution, and earn money by selling wreaths of flowers to tourists. We also chatted with some ladyboys and got a late night foot massage! The good news is the my foot wound is healing pretty well despite all the adventures!
We woke up this morning with sore heads! We rented mopeds and headed up into the mountains (don't worry, I was not driving!) It really was spectacular, with the dense, lush rainforest and the beautiful sunshine. We had a view over the whole city. We stopped for lunch at a hilltribe village near the top, and the good news is the food here is nice and so far so good on the hygiene! Although Colin has eaten Pad Thai noodles (the national dish) 4 times today, which we think is somewhat excessive! He bought a beautiful traditional parasol and we headed down the mountain to stop at a waterfall. Here we swam and sunbathed in the surreal landscape before heading back down into the city.
We had a funny dinner experience as we attempted to go off the beaten track and dine with the locals; another pad thai as it is the only thai words we know! Very entertaining as they looked horrified to see us in such a random place in town. All good though for 50p!
We have just come back from the night market here in Chiang Mai as it started tropical raining, actually a great relief to all of us! Polly would have loved it, I found a stall of Mac makeup (evidently stolen from a truck somewhere!) and bought 2 eyeliners for a quid!
So all in all things are looking up bigstyle! Off to chill out at the hostel now and tomorrow we are hiring the mopeds again to go check out some tigers and hot springs. Jealous, anyone?!
P.S No particularly grotty beds to report yet, but today we saw several shockingly huge stag beetles and after escaping the filth of the city there has been a substantial increase in the wildlife of a creepy, crawly kind!
