Chiang Mai, Thailand, Asia

We arrived in Chiang Mai at about 6:30am, and both of us were exhausted! Neither one of us could get comfortable enough to sleep on the bus, so spent most of the night tossing and turning in our seats. We got a tuk-tuk to Chiang Mai International Youth Hostel and were greeted by the owner Peter about ten minutes after we got there. Unfortunately we weren’t able to check in right away because a room wasn’t ready for us, but we were able to relax in the lobby and have some breakfast while we waited.

I was thrilled to find out that they have really fast wifi here because both the Patriots and Red Sox were on live this morning and I was able to watch both games while we waited. It’s not often I have a good enough connection to watch Slingbox, so this was pretty exciting for me. We got into our room at about 9:15am and Lynne went straight to sleep. I decided to stay up and watch the rest of the Red Sox game, which they won, and got to talk to Nikki and Leo (with Bella) on Skype. I love this internet connection!

Lynne and I headed out at about 2pm to see what Chiang Mai has to offer. We walked up the main street near our hostel and found a nice little restaurant to grab some lunch in. We moved on further toward the center of town and found a place offering traditional Thai massages for 200 baht ($6.50). We both went in and got the most painful massages in our lives. They were throwing elbows and knees into my muscles and seemed to find every part of me that was sore and accentuated it with pressing as hard as possible. I felt a bit better after leaving the spa, but I’m not sure I’ll be too keen to rush back for another Thai massage any time soon.

We finally got into the Old Town and found a small bar with a happy hour deal. We thought it would be rude to not take part in their offer, so we had a few beers, and then noticed a reggae bar across the street. It looked like a fun little place, so we stopped in there for a quick drink as well, before finding the night bazaar. Shopping is not my thing at all, but Lynne is keen to find gifts to bring home, so this seemed like a good place to start.

Lynne found a lot of stuff for herself, and a few gifts to bring back to Scotland, and I managed to find a watch. My Red Sox watch that I got in 2004 when they won the World Series has finally died, so I needed to get something. I picked up a piece of crap watch for a few dollars, so we’ll see how long that lasts for me. We got a little tired of shopping after about 30 minutes at the market, so we headed into the local Irish bar for a pitcher of beer. We went back out to the markets but only lasted another 30 minutes before we decided it was a good idea to get a tuk-tuk back to the hostel. After a few drinks, Lynne wanted to buy everything she saw, so we’ll come back some other day. We have an early rise for the Elephant park tomorrow, so calling it a night now.