Wat Wat Wat Wat Wat
THAILAND | Friday, 17 April 2009 | Views [391]
There are various ways to get from Ayutthaya to Chiang Mai. I could
have flown or gone by bus but I chose to let the train take the strain.
Going by train meant breaking 2 of my “golden rules” of travelling
Never travel overnight
Never travel for more than 9 hours
Before
I came to Thailand I thought it was the monsoon season here. It’s not;
it’s the “hot” season so the temperature is nudging 40!!!!
I was in
the classiest carriage the train had on offer, it was a sleeper with
fan, and thankfully the large windows went down all the way. Sadly my
berth was an upper and not a lower so I had a noisy and inefficient fan
to cool me as I tried in vain to sleep, whilst the train travelled deep
into the night. On the Brightside, like Indian trains you can smoke in
the usual manner!
Arriving at the city of Chiang Mai (13.5 hours
after leaving Ayutthaya) at 05:30 in the morning, with no sleep I felt
tired but wired. The 20 minute walk into the centre of town woke me up
mentally and stretched my legs. After looking at a couple of places I
ended up staying at the MD House hostel. For 500 baht (or about a
tenner) I have a room that is ensuite, has free wifi (which is a big
selling point in the 21st century) and most importantly aircon!!!!
With
the a/c turned to the max I took a long and quite frankly well needed
shower before checking out the mattress for a few hours.
About Chiang Mai:
The
old city is about 1 square kilometre in size, surrounded by a moat.
Vestiges of the defensive city wall can still be seen as can each of
the four gates that once controlled access into the city. This place
has about 300 Wats as the Thai’s call their temples which is nearly as
many as Bangkok.
Waking up later in the morning I was slightly
chilly (damn was that a/c unit good) but that soon changed as I went
outside…within 30 minutes of walking the hot and mean streets of Chiang
Mai I was inside a coffee shop rapidly cooling down with an iced
coffee, followed by another one! I think cold coffee somehow makes the
uptake of sweet sweet caffeine a slower affair.
By mid afternoon I
was a Watted out. Honestly they all pretty much look the same and after
seeing four of them the slight differences were no longer interesting
enough for me. So back to the hotel and the a/c unit. I forgot to
mention that the hotel has a swimming pool, just like I forgot to bring
my swimming trunks.
This city is a good place to many things
zip lining
Bungee jumping
Zorbing
Trekking
Mountain biking
Go karting
Tiger petting….why?????
Elephant riding
But
you know what…I just couldn’t be arsed! I much preferred waking up
late, bimberling for a few hours followed by a couple of cold beers in
the afternoon before having a little siesta. I think my travelling Mojo
needs a good kick up the proverbially arse.
The next day was
Saturday….Arsenal v Chelsea in the FA cup semi final, kick off 23:15. I
found an English pub (surprised?) called the Old Bell and they sold
cheeses!! Pork pies!!! Cider!!!! So for the first time in over a year I
had a pork pie (180 baht) and a bottle of cider (195 baht). My wallet
was screaming but my taste buds weren’t listening.
The next day was
Sunday, obviously, so F1 from china in the afternoon followed by more
football in the evening. Manchester United lost…happy days!!!!
Monday
was my last full day and I walked to the bus station to get a ticket
for the following morning. There are two bus stations in Chiang Mai and
I went to the wrong one. Cue more walking! Eventually the ticket was
brought and I headed back into the city. Weirdly I passed the Old
Bell…mmm cider and a 6 month old copy of private eye. Sometimes it just
all comes together!
So I spent my weekend in the pub watching sport on the television
Same same but different
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