Day 29 & 30

Friday

The weather today started badly! Lots of heavy rain. 

I started my day with tea, a banana and some more crackers, whilst writing and uploading my blog. It was nice sitting at the table undercover listening to the rain, which had eased off a little. 

I left the hotel to return a book to the fabulous “Lost Book Shop of Chiang Mai” which is just around the corner, I’ve mentioned it before. 

Todays visit was calm & peaceful, I spent ages perusing the shelves, looking at the huge reference books and generally having a lovely mooch. Eventually I chose a book: ‘Redemption’ by John Hart, I’ve just read another one of his; ‘The Last Child” which I really enjoyed. 

It was still raining but very gently so I went for a little walk, down some little side streets and ended up back in the road which has lots of laundry places, today it smelt amazing, but different, almost like a sweet liquorice/aniseed scent it was really nice! I also spotted a tiny little frog, I’ll post a picture, it’s pretty hard to see but so cute about the size of a sugar cube! 😍 I’m not sure what the people going past thought as it looked like I was taking a close up picture of the pavement! 😃

I came across a Temple that I hadn’t seen before, it was lovely and so peaceful with a beautiful cockerel wandering around. 

There are over 300 Temples in Chiang Mai so it’s fair to say I’m not going to visit them all. 😃

The temple is opposite a Cafe/Bar called “Annie’s”, which apparently does a mean Sunday Roast! Gareth who I met early had been and said it was awesome. It would be a fabulous treat if you were British and living here!  

I’m sure it wouldn’t be as good as Tish’s’ ‘Big Bastard’ or Marsha Minxys epic Roast Potatoes!! ❤️

The rain started to get heavy again so I wandered back and stopped at ‘Stories’ for a smoothie and scrambled egg on toast. 😋 

Then an afternoon of swimming, reading, laying in the sun (between clouds) 

Tonight I am heading to the Night Bazaar, I’m surprised I haven’t been before tbh! I need to visit a shop there which sells a great selection of Mauy Thai Gear, I’ve promised to get Grantley some authentic shorts  from Thailand. 

The road leading down to the Bazaar is the same one I walked down last week to get to the river, then it was very quiet, tonight it’s a different story.

This is clearly where all the bars and clubs are, there are also lots of massage places and some restaurants. It’s still pretty early, 7.30 so it’s not mad busy but definitely a very different vibe to the daytime. 

I found my shop, made my purchase, had a look around the stalls, food halls and then thought I’d walk back and maybe stop in one of the bars for a beer. 

I didn’t stop for a beer as pretty much every bar just had single, old white guys sitting with beautiful Thai girls, it didn’t feel like somewhere I’d like to go or where I’d feel comfortable, the Thai people calling me in were all very friendly but the guys just give me the creeps! 

This side of things I haven’t seen a lot of, probably because I’m not seeking it out and I’m in bed by 10pm! But it’s a side I find distasteful, exploitative and grubby, just like the men! 

I walked back to Kats Kitchen for some much needed dinner. 

Kats was very busy tonight, so no small tables, they gave me a table for 4 and a bit later came and asked if they could seat another single woman with me? I was happy that they’d asked and was more than happy to share the table. Carissa was a lovely American Lady visiting Chiang Mai on her own, like me. She was a wonderful dinner companion, really lovely and interesting to talk to. She is in the US Military and works as an engineer, this has enabled her to travel extensively to many different and interesting places. 

We enjoyed our dinner and chat sitting listening to the thunderous downpour outside! 

The rain was extremely heavy turning the roads/paths into rivers! 

I made it back to the hotel, grateful for my pink plastic rain Mac!

Saturday 

Today has been a pretty chilled day, some wandering, some reading, some swimming and some chilling! 

The hotel seems to pick up a fair bit over the weekends, so lots of new faces, some will smile and chat, some won’t, preferring to keep to themselves, fair enough. 

A few people that come to stay have arrived from other hotels in Chiang Mai which they weren’t happy with, and are so pleased to find ‘Somwang Boutique Hotel’ 😍 The pool is a big hit! 

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned before about the terrifying site that is the electrical/telecommunications cables! 

There are so many of them, so many connections, so many wires, bits dangling down! It’s a bloody miracle that everything works and that more people don’t die!! They fascinate me every time I’m out! 

I decided that this evening I’d head down to the ‘Walking Street’ at the other end of town. I went there when I first arrived so I feel another visit is in order! 

I made the big mistake of leaving the hotel for the first time without my Plastic rain Mac 😳 To be fair, when I left it was bright sunshine, however by the time I got to the Walking Street ominous dark clouds were gathering.

I had a wander, bought a couple of items, then popped into a lovely Bar/Hotel I’d been to before. I ordered a ‘Cuba Libre’ (fancy name for Rum & Coke!) The couple next to me asked if I was on my own and would I like to join them, sweet. 

They were a lovely Kiwi couple on a tour of Thailand, they live on North Island over near New Plymouth. Three of their Nephews play for the All Blacks 😍 The Barrett Brothers! How fantastic is that! I really should have got their contact details, to go visit next time I’m in New Zealand and perhaps their Nephews and friends might be visiting at the same time!!👍😍😂

While we were chatting the heavens opened to a torrential downpour, with winds, thunder, lightning ⚡️ It was incredible, suddenly everyone was rushing into the Bar, the chairs were being bought in, doors and windows closed, plants and tables were getting blown over it was Mad! 

The storm lasted around 20 minutes or so, then petered out to fine rain. The Kiwi couple left and I ordered another drink, when they bought my drink over, which looked massive they said as I’d had to wait so long, 8mins! I got a free shot! The drink was very strong 😳, but no, this didn’t include the extra shot which they bought over separately! OMG 😜 I feel this is going to go to my head big time, as I haven’t been drinking for a week, but you know it would be rude to leave it so I soldiered on 😂 

I had to buy myself a new Plastic Mac and they only had Lime Green, not my colour but needs must! 

By the time I left, feeling only a little squiffy the rain had stopped so I decided to walk back. Although it’s dark the streets are busy, lots of people, Tuk tuks, cars. The bars and Cafes are all open so it’s quite safe. I was hungry now, so stopped at my favourite, Kats! 

It was fun watching the little kitten there, catch and play with a huge cockroach 🪳(the customer reactions were the best 😂)

I’ve only seen about 3 of these 🪳on my entire trip, so pretty good going really! 

Then home to bed!