Day 21 & 22

10.07.23 – 11.07.23

It’s been a busy few days Birthday wise. 

My Rebecca was 36 on Sunday and the Georgia & Grantley were 24 on Monday!! Insane 😂 

I was the same age as the twins when I had Rebecca and the same age as Rebecca when I had the twins!! 😳

It’s not great that I didn’t get to,see them in their Birthdays, but thank you to Chris for spoiling my Becca and to Nikki, Jenna and everyone in Newquay who helped to make Georgia & Grantley’s day so special. 🙏😘❤️

We have had a couple of excellent storms, one on Monday night was awesome, lots of thunder & lightning. After dinner at Kats I sat outside my room just watching, to be honest I didn’t have the best view of the sky but it was still great! 

One of the things I needed to do while I’m in Chiang Mai is to extend my Visa. I arrived with a 60 day tourist visa but I’m actually going to be here for around 77 days. Trying to get a 90 day visa before I traveled was to complicated. So I opted to do what I did last year and just get a 30 day extension. Last year I went to the Immigration Office by the airport. It wasn’t that difficult, it just took quite a long time, around 5hrs. 

When I googled it this time there is now a satellite office in a Shopping Mall nearby. This is apparently a quicker option. 

With this in mind I finally get some help from Sing on reception to install and activate my Thai SIM card, download the Grab App; Grab is like the Thai version of Uber. This will be really helpful for getting around to places I can’t walk too, as Grab is much cheaper than normal taxis, Tuk Tuks or even Songthaews.

So I book my first Grab, and off we go to Central Festival Shopping Mall!

The Immigration Office Opens before the Mall, so the lovely Lady Grab Driver drops me in the food hall and I get directed up to the 2nd floor. The Office is not big but is also not that busy, excellent. I fill in my TM7 form, with a little assistance from a lovely Canadian volunteer. I hand in my form, passport, photocopies of my visa & passport, a hideous photo and £40, take a seat and wait! In 45mins I’m done!! Result! 👍😍

I decide to have a mooch around the Mall while I’m here, it’s quite big and has lots of shops, if shopping is your thing it would be great! Unfortunately shopping isn’t my thing, but I do find it quite interesting seeing all the different stuff! I spot a fabulous non Povo Pineapple shaped ice cube tray!  😂😂 

Then I turn round and there is a bloody Marks & Spencer’s!! WTF!  The last thing I expected to see, obviously I go,in to have a look, it has a food hall! 😍 Mmmm, yes lots of lovely M & S bits and bobs for 4 times the price! I’m sure if I was living here full time I might treat myself occasionally, but this time I’ll give it a miss! 

The food hall on the ground floor is the busiest place in the Mall! It’s also the most interesting, vibrant and colourful. I love walking round here seeing all the different foods, there are lots of sweet options! The Thai people definitely like their sugar. 

I grab an iced coffee a delicious little chicken puff pie and a chocolate pastry from a cute little bakery, find a seat, then sit watching the world go by! 

Slight problem when I go to use my Grab App, I have no data. I know I have data on my Thai Sim Card, so not sure what the issue is. I find a phone shop and ask a young person, he takes my phone, taps a few things and Presto my Thai data is activated! Praise the lord for young tech savvy people! (I think when I used Grab to get here my phone was logged into the hotel wifi) 

Another Grab is ordered, I head back to the hotel, have a swim 22 Lengths today. Then chill.

I go Hummus for dinner, I walked there yesterday only to find they don’t open on Mondays! 

Nikki you’ll be thrilled to know they make their Hummus to go! I now have a tub in my fridge and some Corn cakes to spread it on! Happy Days. 

I miss everyone today. WhatsApp is a godsend, free messaging and calls!! 

So looking forward to seeing my Rebecca, Chris and Anita in 30 more sleeps! 

Have a great Wednesday people.

Books read 11

A house in the woods. Mark Dawson. Reasonable. A crime drama.