Hello again - I'm doing quite well so far at writing this everyday!
I last left you on the bus, where I was for a total of 10 hours. The ladyboy served us a snack of a Yakult and a 'filled bun' (mine was Milky Custard and Vix's was a more unusual Mung Bean).
We arrived in Chiang Mai at 5.45am, it was still dark and we were a bit worried about how we were going to find our hostel, but luckily there was a man holding a card with our names on it. Us and two boys were loaded into the back of a truck type vehicle and taken to our hostel. We found out at the hostel that not only was there no free wifi, but our rooms wouldn't be ready for another 4 hours, at 10am. The lounge area was open air so we got into our sleeping bag liners and settled down to wait for a room. I was absolutely shattered as I got almost no sleep on the bus, but at about 7am a drunken guy arrived back after a night out and provided us with entertainment as he searched for more beer, got hit by a scooter in the process (he was fine just cut his knees) and told us the same stories over and over again because he had forgotten he had told them before. An hour later his pal arrived, equally drunk, and they provided some comedy for us whilst we waited for our rooms. It was quite sad really - the first guy especially seemed to be totally out of it, telling us how he had got bitten by a dog but couldn't be bothered to finish his course of rabies injections because he wanted to go to a Reggae Festival, and how he had got his tongue pierced in Bangkok but the ball is now lost inside his tongue. He also said how he had taken some heroin in Bangkok and he was away travelling to be reckless after splitting up with his girlfriend of 5 years. He seemed like a nice guy but was clearly just completely off the rails - hopefully he sorts his life out before something bad happens. A Canadian guy told us Oscar (the drunk guy) had also got hit by another scooter the night before - he must run into them! He was really funny to listen to rambling on but it was also a bit sad/worrying.

After a while we had some breakfast and headed into town to pass the time, it is a lot smaller and quieter than Bangkok so we had a nice walk around and visited another temple (luckily we had appropriate attire this time). We went back to the guesthouse expecting our rooms to be ready, but instead we were told they weren't ready and we were being moved somewhere else.
We got into yet another truck and were taken to a hotel with a pool and aircon, so we did quite well out of it! However on arrival we were told our rooms wouldn't be ready for an hour so there was yet more waiting around. After an hour and a half we were getting impatient as it was nearly midday and we really wanted a shower and a rest, so we asked and the lady told us we had to wait for yet another hour! We were getting quite annoyed by this point so she offered for us to go into another room downstairs to shower and gave us a key. The key turned out to be a guest's room who wasn't in, and her stuff was everywhere - it's a good job we are nice people as we could have stolen all of her stuff, I couldn't believe the lady had even allowed us to go in there! We decided not to shower in there and the lady finally showed us to our room. It is smallish but okay and we have a balcony with a nice view. We showered and went to find some lunch, there are less street vendors in Chiang Mai but we eventually found a really nice restaurant which did Thai and Western food, so we sat outside, it was my favourite meal yet. I ordered vegetarian flat noodles but it came with meat in, so I sent it back. The manager came and apologised and was so nice about it so I didn't complain. Our three meals and three drinks came to the equivalent of £3.33 altogether which is pretty amazing.
We got very lost on the way back to the hotel but after doing a few circles we eventually found it! Vicky went off to meet her Thai family friends and Vix and I sat with our feet in the pool (see pic) and spent ages working out the cheapest way to get to Laos. We eventually decided on bus the whole way instead of taking the slow boat, it saves us a night's accommodation and a fair bit of money.
We then moved to a big daybed and wrote our journals (well I started to write my blog), but we ended up chatting to some Irish guys who had just finished the trek we are doing tomorrow. They said it was really fun and definitely worth doing so I'm glad we have booked it. We had a meeting about the trek at 6pm, where we met our guide 'Rocky', who told us what to pack and what we would be doing - I'm really excited!
We were going to go to the night markets tonight and have some street food, but Vicky said that we had been invited to dinner with the Thai family.
The daughter, Porn (pronounced Parn!), came to pick us up with her mother and took us to a Thai restaurant. We had only really seen the quiet section of Chiang Mai within the city walls and moat, but we went to a restaurant in a much more built up area. Porn's husband and dad were coming to meet us but her dad's flight from Southern Thailand was delayed so we started eating without them. I had to break my vegetarianism as there wasn't much choice for veggies on the menu and I didn't want to seem too fussy, so I had some chicken dishes too. The waiters serve you rice and then everybody shares the food in the middle. The food just kept coming and the men joined us halfway through. The family were really really nice and friendly - Thai people are really accommodating. I realised during the meal that I was putting my fork in my mouth and eating with my left hand - both nonos in Thailand! I started to use my spoon instead (they don't use knives), but as I am left handed I was useless with my right hand and must have looked a bit stupid trying to eat. I thought Porn was about our age but she is actually 33 and looks amazing! She took us back to hers afterwards to lend us some warm clothes for the jungle, which was really nice of her. Her and her husband have built a really lovely coffee shop and bakery at the end of their garden, it is quite big and really stylish - apparently it is really popular with Thai students. The family have invited us to a cultural dinner on Thursday after our trek with Thai Dancing, and then on Friday they are showing us some of the attractions in Chiang Mai before we leave for Laos on Saturday morning, so it is really great to get a tour from some bonafide locals.
We're back in the room now and all packed for the trek tomorrow, I think the first thing we do tomorrow is ride an elephant, I'm so excited!
I will try and write my blog each night in the jungle if my phone battery allows, but I won't be able to publish the entries until Thursday evening (Thai time) when I am back in a wifi zone, so keep checking!
xxx