Day 7 & 8

I slept reasonably well in my nice room, but the lovely staff had said I could possibly move to a lower room, I also wanted a little outside space to sit and drink my tea in the morning, read my book, the only outside seats were in the laundry waiting area! 

The lovely Sing showed me a fabulous double room on the second floor with a table and chairs outside overlooking the pool. I asked if I needed to pay extra but they said No! How kind. 🥰 

It’s so nice to finally be somewhere that I can unpack my stuff and start to settle! 

After unpacking, having a cup of celebratory Twinings Breakfast Tea (Thank you Tracey!) I headed out to get some breakfast. 

I’ve found a cute little Cafe round the corner called “Stories” it’s very Australian, I think the owners lived there before. It’s got excellent wifi, good coffee, yummy Banana Bread and the staff are really friendly. It’s a perfect spot to start my day. 

I’d decided to walk to the Flower market which was approx a 15min walk, it was still chucking it down so I purchased a rather fetching Pink Plastic Mac! It certainly does the job of keeping you dry but also traps all the heat, so it’s like being slowly steamed to death! 😂

Whilst Chiang Mai isn’t ideal for walking it’s certainly lots better than Bangkok. I encountered a rather unexpected problem, the paths are tiled in ceramic tiles, which look nice and in the dry are fine, however when they are wet they are oily and very slippery!! 

Those of you that know me well, know that I can fall over my own shadow, a muffin, blades of grass, chairs, drain covers! The list is endless 😂 (even when sober!) so I was a little unnerved 😬 

For safety’s sake I walked mainly in the road! 

I got to the Market area, without falling over, go me! There are also other markets, food, clothes etc in the same area, not really a tourist spot, more a locals market. To reach the Flowers meant walking through the meat market. I’m not going to lie it was horrid, mainly the smell! I also spotted a couple of rather large rats. I held my breath and walked as fast as I could on the really slippery surface until I got to the flowers 🌺 which solved the smell situation! 

I had decided to buy some flowers for the staff at the hotel to thank them for my upgraded room. I’d read that Gold is a good colour, so purchased a large bunch of gold chrysanthemums. 

I walked back a slightly different way, not entirely intentional 😀 But much more pleasant on smaller roads, it looked like an area that lots of backpackers might stay in, lots of hostels. I stopped in a little cafe for a much needed iced orange juice, then carried on. I walked back to the hotel and gave a rather bemused Sing the flowers (I’m sure they now think I’m a bit bonkers! ) 

I was roasting hot, so got straight into the pool, so lush!! 

I had lunch from the same little place by the hotel, vegetable rice, yum! 

I wanted to sit outside by the pool but unfortunately the rain and damp made the mossie situation rather bad, so I chilled in my room. 

Around 5ish I headed out again, bought some Anti histamine cream, deet mossie spray and some white tiger balm, which the pharmacist said was great for bites, she didn’t lie! I put it on and it’s worked really well! 

I had another attempt at finding the Bar I’d looked for yesterday, ‘The Writers Club & Wine Bar’ nope, once again it eluded me, so annoying. There is a possibility it’s no longer open, I will find out one way or another!! 

I went back to the same restaurant, Kats Kitchen, which is great. Today is the day to try something new. I ordered Khoa Soi, a northern Thai  speciality, made with coconut curry soup, noddles, pickled veg and crispy noddles on top, I asked for it with ‘little spice’ . It was absolutely delicious, so tasty, I think I could definitely up the spice level a fair bit! 

I had this with an ice cold bottle of Chang, Thai beer. Perfect. 😍

Then back to the hotel, read for a bit and off to bed! 

Random thoughts!

• It’s difficult traveling on your own, when you get insect bites on your back and can’t reach them!! 
• Wine appears to be very elusive in Chiang Mai! 
• I seem to have a very real aversion/fear of stepping on the cement drain covers all along the pavements! I’m convinced they will give way and I’ll plunge straight down into the sewers never to be seen again. It’s very strange, and makes it a tad more tricky navigating the path! 🤦‍♀️🤷‍♀️

After another very good nights sleep, and being woken at 7 by a screaming cat! 😺 I had a slow start, then headed back to the same Cafè, Stories, for breakfast. Today I had Avo & Scrambled eggs on toast and an iced latte. Very nice. I also sat and wrote the first part of this blog. The staff here are beautiful. 

It’s raining again today although not quite as heavily as yesterday, so luckily no pink plastic Mac required!

I am going to visit the large Temple called Wat Phra Singh, it’s near a few others but this is the biggest and furthest away, so I figure I’ll start there and work my way back. It’s not as hot today although it feels hotter due to the humidity. It takes me around 30 mins to get to the there and it’s stunning, it also has fabulous shady gardens to help me cool down. I wandered around for a little while enjoying the peace and the shade, before heading to the next one.

As I was walking back up the Main Street I looked over and there was the Bar that I’d been looking for! Yes!  It’s a lot further down the road than the map showed, or perhaps I just read it wrong! Anyway I’ve found it. I pop in and have another local specialty p, Mango Sticky Rice! It’s really yummy, very sweet but really good! I was not entirely sure why I came with a little side of grated carrot?  I sat there a while and read my book. When I left I decided to walk back a different way and also to visit the other Temples tomorrow, as I was now roasting and my feet hurt. The swimming pool was calling! 💙 I’m trying to do 1/2 an hour swimming a day at least. I’m not the best swimmer and it also involves not getting my hair wet, due to the risk of green hair! (Tom Ashley you’ll be pleased to know I wet it before I go in and then don’t get pool water on it, so far so good! 😍) 

This evening I have enjoyed another lovely foot massage and have had dinner back at ‘Kats Kitchen’ Todays choice Chicken Penang, medium spice!  Which was really tasty.  

All in all a very good couple of days. 

That’s it for now guys.

XXXX