Thursday
Today is a Buddhist holiday, so whilst there are more people about, not everything is open and Alcohol sales are banned.
I thought I would have a nice lazy morning, catching up with my blog, emails etc. It all started well, sitting outside my room with a cup of tea and chatting to a new guest, David, who is from Spain. We got talking about visa extensions and he panicked me somewhat by saying how difficult it is and the way I thought I could do it wasn’t correct! 😳😳
I googled it and am pleased to say that I was right and I should have no problems extending my visa, (in theory) my plan was to do it it Phucket but I might go and visit the office here on Monday just to reassure myself!
After our chat I checked my emails and found my car insurance was up for renewal, it is set to automatically renew. However the price has risen by over £100 which seems a lot, as I’ve made no claims etc. I searched online for alternatives and found several that were at lest £200 cheaper! What a bloody rip off!
As if this isn’t annoying enough trying to cancel my automatic renewal was Damm near Impossible! Of course it was! They are fuckers, I spent over an hour trying to get to the right section only to find the site was down! 😤 This kind of nonsense really irritates me. I decide to leave it and try later.
I headed out and popped to the very calming sanctuary of the local secondhand book shop ☺️ I actually don’t need any books as I have loads already downloaded on my kindle, but I can’t resist! So many to choose. The great thing is if I read and return it it get 50% of my £ back.
I just grabbed an easy to read Harlen Coben.
Feeling calmer, I continue my walk down to the Chiang Mai Gate area, looking at the beautiful flowers, spotted a fab Dragon Fly, then back along the Canal/moat to my area where I grabbed some Green Curry Vegetable Rice in a fab little place then came back to have a swim and read.
Saw my Kiwi friend, Colin, who is leaving today to go on a meditation retreat. He has been fun to hang out with and chat too.
I love meeting new people and connecting for a short while, it’s one of the reasons I stay in Hotels rather than Airbnbs as there are always people about, coming & going, staff to chat to, things to watch.
I had dinner back at Kats, I got greeted like a local! 🥰 had a yummy Pad Thai then home just before the torrential downpour!
Friday
The lovely Dominika, Gareth & Solomè are leaving today, I got up early to say goodbye but I missed Dominika & Solomè by minutes, busy making a cup of bloody tea! Gareth is leaving a little later, so hopefully I’ll see him before he leaves. Again it’s been a pleasure to connect with them, it enriches my experience. ❤️
Luckily I did manage to see Gareth! 👍
After that I had a little mooch to The Chiang Mai Provincial Museum. I’d been chatting to David in the morning and he had visited and said it was really good. I googled mapped it and it is by the 3 Kings Monument, which I know how to get to.
Unfortunately, Google maps was not entirely accurate. I thought it was a building I’d been into before but Maps was saying something slightly different, so after walking around for a bit I eventually trusted my instincts and went to where I thought it was and I was correct! 😀
The museum is quite small and charts the history of Chiang Mai and it’s people. I found it really interesting.
One of the things I particularly liked was the date given for the Founding of Chiang Mai, according to the Chiang Mai Temple Inscription Stone, Chiang Mai was founded on
“ Thursday, the 8th day of the waxing moon, in the 6th lunar month of the year of the monkey, 1296 at four in the morning”
It doesn’t get more specific than that! 😍
The museum also covered the building of the Khun Tan Train Tunnel. This is the tunnel I came through on my way here.
It took 10 years to build, starting in 1907, many workers were killed of Typhus, lack of oxygen and falling rocks! It’s completion created a direct rail link to Bangkok, thus improving trade and tourism.
After the museum I wandered some more, visited the Post Office, my second time, it was again closed! 😞
I then walked back to my end of town, stopping at ‘Hummus’ for a yummy Falafel 🥙
Then it was back to the pool to cool off and relax.
I have decided to go back to the Burmese restaurant I visited with Dominika, Gareth & Solomè as the food was so good! It was excellent!
Walking back I managed to dodge the torrential downpour by stopping for a cheeky McFlurry! 😂
Some random things:
The White Tiger Balm continues to work wonders!
The mossies seem to have gone off me a bit, Yeah!! 🎉
I’ve tried to massively cut down on my salt intake, it’s working.
I still find the pavements a little scary!
I haven’t fallen over yet!! 👍
That’s all for today guys.
Hereandthereclaire.com 