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Other entries in Chang Rai

World Cup matches & Visas

We spent a couple of days in Bangkok, where we did some electrical goods shopping & essentials - I needed a new padlock for my small bag - more security and peace of mind with that! We also met up with Niki, an English guy we met in Yangshou, so we watched the England / Trinidad game in a converted Petrol Station - Shell Garage by day / bar by night... though I'm not sure how safe it is with the candles on the tables and people smoking... but quite an ingenious idea anyway, these Thais will find a way to make money from anything! Took the nightbus upto Chiang Mai and had less than 3 hours sleep I think.. not the most comfortable way to travel, but possibly the cheapest... 250B compared to 700B for a night train.

Chiang Mai has a much appreciated cooler climate than Bankok and the South... its still warm but not as sticky and humid, somthing to do with the elevation - we're higher up in the mountains here.. the place we are taken to from our drop off point with the night bus has a swimming pool, although our fan room has no fan... (we are given a portable one to plug in though- no need to worry!).......We are asked by a (super) friendly German couple if we want to do a 3 day trek with them- doing much the same as I did before but more expensive with a company that all their friends have used and its reall REALLY good and they have proper mattresses - not the thin blankets you normally get, plus you get to sit on a proper seat on the elephant - you don't have to ride on its neck and you get lifejackets when you go bamboo rafting - so its a very safe reliable company...but they need to have a minimum of 4 people otherwise they can't go and they don't want to go with a different company that they don't know because you might not beable to trust them, and this company is REALLY good, and they really want to do a trek with them because ALL their friends have and have said its REALLY good.... you get the idea... anyway, we don't have the time to go because I need to leave Thailand by the 28th and we're planning on spending some time in the Golden Triange region first, a place where the three countries of Laos, Thailand and Myanmar (Burma) all meet. 1800B (1700B for G as he's Swedish...) and three days later I have a 60 day Laos visa, although we paid for a 30 day one...strange.....I guess its a case of wait and see at the border if its okay or if they want us to pay more for another one...

A 3 hour bus ride takes us to the Northern most city of Chiang Rai (thats not a verified fact so apologies if its wrong...) where I am greated as I get off the bus...'hey sister' (whats that about?!) a extra friendly Thai man is showing me a leaflet and pictures of his new guesthouse... while I'm trying to get my big rucsac out of the cargo hold of the bus... but we decide this place sounds okay and reasonable price for a room too...so we get a taxi ride out there with him... the rest of the evening is spent settling in, having something to eat (dirt cheap here - a third of the price of anywhere else we have eaten so far). The next day we venture out and it turns out we are in the middle of nowhere...well a residential area - no English signs at all...but we have fun trying to read the map and figure out where we are - then asking some Thai's where the centre of town is and deciphiring the answers...pointing left, but saying right... I choose to listen to the gestures instead! After about 15mins we are somewhere we recognise on the map and can relax a little more and concentrate on finding something to eat since we're both starving...

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