With Emma’s foot still to sore for much in the way of moving around, we decided to continue as planned and head by bus to Chiang Rai as this would give her a reasonably stationary day. It means we have left Chiang Mai behind without actually visiting the city but we plan to go back later on….
We caught the VIP bus for the trip. This more than halves the trip time, down to only three hours. It was also very comfortable and we were given green cake to eat. No idea what flavour it was meant to be but some of us liked it!
We found our hotel in Chiang Rai easily, specially chosen because it has baths not just showers, much easier for keeping one foot dry! Fortunately it seems nice enough as well and they have upgraded us from one standard room and one delux (with the required bath tub) to two delux rooms in order to be able to place us together. Lovely.
Having ditched our luggage we set out to find a few essentials, including cash, and some tea. For some reason today our credit card has been refused at all ATMs. We were quite calm about it for the first five hours and phone call to the uk, less so over the next couple of hours and second phone call. Fortunately the second call did the trick and we now have access to funds again 🙂
We wandered further loking for tea and Phil spotted a row of stalls up a side road. We went up and stumbled into the midle of a huge music / food festival and dance competition. Lots of things going on and hundreds of food stalls. No information in English at all :-). Phil and I set out separately to find dishes for us to share. I found spicy, peanutty fried noodles with banana flower (strangely like a cross between banana and cabbage!) and fried rice with sausage of some sort. Phil came back with barbequed chicken, satay and some beef liver soup with a frighteningly jelly-like consistency. I think it’s fair to say my finds won the popularity contest ;-).
We then chose chocolate coated banana slices, candy floss and mini coconut ice cream cones for desert. Yum!
I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to try out a Thai massage, less than £1.50 for 30 minutes. Oh my goodness! I got cramp in my foot and it was nothing like as painful as what she was doing to me. I’m sure I will be black and blue tomorrow….. I can’t imagine that you could make it more painful if that was your sole purpose. I’ve never been so glad for 30 minutes to be over. Of course I went with the English approach and when asked if I enjoyed it said “oh yes, lovely thank you!”. Madness.
We topped off the evening by watching a few acts in the local Thai equivalent if x-factor by which point we had completely lost touch with the children in the hoards of screaming school girls so it seemed sensible to recover them and head back to the hotel. We will all sleep well tonight I think!