BANG! Chiang Mai is ace! There is a light and fireworks festival going on at the moment so when you're least expecting it BANG something will explode BANG and make you jump.
Chiang Mai is much more chilled out than Bangkok (not difficult) and a really nice little maze of streets filled with a mix of traditional style cafes and more western style places.
I got myself settled and went out for some food - red curry green beans. Lush. Met two girls from Reading - Lizi and Annie - and we ended up going out for the evening. I tried to look like I knew what I was doing as I'd read that if you want to call a waitress over, you sort of gesture as if you want them to go away. I clearly got it wrong cos the waitress just looked at me as though I was mental.
Plenty of drinking and chatting later we ended up Spice Disco. Good times until suddenly a bunch of police turned up in full combat gear. The music stopped, everyone looked at each other shiftily and there was a definite tension in the air. Suddenly remembered that I had clonazepam in my bag and had visions of a full cavity search and a call to the embassy. We finished our drinks and left without any hassle. It just seems that they like to close places at 1am at the latest here.
Hostel hunting the next day and got myself a pretty nice room with a balcony, fan and double bed (although pretty solid) for about 4 quid. Not bad!
The day after was packed full of stuff. Up early and picked up in a van for an hour's drive to see a hill tribe. We were only there for about 5 minutes and they just tried to sell us some tat. Bit of a pointless stop and thought we were going to be ripped off all day. But then things picked up when we went elephant riding. I shared an elephant with a Malaysian guy called Devlan who had ridden an elephant before, so I felt I was in good hands. Felt a bit bad cos the elephants didn't seem very happy.
Off the elephants and up the road for an hour's trek along a river to a waterfall which we got to swim in. The walk was a bit like the crystal maze (Aztec zone), having to walk over thin wooden bridges while trying not to fall in and look like a div...or get locked in.
White water rafting after that with what seemed like a grumpy guide, but he and his mate turned out to be a right pair of jokers who made it so much fun and had a great time trying to scare the shit out of us by telling us that they couldn't swim and that they'd never rafted before. Onto some bamboo rafts after this for a very shaky and half submerged float along the river. Brilliant fun and we were lucky enough to have a great group of people too.
Later on that night we ended up meeting a group who we had passed on the trek and found ourselves out in the suburbs at a karaoke place. Unfortunately they didn't have anything in English and a couple of the lads we were with were a bit too much like Stiffler to make it enjoyable. Overall though a great day.
The next day I managed to spend a couple of hours at the local orphanage as I had heard that people can go along and help out with the kids at playtime. It was great fun, the kids were about 2-3 so pretty intense and tiring, but thankfully didn't have to change any nappies. A monk turned up and started doing magic for the kids. Bit strange, but just go with the flow seems to be the idea in Chiang Mai.
I'm about to pop as me and Lizi did a Thai cookery day today with a lady who owns a local restaurant. Her name is Goong and she is a mental case, but a very happy and friendly one. We went to the market - amazing sights, smells and bags upon bags of chillies, limes, meat, fruit, pastes, spices and pigs' heads.
Then we got back and started cooking. We made Tom Yum Goong, Green curry and Chicken with cashew nuts (Tim Paluch I will cook this for you now that I am a master), all served with a mound of rice.
The best part was when the sky clouded over with thick, dark clouds and it rained. It has been so hot and humid the last few days and when it started raining it came down really loud on the tin roof as we were frying up wok after wok of deliciousness.
Fuck Tong (pumpkin to you and me) for pudding. Although it also means butternut squash AND trombone. Confusing.
We tried to eat it all - we failed.
BANG! Going to sleep it off.
Chiang Mai is much more chilled out than Bangkok (not difficult) and a really nice little maze of streets filled with a mix of traditional style cafes and more western style places.
I got myself settled and went out for some food - red curry green beans. Lush. Met two girls from Reading - Lizi and Annie - and we ended up going out for the evening. I tried to look like I knew what I was doing as I'd read that if you want to call a waitress over, you sort of gesture as if you want them to go away. I clearly got it wrong cos the waitress just looked at me as though I was mental.
Plenty of drinking and chatting later we ended up Spice Disco. Good times until suddenly a bunch of police turned up in full combat gear. The music stopped, everyone looked at each other shiftily and there was a definite tension in the air. Suddenly remembered that I had clonazepam in my bag and had visions of a full cavity search and a call to the embassy. We finished our drinks and left without any hassle. It just seems that they like to close places at 1am at the latest here.
Hostel hunting the next day and got myself a pretty nice room with a balcony, fan and double bed (although pretty solid) for about 4 quid. Not bad!
The day after was packed full of stuff. Up early and picked up in a van for an hour's drive to see a hill tribe. We were only there for about 5 minutes and they just tried to sell us some tat. Bit of a pointless stop and thought we were going to be ripped off all day. But then things picked up when we went elephant riding. I shared an elephant with a Malaysian guy called Devlan who had ridden an elephant before, so I felt I was in good hands. Felt a bit bad cos the elephants didn't seem very happy.
Off the elephants and up the road for an hour's trek along a river to a waterfall which we got to swim in. The walk was a bit like the crystal maze (Aztec zone), having to walk over thin wooden bridges while trying not to fall in and look like a div...or get locked in.
White water rafting after that with what seemed like a grumpy guide, but he and his mate turned out to be a right pair of jokers who made it so much fun and had a great time trying to scare the shit out of us by telling us that they couldn't swim and that they'd never rafted before. Onto some bamboo rafts after this for a very shaky and half submerged float along the river. Brilliant fun and we were lucky enough to have a great group of people too.
Later on that night we ended up meeting a group who we had passed on the trek and found ourselves out in the suburbs at a karaoke place. Unfortunately they didn't have anything in English and a couple of the lads we were with were a bit too much like Stiffler to make it enjoyable. Overall though a great day.
The next day I managed to spend a couple of hours at the local orphanage as I had heard that people can go along and help out with the kids at playtime. It was great fun, the kids were about 2-3 so pretty intense and tiring, but thankfully didn't have to change any nappies. A monk turned up and started doing magic for the kids. Bit strange, but just go with the flow seems to be the idea in Chiang Mai.
I'm about to pop as me and Lizi did a Thai cookery day today with a lady who owns a local restaurant. Her name is Goong and she is a mental case, but a very happy and friendly one. We went to the market - amazing sights, smells and bags upon bags of chillies, limes, meat, fruit, pastes, spices and pigs' heads.
Then we got back and started cooking. We made Tom Yum Goong, Green curry and Chicken with cashew nuts (Tim Paluch I will cook this for you now that I am a master), all served with a mound of rice.
The best part was when the sky clouded over with thick, dark clouds and it rained. It has been so hot and humid the last few days and when it started raining it came down really loud on the tin roof as we were frying up wok after wok of deliciousness.
Fuck Tong (pumpkin to you and me) for pudding. Although it also means butternut squash AND trombone. Confusing.
We tried to eat it all - we failed.
BANG! Going to sleep it off.
loving this! keep it up!
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