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Other entries in Chang Rai

Final few days in Thailand

 don't really know if there is much to talk about really!!  trying my hardest not to sound like an alcoholic!!! haha!  was cool to be back in chang mai, really like it there, i tried my hardest to get to wat soi duthep but everything was against me which is annoying, it is a massive amazing temple on the top of a big hill and you get panoramic views from there.  first day i was about to leave and there was a thunderstorm and then the second day i couldn't get a songthaew and everytime i eventually hailed one they wanted 500 baht, when they charge people normally 70 to go there and back!!!  damn travelling on my own sometimes!! they always want to rip you off if you're alone!

met up with Kara on tues, i met her on the bus on the way home from the elephant park, we explored some bits of town and in the day i'd visited the wats i'd missed and at the main one, chedi luang, there were loads of stalls cuz there was a big celebration going, it was really cool and really vibrant.  we did a bit of shopping, wandered around, i bought some beautiful jewellery and it is so good to be wearing rings again!! (by the way i have long nails at the moment to all you non-believers, and if anyone is in the market for a new mascara try MAC Zoom mascara, i love it!!), did the night bazarre and some dinner, went to the riverside for some drinks, met some randoms, went out drinking some more with them.  saw my first fight! and then quickly after my second!! and the police, considering they are so SCARY! were rubbish! they sat outside the bar with an australian who had started on the owner for an hour doing nothing!  the kitchen staff did more and they were about 3 ft tall! they ripped his shirt and chucked him out! he was refusing to pay his 5 pound bill unless someone paid for his t-shirt!! but he'd been there 7 hours and was hammered!! the police just kept looking at the bill and doing nothing, and there were 4 of them! it was weird!! then some irish guys and israelis started fighting! it was quite scary actually! i'd spoken to the israelis for a bit and they'd be in the army for the last 4 years and were pretty hard-core!! scarier than thai police anyway! ended up in Spicy again, the late-nite club and it was fun.

i'm now in chang rai but nearly didn't make it! yest i woke up and knew it was going to be a bad one!! i had bites all over my legs and bad ones on my feet, well hurt, i put on my new 3 quid birkenstocks and got blisters that cained within about 5 mins - and today the masseuse bloomin exfoliated the open blister!!! - popped to the bank to get some US dollar, should have taken 10 mins, but 1 and a half hours, several taxis and 3 banks later i finally get back to the hostel.  make my way to the bus station to find i have to wait 2 and a half hours and there is nothing to really do so think i'll phone people, go spend 300 baht on a phone card to find out it is a non-refundable calling card that i can't get to work on any phone! i tried about 10 at the bus stop!! then the bus has a crash and we're on the side of the road for 45 mins!!  when we start moving again are in a bus stop within about 3 mins, loads of people had got off cuz they must have known where we were. i just sat on thinking chang rai was the last stop but just before we left they noticed i was still on there and were like, get out get out!!!! so we had been at chang rai bus stop for about 10 mins and chang rai itself for a good hour!!! then i stayed in the Easy House! run by lady boys! it was really late so i didn't want to walk around for ages. it was ok, except the bed was made from non-bed material which was so uncomfortable and after all the Abba and bon jovi had stopped playing from the bars opposite it was then time for every single vehicle to tear past and rev it's engine all nite long, it was like living in the central reservation of the m25 mixed between a tuning garage or something, or perhaps worse, i checked at about 3am and my room had no windows!! just metal guards and stuff! by 7 i was delusional and losing the plot and ranting at myself and i eventually left at 8.30 to find nothing else open apart from a hotel that looks like a prison! it is ok but a but expensive, i don't care as long as i sleep tonite!!  saw some good live music and dancing last nite though on these big outdoor stages, and today i wandered around for hours, checked out all of the city, saw all the wats, they are quite chinesey up here, i think that is the burhmese influence.  there are lots of shops that are just like the ones in chinatown in bangkok and there are lots of rickshaws too.  i got one and the man was soooo old and slow, bless, i nearly told him i'd cycle if it meant we went a bit faster but decided against it, he was like properly ridiculously slow!!!
 went to a museum about hill tribes which made me really pleased i decided not to go to mae hong son or however it is spelt, i couldn't decide when i was in pai and had heard horrible things about the 3 hour journey but opted out as i'd read lots of articles about these tribes, but basically you go to visit these Karen tribes, the 'long-neck', and it is totally staged, they are refugees from Burmha and are being totally exploited, these souvenirs are bought in every morning and they pretend they've made them and that they live there and then at the end of the day the owners collect all th money amd go off and stuff, it's just really bad, lots of people say that they go cuz the tribe has had to turn to tourists to survive, but in reality they are getting nothing from the tourists treating this fake village like a human zoo.  hopefully in laos i'll get to visit real tribes.  you can from here but i haven't got enough time.  had an amazing storm today, right above us and all these thai ladies in the massage place were screaming and jumping! it was pretty funny! i don't find them scary anymore!! the storms not the thai ladies!!!  off to find some dinner now and some decent music, i might write down some of the words the thais sing when reproducing our 'rock' music, it is so hilarious at the time, bless them, and then i always forget! i forget a lot of stuff actually, my brain is turning to mush!!
have a good weekend
xx


so i went for dinner and BOD still isn't working! it seems i'm being followed by Katie bloomin Melua! everywhere i go she is on!! ARGH! it's quite funny when you go to thai bars or restaurants, they are so overstaffed, or maybe it's just cuz it's the low season, but they just constantly pour you a drink and serve you and stuff, even when you really don't want to be poured another drink, or even have it topped up!!

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