Thailand. Lots of good food in Thailand. Khow Soi, Pad Thai, Pad-See-Ew. So yea, stuffed my face when I got to Chaing Rai, specially at the Saturday Night Market, and stayed clear of rice for a couple of days…
Apart from eating plenty of good food, I didn’t get up to much in Chaing Rai. Getting there was easy, didn’t have to deal with any issues or faf or corruption that I did at the Cambodia/Laos border. Once there, first thing I did was get my hair cut. It was a mess, hadn’t been trimmed in 3/4 months and had just sort of mushroomed out. Was also making me look super skinny. I’m not the biggest anyway, especially as I haven’t been drinking much lately, but was making me look too skinny.
Hair sorted, I felt like it was time to slow down. So I just did one thing a day whilst in Chaing Rai; The White Temple one day, The Black House the next. Even if you’ve had your fill of temples, these two are different and defiantly worth a visit.
From Chaing Rai, I headed to Chaing Mai, and continued the go slow theme and attitude. Spent a few days here exploring the old town centre, Chinatown and Doi Suthep. At Doi Suthep, I realised I’d reached peak temple. The temple is a nice temple, but after travelling to it I didn’t really care for it tbh. After a while you become templed out, just like how I reached peak waterfall in Laos.
After Chaing Mai, I went to the buckpacker hub of Pai. I’d originally planned to spend a few days in Pai, then head onto Mae Hoe Son to do some trekking, but this didn’t happen. I ended up spending 5 days in Pai, not doing much. Went and visited Pai Canyon, saw some white Buddhas, ate really well at the night market and went out one night. But in all honesty I didn’t do much. I looped back to Chaing Mai for one more night and went to the cinema. Finally saw Black Panther, great film, and if you ever go cinema in Thailand, remember to stand for the Royal Anthem…
While not doing much at first was nice, by the end I was getting itchy feet. Anyone who knows me, knows that I don’t usually do well at doing nothing. It’s cool at first, and it allowed me to plan the rest of this trip, but then I get bored or my mind wanders or my anxiety pops up and says ‘Hey, you know you’re not doing anything, that means you can worry about….’ This definitely started to happen.
Soooo, I headed to Bangkok with plans to have a busy 48 hours there. But, rocking up as a storm was hitting put pause to those plans. Getting soaked on the way to the hostel, with ankle deep water means you can’t go and do alot. Fortunately, it didn’t last. After the rain stopped and water drained away, I made sure I went and stretched my legs; Chinatown, Lumphini Park, night market. The next day I wandered round and explored some more, before heading off to the airport.
Next stop India
Joe From Bow 