Day 133 - It's too early for a bus change and getting to Chiang Mai

My unimpressed, sleepless face. It's too early for this crap!

Day 133 - 03rd November

So at 5:30am, the bus pulls up at this remote bus station, the driver gets out and start launching our bags into the waiting area. A foreign European couple ask me if this bus will still take us to Shanghai. I told them I hoped not because that was east of here and I don't know how many hundreds of miles away - I'd guessed at 900. It was probably way out. Thankfully, I discovered they were saying Chiang Rai which was three hours over the border. (I looked in Chiang Khong to Shanghai, it's 1,500 miles so not a bad shout!)

The elders helped us translate (good guys, the Chinese - I've always said it) and we were told at 9am we'd be picked up by a new bus and taken to the border.

So we waited for a few hours. What else could we do?

Everyone boarded except me for Chiang Rai. A woman came out and told me she would take me in a mini van to the Laos/Thailand border and then I'd have to find my own way to Chiang Mai. Knowing this would be about as easy as finding a clean mattress in a hostel, I decided to board the bus bound for Chiang Rai and to connect there to Chiang Mai. I knew it was only a few hours north from where I wanted to be.

So we chug along for half an hour until we reach the borders. Laos is a doddle, we're all straight through. However, when we reach the Thailand border, the four elders are asking me to fill out their paperwork for them. I did what I could for them before grabbing an official to translate the rest of the form. Being a UK citizen, you breeze through the border - the official even smiled at me and wished me a good time in Thailand.

And after another three hours, we made it to Chiang Rai. I managed to get some sleep on this coach with two seats to myself which was a bonus. I bid the elders farewell and Xiè Xiè'd them for their early help. They seemed happy and waved me goodbye.

I only had a twenty five minute wait and I'd be on a 3 hour bus bound for Chiang Mai. Thank Christ. I sat next to a friendly Thai woman who I had a brief discussion with. They gave us free water and Chocos (their version of Oreos) and we sped through Thailand towards the southern part of the North until we eventually reached Chiang Mai at 4pm - 22 hours after I'd left Luang Prabang. The ordeal was over.

This dorms alright actually. Love the sliding door for the bathroom.

Deejai Hostel was impressive, with a nice tropical feel to the lobby, a bit like Siem Reap's Bou Savy and the dorms were pretty sweet as well.

I had a quick pizza and Sprite for dinner at Cafe Diversion before heading back to crash out. It had been one hell of a day! I think Chiang Mai is going to be fun!