Chiang Mai

Day 1

Arrived in Chiang Mai at around 8.45am. The sleeper train wasn’t that bad! Despite the rocking of the train, we managed to get a little bit of sleep. Actually, we found the whole experience very amusing!

Upon arriving at the station, we found a ‘red car’ to take us to our hostel. They were a lot cheaper than tuk tuks. Once we arrived at our hostel, we tried to check in although we were too early and couldn’t check in until 1pm. So we decided to head out for some breakfast. I was so hungry! We found a nice cafe and treated ourselves to a good breakfast, which was still about £3 each for food and an iced latte yum! When we left, the rain began and we sheltered for a while and then decided to just brave it! We strolled around for a bit and headed back to the hostel to check in. Our hostel was called Cody’s Guesthouse, which was a private room with a fan. Literally, just a room with a mosquito net on! And not a lot of room. We showered, freshened up and back out we went!

Guesthouse lobby

Chiang Mai is a lot more chilled out than Bangkok, which was nice. Our first plan was to visit some of the nearby temples. We had a fantastic location and were very close to everything. The first temple we came to was closed. Uh! So we headed to another one. Whilst walking, the heavens opened and it honestly chucked it down! Never seen rain quite like i! We sheltered under a shop roof for about an hour and a half haha we seem to be good at sheltering! Until we figured out it wasn’t stopping so reluctantly, caught a red car back. We chilled out in the hammocks, put some dry clothes on and went for dinner. Try again tomorrow!

Day 2

Wow we woke up with SO many bites on our legs! I had already had mosquito bites even though I used a lot of repellent spray but these bites were different; so big, red and PAINFUL! We had about 20 each on our legs! Interesting!

Ouch!

That day, we attempted again to look at temples and wow it was HOT! We both caught a tan and Lewis caught a funny t shirt tan! It was lovely to stroll around the temples. They are so beautiful. A little while later, we stumbled across a less touristy temple with a relaxing garden and pond and decided to chill there.

In the evening, we had a cooking class and it was so much fun! It cost 700 baht each (about £15) so cheap! We chose our own meals and had a trip to the market to find the ingredients. We watched the tour man how to prepare, cut and cook everything, then had a go ourselves. Each dish was delicious and we sat down with the others in our group to eat. Luckily, we have the recipes to bring back with us yay! We both really enjoyed it. Then, we headed out to a bar for a beer!

Preparing

Our main dishes: Khao Soi, Green curry and spring rolls!

Mango sticky rice

Day 3

Again… more bites! They are HUGE. We have been plastering them with cream. Both of us agreed that they could be bed bugs as we felt this hostel was a little dirty and as I said earlier, they hurt a lot more than mosquitos and looked different.

Today we had a bit of a chilled day after many early starts and being on the go a lot. We went to the market and picked up some fruit and pancakes. Most of the day was spent chilling at the hostel, playing connect 4 and editing pictures and videos. Although we did pop out for a walk at one point and I found a book store that sold second hand books yay! I didn’t bring one with me due to only having a back pack so I was so excited to buy one to read and chill out in the hammock with!

That night, we met up with Asha (my friend from uni and home) and went for dinner which was lovely.

Day 4

More painful bites on legs again haha! However we both were excited today as we booked to go zipling! A mini bus picked us up at 8am and drove us there. It was such an amazing day. The company was great; everything was safe and they were very friendly. We had about 10 zip lines, 2 abseils, lots of bridges bridges and ladders etc. We both loved it and thankfully no rain! Lunch was included so we stocked up on the buffet!

When we arrived back, we headed back out looking round temples and markets. We planned to go to one of the main temples but it was an hour away and were being quoted alot for travelling there so we thought we would leave it and do our own thing!

Later, we went for dinner. The food is so cheap here and so good. We like to try different things but our faves are green curry and koh soi so far! We had an early night and packed our bags because we were leaving for Pai early the next day. We had a great time at Chiang Mai but were ready to leave the hostel! And maybe we stayed at Chiang Mai for too long. I think 1 less night would have been better.

Now for a 3 hour bus journey to Pai that we heard is full of winding, steep roads! Travel sickness tablets at the ready!

Laura and Lewis x