Sorry I have this blog broken up into different parts because my hostel doesn’t have any Internet access and I wrote this morning when I first arrived to Chiang Mai and now again this evening.
Saturday March 19, 2011
8:37am
The overnight bus ride was OK...better than I was expecting since I got to spread out and try to sleep. The bus was definitely not full which was nice..but SOOO cold....and the morning we got in right on time at 6am. I found a guesthouse close to our drop off and its VERY BASIC at $5 a night..no internet and all so I am at a coffee shop blogging here....ready to take on the day!
Saturday March 19, 2011
8:03pm
So since my morning blog, I have since booked myself on a full day trekking adventure beginning at 8:15am and getting back at 6pm. It ended up being a fabulous blue sky and sunny day after such an early morning chill. I guess the last 2 days has been raining hard so I got lucky! I wanted to maybe do an overnight trekking adventure but I have talking to some travel agents and they say it is COLD and most of you know I don’t do well in the cold so I opted for the full day adventure that includes some trekking, bamboo and white water rafting. I shopped around hard for the best price and got it from this one gentleman whom was super friendly and also told me that he had a second job organizing ‘lady boy’ pageants…..very interesting indeed!
Chiang Mai is a gorgeous little town and its kind of like the YORK of the United Kingdom where the old city was built around a fort and has water around it. The fort has various gates around to enter and has since of course crumbled quite a bit in various parts. My morning exploring various temples was again very worthwhile seeing the beautiful architecture of the temples and also the beautiful Buddha statues. With that said, I think I have seen the most monks in this city than in all my travels.
I was struggling with tiredness as the day wore on but didn’t want to sleep in case I wouldn’t fall asleep tonight so I decided to take the 20 km and local transport (which is in this extended open aired truck that you can just hop on!) to the very sacred temple on the hill overlooking the entire city. The temple was absolutely stunning and being a Saturday there were many local people paying their visits and prayers.
I saw many practicing monks at this temple on the hill and I honestly think they are so beautiful with their clean shaven heads and brightly colored orange robes. Saturdays in town have the “Saturday Walking Street” which is a street closed off to all traffic and allows foot traffic to enjoy an open air market of crafts, clothes and food. It was fabulous and then I headed the regular night “Bazaar” that they have in town after that. That too was very big!
Happy Full Moon! Its beautiful up in the sky and those traveler down south in one of the Thai islands named Ko will be partying the night away. As for me, I am enjoying it in this little northern town of Thailand! What a huge change to the big city of Bangkok (I got to explore the big HUGE shopping malls before I left on the overnight bus to Chiang Mai!) I forgot to mention that walking through those big and high end stores was like another world in the country with such contrast.
It’s so cool my hostel is right next to a Wat/Temple so I get to hear the chanting and all.
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