Day 135 - Remember, Remember, it's the fifth of November!

Crazy Thai man who was trying to set me up with a ladyboy

Day 135 - 05th November

So the day that almost saw the end of British Parliament in 1605 had arrived again. Ah, home is so far away.

The old city wall

I woke up and went wandering around Chiang Mai, looking for the magnet and a few souvenirs for the family. After bumping into a Spanish woman who kept yelling Spanish at me, having banter with a local Thai boxing elder and a quick coffee stop in a small place just outside the old city wall, I moved back to Deejai Gardens and did a little work and drank a little beer. It was a great way to kill the time until my 6:30pm bus to Bangkok.

Beautiful temples and stupas here

I started to look at accommodation and places to visit in Bangkok but I was more ready to see my sister and cousin again in a couple of days time.

So at 6:30pm, I'm sat in Deejai Hostel with my backpacks (yes, plural) ready to go on the night bus to Chiang Mai. 7pm rolls around, no pick up. 7:30pm, nope! 8pm, yes... no, that was a delivery van. 

By 8:15pm, my pick up arrives. The seats are occupied by nine other people so I have to hang off the back whilst we head toward the bus station. Doing 50mph hanging onto two thin metal bars off the back of a big van does make you feel alive. And slightly nervous.

I boarded my bus (the leg room was fantastic, as were the free water and cremo cookies) and headed off on my 11 hour journey to Bangkok. I befriended two German guys opposite me but soon I had my headphones in and my baseball cap over my face to cover my dribbling whilst I attempted to sleep.

Long live this travelling game.

Day 134 - Exploration of Chiang Mai and feeling rough

It had to be done!

Day 134 - 04th November

I woke up and was greeted by my roommate, Matt from Montreal. He seemed like a decent guy and was giving me thelow down on Chiang Mai.

I headed down for breakfast and mapped out my routes of temples, markets and the like for the day. I met my first writer, a woman named Kristen from Virginia who was travelling with her sister, Nicole. Basically our plans mirrored each other's - writing, avoiding getting a career and heading to Australia in the near future. I suppose it's not too hard to imagine, being a writer is a tough business. As a fellow writing enthusiast, I wish her luck.

Pretty cool, huh?

Buddha protected by Nagas.

I headed out to see Wat Chedi Luang, an old temple with ruins restored to show its originality. It was stunning. Legend had it that two Indians built it and it was either destroyed by an earthquake in the 1500's or damaged during the war with the Burmese in the 1700's. I like to think only a natural disaster had destroyed it.

The picture does it no justice.

After, I visited Wat Phan Tao, an old team temple next door to Wat Chedi Luang which was beautifully carved and constructed. I'm already beginning to see why people come to Thailand for these magnificent pieces of architecture.

It did the trick.

I strolled down to the old city walls and did the obligatory selfie by one of the gateways before having a teriyaki chicken sandwich and strawberry soda. Very ladeda, but delicious nonetheless.

Seriously, it's easily missed!

My struggle to post my Nanna's postcard was genuine as I past the disguised post office five times in my bid to find it. Seriously, it looked like a souvenir shop, I was expecting something more official. Oh well.

I wandered around, just looking aimlessly around. I must have clocked up 10 miles all told. I practically walked the perimeter of the wall.

A part of the West Old City Wall

The afternoon I spent relaxing in Deejai Gardens with a couple of beers and editing my sitcom. It's such a great way to do what I find to be the tedious bit of writing. I had Oasis, RHCP, Blink 182 and others on the speakers for background noise. All in all, it wasn't bad.

I headed out for dinner after booking my bus ticket which they told me to come back for in a few hours. I went for local Pad Thai at a basic place, which may have been the reason why I felt so ill afterwards that I had to go back to the hostel.

My bus ticket still wasn't ready so I headed to bed. Matt asked if I wanted to go for a few beers but the Pad Thai was exacting it's revenge so I had to pretend to be tired. It was a bad way to end a pretty good day but touch wood, I've only been ill a few times so it's to be expected.

Matt did warn me he was a snorer and to throw stuff at him if needed. Damn, I thought the Chinese were bad -sorry buddy!

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!

Day 132 - Oh Mai, Oh Mai, how long to Chiang Mai?

A great way to end my stay in Luang Prabang!

Day 132 - 02nd November

So my final day in Luang Prabang was already here. It was bad for many reasons. I'd come to love the place, I'd had a pretty awesome hostel with an abundance of hot shower water and lastly, I was only a few hours away from jumping on an 18 hour journey to Chiang Mai. Yes, I did say 18 hours.

To avoid thinking about it, I headed to the post office to send my nanna's postcards and then I wandered down to Utopia again to relax for a few hours. I tell you, a Dark Beer Lao is the way forward at 10am.

With an Oreo shake, that baby is a thing of beauty.

I read and did some work before having a 'Bacon Bomb Burger'. Anything with bacon and BBQ sauce is a winner in my book.

I took one final excursion to the market, buying a lemon fruit shake and two packets of cashews for my journey before heading back to the hostel for pick up.

I shared a Tuk Tuk with a Dutch couple who were good company to the bus station and when I arrived, I was presented to a mini van driver who put my luggage on the roof of his vehicle. I tried to questioned where my double decker or at least single tier coach was but ey just pointed me toward the mini van door.

Shit! This is going to be a killer for 18 hours.

I settled in a singular seat and we set off just before 6pm. I had an annoying Chinese guy in front of me that limited my already limited space by ramming his seat backwards into a decline. Then he pulled it forwards again. And then back again. This is more annoying when it's 1am, you've just managed to get into a snooze and your knees are crushed suddenly. Bloody pillock!

Someone, the driver I think, was hawking his lungs up every few minutes so when I closed my eyes it felt like I was back in China.

Silver lining, I met four Chinese elders who found it fascinating that I'd been to Beijing, Xi'an, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. They keep tapping my leg and putting their thumbs up to me which was a good thing I suppose. They kept saying 'Ingua' which I remembered as being England or English.

Just a few more hours and I would reach the border. Then everything will be easy... yeah right!

Day 131 - Kuang Si Waterfall, Utopia and Auf Wiedersehen to Matthius

The smug look of victory

Day 131 - 01st November

Oh what a glorious day. Not because of the location, not because of the plan for the day ahead and not because the weather was brilliant. I finally remembered my password for my sitcom script! Oh the feeling of five months of beating myself up for having a crap brain had suddenly been washed away by a sweet loading bar that told me my document was opening! Five hours of script and many months more worth of work returned to me in an instant. I was elated!

My greatest nemesis but I'm glad the sanctuary is looking after them

So when Matthius arrived at 11am for our trip to Kuang Si waterfall, I was pumped to go. We rode in a mini van for 45 minutes and arrived at the site. We had three hours to explore and explore we did.

Stunning, but just the beginning

See what I mean?

Each level was its own unique piece of beauty. The water, turquoise blue from the limestone's calcium carbonate, made it look like something mystical beneath the surface. It was full of tourist which always is a bit of a bummer (I class myself as a traveller, it's different), but we made our way, rock hopping into the middle of the pools and away from said tourists to get better photos.

Incredible!

Then we scaled the side of waterfall to see the view from the top. Despite me slipping continuously in my Toms, I was glad of the hassle. The view from the peak was stunning. One sight I will always remember.

Almost a good one.

A sight to behold, or some other quote to that effect

In the afternoon, we went in search of my batteries for my card reader and a keyboard for Matt's laptop, which had been having problems. We found both and I was thinking, 'my luck is really in today.'

Not a bad shot

After this latest triumph, we made our way to the top of Phu Si Mountain (pronounced Pussy Mountain - this is not a joke) and took in the sunset. As usual a cloud cover had ruined the perfect chance of a NatGeo shot but it was still great to see the sun setting behind the mountains that were situated beside the mighty Mekong River.

What a bargain for 15,000 kip although it's a killer if you mix up a spring roll with a banana fritter. Trust me, it's easy!

Again it was dinner time and we headed to the night market to spend 15,000 kip (£1.25) on a street buffet. I'll let the pictures do the talking on this, but it was superb.

Not a night shot but you get the gist.

Utopia was our final stop of the day, a haven for a stargazer and beer lover. It has loungers of an entirely different level. Once again, the pictures tell you everything.

So goodbye took place, this time an Auf Wiedersehen to my German travelling companion. Best of luck to him as he continues onwards in Laos. Tomorrow I headed to Thailand and I inch closer to seeing my sister and cousin for a two week stint. One week left guys!