The flash packing is well and truly behind us! Last 3 nights we've been staying in a hostel called Tipsy Manor at 3 quid a night. It was a cool little hostel, fairly clean and with a nice lounge social area equipped with flat screen tv and a pool table, only problem was the rock hard beds that weren't really mattresses at all but a tough piece of polystyrene. The hostels named after their dog, she was such a little cutie and had a big part to play in us enjoying our stay. Tonight were staying in Pai which is a 3 hour drive from Chiang Mai in a cute little bungalow in what feels like a mini rainforest for 2 quid a night. The bed is a teeny tiny little bit softer than Tipsy so we'll take that!
The drive was better than I had expected a lot of people had said you'll get travel sick, we were fine but to you Guernsey folk it can only be described as going up the Val Des Terres for 3 straight hours!
We've had some chill out time in Chiang mai, moving to a hostel we met some other travellers and had a great night out which started with bowling. We bought a few bottles of Sang som between us (later we realised this stuff is lethal!) Our hostel owner then showed us to a few of the bars, and we shared some famous Thailand 'buckets'. Good fun at the time but we did suffer the next day and it was a bit of a right off for everyone involved!
After pretty much a wasted day, even though a day on the sofa with non stop films and a shameful McDonalds delivery was quite enjoyable, we ventured out yesterday to explore some of the bigger temples in the old city walls. In the biggest of the lot, in the centre of the old walls we were lucky enough to be there at the right time to see a prayer ceremony with the younger monks and sat for about half an hour just watching and taking it in. It was pretty cool, felt very relaxing and even a little spiritual. The temple was gorgeous, shiny gold everywhere with a massive stunning array of Buddha statues and shrines at the front along with lots of little golden hanging flags with birth animals on throughout the temple. There are quite a few rules to abide by when visiting temples to show your respect, you have to dress modestly covering shoulders and knees, remove shoes, show no sign of public affection, can't be too loud and can not point your feet at Buddha.
It's not been so much chasing the sun today as running away from the rain. The rain set in last night and hasn't stopped all day were told its a monsoon that's come across from China.. Yay! Haha. As it was our last morning in Chiang Mai we felt we should go and visit Doi Suthep, a grand temple up in the mountains... This was an absolute wash out! We arrived to water gushing down the mountain and the 304 steps we had to climb, and there was flooding within the temple itself. There's supposed to be the most spectacular view over Chiang Mai from this highest point but all we could see were the trees closest to us the rest was a white wash of mist and fog which was quite gutting. It was a bit of a frustrating trip, but also a very funny one. At one point on our climb me and Amy looked at each other and just started to uncontrollably giggle at the situation we had opted to put ourselves in- ponchos and rainmacks on, drenched through to underwear and water dripping heavily from our foreheads, with what can only be described as a river flowing past our ankles and over our feet!
We've had a slight change of plans instead of now heading into Vietnam we are heading to the south Islands to then do Cambodia and Vietnam in reverse in an attempt to get better weather/ less rain! We have a full day in Pai tomorrow then we head back to board our 24 hour bus journey to Phuket.. Oh yes the flashpack days of hopping on a flight and being at our destination in an hour are over! But on a plus it means I can start my diving Padi course earlier than I expected.