Destination – Thailand
– Part II -
Chiang Mai – welcome to Thailand, the land of the mighty 7/eleven
(followed by another amazing Bangkok stopover)
We arrive in
Chiang Mai at 3pm on a Thursday, having left Luang Prabang on Tuesday morning
by boat. Next time, bring on the donkeys! We check in at the Thapae Boutique House
hotel, really nice and close to the Old City and the amazing Night
Markets. You don’t really feel you are in a big city in Chiang Mai, you can
just wonder around and relax. The hotels are nice and the restaurants are
amazing and diverse. You can find a very traditional noodle house near your
always reliable McDonalds. We’re loving it! (sorry…).
At this point
it’s screaming to be said: in Thailand, there’s always a 7/eleven convenience store
very, really, completely near you. If you stay long enough, you might find one
under your bed, for your convenience. Ok, we get it. It’s convenient but in
this country it's becoming ridiculous, borderline obsession. Come over and you’ll
see what I mean, but before you come, drop by a 7/eleven store and grab us some
mixers, will you?
We chill for a
day having yet another wonderful Thai massage and then decide to do a tour. An
all day fun tour – bamboo rafting, elephant riding, lunch, hill tribe visit,
trekking in the forest, a waterfall and yet more hill tribe visiting. Well, yeah, it’s a bit
touristy but it’s also absolutely AWESOME! Just the elephant riding is such an
unforgettable experience, really amazing creatures but everything else was also
really cool and fun. We go back home very tired and sore but completely happy.
A lovely full-on, living in the moment day, highly recommended. We stay in
Chiang Mai for 7 days and we really enjoy it. We do serious temple hopping, go
back for more and more Thai massages, do the night market every night, explore
the endless Sunday market for some chilled shopping experiences, Paul does a
great Thai cooking course and, as usual, we eat, shop and walk a lot.
We leave Chiang
Mai kind of reluctantly as we got our ticket to Myanmar and we need to have a
few days in Bangkok to apply for our visas. So, we leave in the overnight bus
and arrive in Bangkok at 5am. Go back to the Erawan Hotel. Ok, it’s not the
best, but value for money is hard to find in this town. You either go for the
hostel dorm very cheap or for the expensive boutique hotel. Good places in
between are hard to find, but we keep on looking. We crash for a couple of
hours and then straight to the Myanmar embassy. With business taken care of,
time to chill out and enjoy Bangkok for 5 days while we’re waiting for our
visa. Hello good food, shopping and sightseeing, we love this city.
We go to all
the markets and shopping centres, temple hopping, sightseeing, Chinatown and
the Royal Palace. We explore the city
using the boat rides along the river, the sky train, the metro system, and our
usual very long walks. The food is amazing and there’s a party atmosphere
everywhere in Bangkok. It’s definitely one of those places where you can find
anything you want and some you don’t. OK. Got our visas, off to Myanmar.
