So now we know the meaning of the phrase 'i'm sweating buckets'...
Chiang Mai was not what we thought it would be, not in a bad way though. It was suprisingly quiet and small for a city although having come from somewhere as vast as Bangkok, it is easy to see why we thought this. El;odie, however, thought that it lacked the vibrancy and personality of Khao San road, but Zack was happy to be somewhere quieter with fewer tourists. It was also ALOT cheaper than Bangkok. We'll start from where we left off,. After writing the previous blog we went to get some money from an ATM- Elodie had been using Zack as her own personal ATM for a few days and had a few IOU's to pay back. Since there was no-one around (perhaps because it was a Sunday) we stopped to ask an American man fixing his bike on the road if he knew of anywhere good to eat. He reccommended a nice small family-run cafe where we had lunch. Elodie stuck to Pad Thai and Zack tried something a bit more adventurous- Bamboo shoot soup. His risk did not pay off. Elodie left with a full stomach. Further risks followed including green Fanta which turned out to be a chemical-filled bubblegum-flavoured monstrosity. Do not try it. Again, Elodie chose a safe fruit smoothie and left refreshed. After this, we went back passing small temoples on the way. We stopped to look at about three of them including the one with the 'Crystal Buddha'. We both thought they were more personal and pretty than the larger tourist-infested ones in Bangkok- PLus they were free! yay! Due to the mid-day heat we collectively wanted a swim. Luckily, our cheapo hostel had a pool- perfect! We topped up our tans (lovely and brown) and swam in the cool water. After our period of relaxation we wanted to see some of the other temples we had missed. To our delight we stumbled accross a temple by the name of 'Wat U Mong' named after a girl in England called Margaux Lawley apparently. JOKE. We then came across a huge statue with a large golden Buddha inside. Next to this amazing structure was a place called 'MOnk chat'. Intrigued, we discovered it was a place which allowed monk students to talk to tourists about their lives in a temple in order to practice their English. We spent an hour or so talking to him and found it very interesting. The constraints of his religion were evident in the fact that he could not look Elodie in the eye or shake her hand which we also found out that he could not even do to his own mother which Mummy's boy Zack almost cried at the thought of. To quench our thirst we found a bar called 'Mr JUicy' and has the best smoothie both of us had ever had. Made of fresh fruit and yoghurt, they were absolutely delicious as we were both craving some fruit. What made the smoothie even better perhaps we the fact that on each of the tables was the old favourite 'Connect 4'. After numerous games, the first few of which Elodie won, Zack emerged the overall winner. This seems to be pattern nowadays... A fact that Elodie claimed was mostly due to LUCK. We then proceeded not to talk to eachother for a further 15 minutes, only looks of malice were exchanged. Differences were then sorted out and we went off to the market. Chiang Mai came alive at night as the Night Bazaar began. Along various streets and through temples the market put the size of Khao San road to shame. We wandered around until we were tired and hungry enough for dinner and found a restaurant that we had spotted earlier. We then sat down to the best meal we have had so far- Thai green curry mmmmmmmmmm! We even got second helpings afterwards we were so hungry and it was so good and cheap. We had a quick nap before waking up to see Holland lose to the mighty Spanish. Many of the people at our hostel we Dutch so there was a very disappointed reaction and Zack was unable to celebrate his sweepstake victory. We had a good nights sleep and woke up in the morning ready to start our trek.
Part 2 coming soon from Hanoi, our next stop!
Elodie- Mum and Dad- the trekking was soooooooooo good! But we are very very tired now and want to go to sleep but we've got to get the overnight bus back to Bangkok and then catch our flight to Hanoi so no rest for a while! Is margaux back yet? Apparently i woke up in the middle of the night and shouted 'Margaux, margaux!' haha and Zack had to tell me to go back to sleep. Edith- SEND ME AN EMAIL!!! I MISS YOU AND WANT TO KNOW ALL ABOUT IT! jamie- Zack annoyed me for a while but i just ignored him and theres noone here who really support Spain so he has to celebrate in his head. xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Zack- Lots of love from me! And Abi we are really looking forward to the rowing! xxxxxx
