A gentle breakfast was called for today for both of us with our weak Aussie bellies. But the fresh fruit from the market was a good choice for me...loving the sweetness of the fruit...and different choices.
Packed our bags and loaded them into a minivan for the trip north to Chiang Mai. We travelled across some less than major roads through rice fields up into the mountains. Once we reached Thoen we joined a much larger highway and travelled through the city of Lampang and onwards...and upwards...to Chiang Mai. A very comfortable trip, although our driver and his other passenger (his wife) were some of the worst navigators I've ever seen. We could see clearly on our map where we were and where we needed to be but couldn't get them to understand...and the maps we had were both in English. Still...a map's a map. Pat's Klang Viang is very comfortable and located within the walls of the old city. We are across the road from Wat Chang Taem and, less than a block from here is one of the largest Wats in the city - Wat Chedi Luang. We walked along the road after settling in to our room, and arrived at the Wat just before the monks began their evening chant. This particular Wat has "Monk Chat" daily from 9-6...might be interesting to hang out with them for a while.
It's pretty easy to just wander along and soak in the whole atmosphere of the city and we headed in the direction of the Night Bazaar. Passing by Maccas and Starbucks (they don't do chai in Starbucks in Thailand!! can you believe that?!), we found a laneway with a couple of secondhand bookshops. So now I have a new book and Chris has a new book and I have a cd to bring home. As we meandered along the road toward the market we discovered a selection of funky, eclectic shops selling all manner of clothes, accessories, handicrafts, and dotted in between them every now and then is a massive bank with shiny ATMs out the front, or another Wat with is mosaic covered walls and gold trimmed roof. Quite a mix.
Once you're in the Night Bazaar you really know you're in a market. "You buyyyy?"..."very cheap for you"..."you come in"..."I give you good price". Great fun...for me! It was great to wander through. But we wanted to experience something completely non Thai for dinner & it was back near our accommodation...an Italian restaurant...and PIZZA for dinner. We hired ourselves a tuk tuk for the princely sum of 80B to get us back there. So Thai made pizza it was!
We're done now and ready for a good night's sleep.
