I think that sleeper buses should be
renamed Zombie Buses because that is
how I always feel when I get off. It took 14 hours, which was tough, especially
for Mom and Dad who had just got off a 14 hour flight from the UK, and was made
worse by the fact that it was a backpacker bus. I ignored my own rule of always
going to the bus station and bought the bus tickets from a travel agent. We weren’t too badly over charged (we paid
less than half the price of some people on the bus) but we did end up on a backpacker
filled bus where somehow it was decided that the best way to pass the time was
to get drunk rather than sleep.
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| Sign in Chaing Mai |
Lesson learnt we arrived in Chiang Mai to
our free guesthouse pickup; it never gets old having your name on a board. Our
rooms were not ready so we checked out the morning market and had a sleep by
the pool, very weird for me, as I never sleep in the day. After a nice shower
we wandered into Chiang Mai’s walled old town, drank coffee, enjoyed the
atmosphere and checked out a bit of the architecture. In the evening we went to
one of the night markets and sampled a massive range of dishes.
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| Good Morning Chiang Mai |
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| Enjoying the night market |
The next day was my 28th
birthday, what a way to spend your birthday I’m not going to forget this one.
First up was breakfast with very unexpected presents and cards from England! It
was nice to get the messages all the way from home and a few new clothes
without holes in never goes down too bad either, thank you so much to everyone
who sent a message; paper or electronic. With a new t-shirt on next up we went
to the beautiful and peaceful Wat Phra Singh where we spent a few hours
learning and reflecting. After the mental relaxation of the temple I got
another birthday present of a Thai massage to relax my body.
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| For Aimee's Mom! |
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In the town they were in the process of removing the Loy Kratong
decorations from last week. |
We finished up the day with a delicious meal at Whole Earth Restaurant. A huge selection of veggie dishes and a table on the balcony of a teak house, what more could a birthday meal ask for? What a way to cap off a great day…
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| Whole Earth restaurant. |
Except that was not quite it, Aimee had one
more surprise up her sleeve. We were all off on a night safari. The tuk-tuk that
we took to get there was a bit surreal, the driver insisted on singing Happy Birthday
to me while driving on the wrong side of a four lane highway. I think late at night mom still has
flashbacks of it now!
Feet on solid ground we waved good-bye to
our kamikaze tuk-tuk driver and made our way up to the entrance of the night
safari. This was a really fun experience, the animals seemed to be well looked
after and in suitable enclosures. The cooler temperatures and nocturnal habitat
of the animals meant that a lot of them active.
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| Cheeky deer |
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| Now we know where Matt gets it from! |
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| Collective Ahhhhhh |
