The nights sleep on the sleeper train wasn't that bad. I was really surprised as I thought I'd probably be awake half of the night. I had earplugs in and the train wasn't rattling along the track so got quite a few hours sleep. We arrived into Chiang Mai at around 7:30am.

Walking out of the station we were greeted by a crowd of taxi and tuk tuk drivers all attempting to get business off tired travellers. Thankfully we had transport to our next hotel already arranged so hopped into a mini bus.

This next accommodation was arranged by the agency in Bangkok so we had no idea what we would be greeted by and were expecting the worst.

We arrived at the hotel and it was exactly as predicted, the worst! When we arrived at our room, the looks on our faces must have said it all as the manager said 'this isn't 5 star, you're backpackers now.' As soon as he left us to it we decided there was no way in hell we were staying there.

We aren't snobs (well not that much) but this room was disgusting. Whilst we have prepared for lesser quality hotels, we aren't going to stay somewhere dirty. There's no excuse for unclean bedding that so obviously hadn't been changed and the pillows smelt of cat wee. Or the damp on the walls, flies in the room, door handles falling off. It was like something you'd see on hotel nightmares.

As we were that tired from the sleeper train we had a nap using our travel pillows and then logged onto the hotels wifi to find a new hotel. We checked out 4 hours later. The funny thing was that the receptionist didn't seem surprised, it must happen all the time.

We got to our new hotel and were very relieved to find a nice clean room. Phew!

That night we went out for a lovely meal and then a few drinks at a local bar. We found a lovely little restaurant serving Thai food and it was amazing. The best Spring Rolls I have ever tasted. I love how everything is so much cheaper out here, 10 for a meal for 2 with starters and drinks. Not bad at all!

Chiang Mai is such a lovely city, a lot nicer and calmer than the chaos that is Bangkok. Walking round you can see walls that were built 100s of years ago next to new builds, its so nice to see the contrast. This is what travelling is all about.