Hello!!

After spending a couple of adventurous days riding around Pai on our lil scooter, we headed down from the mountains to the capital of the north, Chiang Mai. The journey was a bit of a tummy twister, as there was barely a straight section of road, all the way down the mountains which was a 100km trip. We both felt a bit queezy, and were glad to arrive back on flat ground after a few hours!

When we got to Chiang Mai, our minibus dropped us right outside where we were planning on staying, which was really nice as it saved us a long walk... most likely getting lost. However when we got there it turned out to be a big concrete building, and although it was clean, there was no character to it at all, one person we met described it as a prison. We stayed there for one night, chilled out and had a wander around the streets. Chiang Mai had such a nice atmosphere and there are so so many bookshops literally everywhere. We stayed in the old part of town, which is surrounded by a wall and little river. That night we had an amazing veggie indian meal. It was so good we decided to get a room above it! After moving down there the next day we had a brilliant brekkie of muesli and the biggest pile of fruit ever, with some really sweet mango, it all tasted incredible! I (nina) even had an english breakfast tea!!! For the rest of that day we didn't do a great deal, just sat and chilled, eating some nice food and having a little explore of the local area... although we didn't get very far! That evening, we went down to the Night market, which is recommended as one of Chiang Mai's best attractions. It wasn't quite the same experience as 'Chatuchak market' in Bangkok, but still had some nice little bits & bobs. Nina bought another pair of trousers (which are so comfy and cool!) and even spotted some pretty convincing fake mulberry bags. (I will go back and get one on the way through!) I even stocked up on cheap baccy etc as it's quite hard to find elsewhere! lol.

The next day, we went down to the 'UN Irish Pub'. It was so cool and actually like an english pub. We had wicked sandwiches for brekkie on a proper baguette (blt and tuna which I have been craving!) and then we walked down through the town, and headed toward a huge Carrefour which was about 4km's away. We stocked up on all the bits that we would need for the next few months, and even found some cheese spread and saucisson, it was IMENSE and we ate it sitting by the river, basking in the sun lol. We visited the night market again that night, and saw big bags of various spices, think we may have to buy some and try and smuggle them back into England =). We also went back to the 'UN Irish Pub' that evening, and had the most amazing meal.... a real burger complete with bacon, chedder cheese and a fried egg, and a real steak & onion pie with gravy and peas MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!! We never thought we would miss pie lol, and thought it would be nice to treat ourselves to an English meal before leaving Thailand, the land of home comforts!

We caught a bus the next day to Chiang Khong, which is the border town on the Thai side of the Mekong river. Wahoo... off to Laos, very very exciting.

Love Love

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