Day 6: After a yummy breakfast of fried eggs, toast and pancakes we packed our luggage, caught a tuk tuk back to the Sukhothai main bus station and bought our tickets to Chiang Mai. It seemed we may have missed the 11:00 bus (or it had an "accident" as we had heard a number of times in previous days) so we waited the hour or so till the 11:50 bus.

It came! The first win considering yesterday's experience. We hopped on and began the long journey north - taking about 6 hours in total. Driving through the country and hillsides was certainly interesting. From vast rice paddies and farmed crops to dense jungle with vines and vegetation that no one had probably dared enter for years. Two points of interest - passing an elephant conservation centre and also a large golden monk statue.

Overall the bus got us to Chiang Mai safely. A couple movies and some music and snacks made sure we didn't go stir crazy. When we arrived we hopped in a Red car (a red painted ute with a closed tray on the back, lined with cushioned wooden seats. The driver took us to our hotel: Rendevous - a relatively new and cute little hotel just on the edge of town.

We dropped our bags and headed out to the Main Street markets for dinner. Kaolao pork soup (containing pork neat, meatballs, spring onions, fresh bean sprouts and spinach in a nice salty sour broth. Topped of with some dried chilli and accompanied with a Leo beer (from the 7/11) it was the perfect meal after a long day of travelling. For dessert Xi bought a banana roti from another stall (I tried a piece - aloy! Definitely getting my own next time). However, I was still in a savoury mood so I bought a charcoal skewer - BBQ duck this time. Very nice, though lots of bones to navigate.

After that it was back to the hotel, a shower, the last half of a movie and bed!