Chiang Mai continued: the feeling of freedom is enhanced by the feeling of lawlessness.

Carrying on from where I left off yesterday, had a couple of drinks at the Brasserie with Kat and then went for a walk around the nearby night market. I only made one purchase whilst walking around but boy what a purchase. Check this beauty out:

Note the red aeroplane on the second had and well known Geo+star branding. And all for just 200 baht so you can imagine I'm pretty chuffed. Plus it's "water resistant" to an unknown depth which suggests to me little more than it's not manufactured out of tissue paper...

Spent the rest of the evening just wondering about the night market, had a nice strawberry shake made with fresh strawberries and generally had a good time so I arranged to meet Kat again at some point before she left Thailand. Headed back to the hostel quite late and very slightly inebriated so I was soon fast asleep.

Which was probably a good thing because it turns out I was going to need my wits about me in the morning. I got up early and found a place to hire a motorbike. Originally I was intending just to get an 80cc moped, the most common bike on the roads in Thailand it seems, but I happened to stumble upon Tony's Big Bikes. (Although apparently fractionally more expensive than one or two other places the service was absolutely brilliant and they were completely trust worthy - something many Thailand guidebooks warn about. I happily recommend them if you ever end up in Chiang Mai and want to hire a bike.) I was offered a choice between an 80cc moped, 200cc Honda Phantom and some other 400cc bike which I quickly dismissed due to both price and my inexperience of riding a motorbike. After about 3 seconds of umming and aahing I figured the Phantom was the only real choice and in retrospect I definitely made the right decision. Here's a pic.

Pretty cool huh? Hiring the motorbike was the best thing I did for three reasons. Firstly at 500 baht a day it worked out cheaper than paying for rickshaws, tuk tuks and taxis about the place. Secondly it gave me the freedom to go where and when I wanted and thirdly it was a hell of a lot of fun. I probably spent about 4 or 5 hours just cruising around the city, looking at the sights and enjoying the ride.

By the last day I was ready to ride something a little more powerful but it was a really easy bike to ride once I'd got the hang of it. Which wasn't straight away. Oh no, despite practicing at home to try and avoid any potential embarrassment I managed to stall it four times just trying to get it off the forecourt for a test run. I was beginning to worry that they wouldn't let me take it since I didn't have a license or any way of (dis)proving my (in)competence so I just gave it some welly and off I went. It wasn't long before I was riding like a pro though. Or more accurately riding like a local (better skip this bit Mum), undertaking cops, speeding, riding along the pavement when the road was blocked with traffic, running red lights and riding without a helmet amongst other things. Highly irresponsible I know but all adding to the fun factor. The feeling of freedom is enhanced by the feeling of lawlessness.

I needed my wits about me to manage in the traffic of Thailand's second largest city as a novice motorbike rider but I think I did pretty well. I only got beeped at by a fellow road user once and that was within the first hour of riding and I'm still alive and intact. Got my first emergency stop practice on the second day after overtaking a pickup too close to the petrol station. Entered the station forecourt at about 50km/h and screeched to a halt right up to the pump. In my defense Thailand's roads are notorious for their lawlessness and it's kind of infectious. In fact it seems almost necessary to drive as maniacally as everyone else in order to survive.

To begin with though I took it steady, wore the helmet and cruised around for an hour to get the hang of it before I went off exploring. I quickly discovered that since everybody tailgates you, and you can't be sure of what the driver behind is up to (or is even sober,) that the best thing to do is always travel at least as fast as everyone else. A few times I was very nearly knocked off by people driving behind or just changing lanes without looking first. So I also quickly realised the true value of the horn.

The first place I went was up the nearest mountain, Doi Suthep. Here're the pictures again.

They're the same ones I linked to yesterday in case you've already seen them. Riding up the mountain, along its twisty roads in the sunshine was an absolutely brilliant experience. (In fact I tried to recreate it early in the morning on my last day but at that time in the day after I'd climbed about 3000ft it started to get chilly in just shorts and a t-shirt so I went back down.) It needn't have been a brilliant experience however because it would probably have been worth jogging up the mountain for the sights and the experience of Wat Doi Suthep. The photos explain most of the story best but I'll add one or two things. Firstly was the view from the temple out across Chiang Mai. It was midmorning by the time I got there and it was already starting to get a bit hazy but it was still fantastic looking down across the city. That was the first time I realised how big Chiang Mai actually is because I'd only spent time in the Old City at the very centre but there were sprawling suburbs and industrial areas many times the size of the area I'd seen. Another amazing experience was of a more spiritual nature (although I'm not about to become religious, the near-death experiences on the roads were more likely to do that and failed.) In one of the temples at Wat Doi Suthep I was blessed by a Buddhist monk and given a wish bracelet.

As you can see it's just a plain bit of string but the monk had an air of spiritualism about him which was quite powerful considering a) my general scepticism of religions and b) the massive crouds of tourists just outside. Anyhoo, I felt very relaxed and at peace after the experience which was really nice as I walked around the rest of the complex. The blessing consisted of chanting whilst splashing some water over me and some Thai people with a bundle of bamboo sticks.

I also saw a couple of monks dressed entirely in white and apparently Wat Doi Suthep is the only monastery in Thailand where they do so. I'm not entirely sure I was supposed to go there, but since there were no signs or barriers I had a wonder around the monk's living area too, just along the paths between the buildings. Apart from monks I was the only other person there, so although of the usual poor quality and perhaps not obviously so, one or two of the photos are actually quite unusual I reckon.

My second day in Chiang Mai was also my busiest for having my photo taken with random Thai women. There were four just in Wat Doi Suthep. Mostly between the ages of 40 and 60 unfortunately, although not exclusively. I got pictures myself of a couple of them which are included in the link above. The woman in the yellow shirt in front of the massive bell was number four. It started with another woman pointing at my camera and then the bell. At first I thought she worked there because a lot of workers wear yellow, which is the King's colour I think, and I presumed she was offering to take my picture for me, something which has happened to me already at another wat. But it turns out she wanted to have her picture taken with me so I duly obliged whilst a bloke who I presumed was her husband took a few shots of us together. Then she thanked me and I was about to walk off when another woman came up from the same group, same deal. And then another, and then the one in the photo. Why they couldn't all have stood there together, rather than one at a time is beyond me.

Anyhoo, back to Doi Suthep. After I'd finished in the temple, it's museum, and pointing Percy at the porcelain in the monk's toilet (could resist although I'm not sure why retrospectively) I got a bite to eat, jumped back on the bike and headed 3km further up the mountain to Bhubing Palace, the royal family's official residence in the north of Thailand. The photos are included in the above slide show. When I got there I found out the palace was closed for another hour (it closes during an extended lunch break) so I went to explore and found a walk through the jungle along one of the many footpaths there. Whilst I was walking I met another woman who wanted her photo taken. Her husband spoke quite good English so we had quite a nice chat and he took a few pictures of me on my own which was nice. I did ask if I could have a picture of him or the two of them together but he declined. A shame really because he was such a nice bloke. I spent about half an hour chatting to him, with him interpreting for his wife and when I left them he insisted on giving me some oranges. It was one of those anti-haggling against someone's excessive generosity moments; he started at five oranges and I managed to haggle him down to three. I bumped into them again as I was walking around the palace rose garden. The only farang there which was bizzare considering the beauty of the gardens and it's close proximity to the temple. The smell was amazing throughout the whole gardens, just thick with the scent of thousands of flowers. It reminded me of the flower market in Bangkok. I think I forgot to write about that and again the photos are on Kriangsak's camera. It was on the last night in Bangkok before I left for Chiang Mai, a whole city street with all its side streets stuffed full of flower stalls. Flowers in bunches, arrangements, garlands and all sorts. Temporarily the nicest smelling street in Bangkok.

After the palace I started the ride back down the mountain towards Chiang Mai. Stopped at Doi Suthep National Park and paid the ridiculous sum of 400 baht to enter. I realised as I was handing the money over just how expensive it was (locally speaking of course, it's still just under six quid) especially considering I was only planning on visiting one of the waterfalls. Photos in the same link. I stopped for about half an hour, ate two oranges and then hit the road again. I'd realised that I needed to get back to town quite early because I needed to change a couple more traveler's cheques and to do that I'd need to drop off the bike temporarily in order to retrieve my passport. Managed to get that sorted in time so I headed back to the hostel to pay for a day's trek the next day.

Righto, going into town imminently to buy some sunglasses finally so I'll finish this later or tomorrow.

Chiang Mai

Back at Kriang's after a few days up in Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand. Had an awesome time, met some really nice people, saw loads of stuff, got to grips with riding a motorbike in Thailand's second largest city and have plenty to write about and hundreds of photos. Here're some of the second day's.

I'll write more and upload more photos imminently, but first I need some breakfast and a shower...

... OK, shower, breakfast, guitar sesh and general fooling about finished. So a little bit about Chiang Mai.

Actually I'm going to start with my last night in Bangkok which I spent staying with Pook and Kriang at Pook's parent's flat. The flat is in a block called The Old Siam, in China Town. Here's a picture from the fourth floor balcony on an overcast day, one of about three so far.


And here's a picture I took in the park behind The Old Siam where I stopped for a bit before getting the train to Chiang Mai.


I caught the train at 7:30pm from Hualampong. Kriang and Pook turned up to see me off which was a nice surprise. Kriang's got a photo or two on his phone (actually there's a few now I think about it) of me on the train just before it left. I'll upload them at some point. I got an overnight train to cover the 350kms to Chiang Mai from Bangkok. It took just over 14 hours and was fairly standard stuff. The highlight for me was making a new friend, Kathrina, who was sat opposite and is really nice and beautiful, which helped compensate for the lack of view outside. I've not got any photos of her so you'll have to wait until she emails me the one she took of us on the first evening. More on that later. Since the train was overnight there wasn't much to see out of the window. It was quite comfortable but the bunk was a few inches too short for me so what with that and the noise I didn't sleep much. On the plus side it arrived dead on time so I got a tuk tuk over town from the station to my hostel.

The hostel was nice as were the staff although one of them was daft as a brush. At first I thought it was just the language barrier but I soon realised otherwise. Everyday, including as I was checking out, she asked me if I wanted to pay, and everyday I explained that I'd already paid. Since it was to her that I'd given the cash on my second day there really was no excuse and I couldn't fail to draw any other conclusion. Still, she couldn't have been nicer about it once I'd explained each time...

I had a double room with AC and a fan despite only paying for a room with a fan, and an en suite bathroom with two showers, one hot and one cold! So I didn't mind when I didn't get my deposit deducted, and also paid 10 baht too much. Besides, I couldn't be bothered to try and explain all that to the daft-as-a-brush girl, bless her.

I did take a couple of photos but they're such poor quality they're not worth posting. But here's two of the area near my hostel.


This is the Suan Prung gate, in the south west corner of the Old City. The Old City is the centre of Chiang Mai and still has remnants of the moat and fortifications which originally protected it. The gates are part of those fortifications. Here's a map of Chiang Mai if you're interested, my hostel was just off Timpanate Rd. And here's a picture of the moat near Suan Prung gate, complete with fountains which I suspect used to fire clouds of highly concentrated acid or napalm but are now purely aesthetic.


I spent the first morning just wondering around, trying to get my bearings. Bought a belt having discovered I'd left mine at Kriang's. 20 baht, about 30p. Bargain. It's one of those simple canvas type ones that clamp at the buckle. Only thing was that I had to remove the metal attachment at the end of the it because it wouldn't fit into the buckle otherwise, but that's 20 baht's worth of QA for you and I'm certainly not complaining. Also got one of a rickshaw so I could move round at a slower pace than in a tuk tuk and see a bit more of the city. The driver must have been at least 200 years old though and struggled to move my not inconsiderable weight so although I'm sure I paid farang rates I tipped him as well. On the subject of farang rates though that was a nice thing about Chiang Mai. People are generally even more chilled out, move at a slower pace (traffic notwithstanding) and aren't so bothered about making as much money as possible as they are in Bangkok so it was rarely necessary to haggle with tuk tuk drivers. Most of the time the initial offer was reasonable for the distance. I think I only haggled transport costs about 4 times while I was there.

I went back to the hostel early in the afternoon to try and get a couple of hours kip but despite being shattered after the train journey I couldn't sleep so I went on another walk about in the afternoon. This time I managed to get lost for several hours but it was actually really nice because I don't think I'd have seen the areas I did otherwise. The centre of Chiang Mai is actually really small, but there are sprawling suburbs which quickly get a rural feel to them without going to far out. Here's a picture I took which was actually less than 5 minutes walk from the Thapae gate on the east side of the city.


Unfortunately while I was walking around my Led Zeppelin soundtrack stopped suddenly and an investigation into the cause revealed that I'd not tightened the lid of my water bottle properly which had emptied itself into my bag. Everything was soaking including my phone, camera and Walkman so I removed their batteries and made my way to the river Ping. I took this picture from the other side but you get the idea.


Once I got there I laid everything out in the sun and chilled out for an hour while it all dried out. It was actually really nice just sitting by the river, watching the world go slowly by for a bit.

Then I made my way back to the hostel for a shower and to get changed before going to the Brasserie, which is right next to the river, where I met Kathrina for a couple of drinks and to swap stories. My tuk tuk driver over there was one of the more colourful characters I met in Chiang Mai. He took a couple of corners on two wheels, just showing off I think, and offered me a "massage" for 2000 baht. Got to the Brasserie intact though. I didn't think to take a photo unfortunately but it was very nice.

Righto, I'm off into town for a bit so I'll write more incredibly detailed and no doubt frequently boring accounts of my time in Chiang Mai later.