28.10.12
I awoke with my arms around my lover, she said I had been sleeping like that
all night, I said I was just making up for lost time. We snoozed for a few
minutes then ambled downstairs at 9.30am for our complimentary breakfast of
fried egg, frankfurter, tea and toast. We packed our bags, leaving them with
the front desk when we checked out and headed off in a tuk-tuk to the weekend
market at Chatuchak Park which I’d visited a fortnight previously. Due to the
early hour the market wasn’t as busy as the last time I’d been, but it was just
as sweaty as I remembered it, squeezing down the narrow isles filled with
various goods. We both grew tired after two hours or so of passing pretty much
the same stuff in different locations, but left with a few bags each. We took a
taxi back to Sarasinee Mansions to collect our bags and change, then hailed
another to take us to Don Mueng airport for a domestic flight to Chiang Mai. An
hour later our plane touched down on the northern grounds of Thailand, and we
followed the recommendation of some girl I’d chatted to in Phnom Penh, asking
the taxi booker to take us to the Top North. She said there was both a hotel
and guesthouse by that name, so I asked which had a pool and she said it was
the hotel. The driver dropped us there, and rode off with our fare before we
could discover that this place was way beyond our price range, and that the
guest house also had a pool. My back was killing as I lugged my heavy backpack
back and forth up the road numerous times trying to find exactly where this
place was, spitting angry venom at the annoyance the taxi lady had caused us,
and wondering why I’d paid for the pleasure of breaking my back walking around.
Sarah kept her cool, asked somebody on the street and got directions for us to
follow. Five minutes later, we were there. I threw my bag down, along with 300
baht, and went up to our room. We had a decent sized bed, our own bathroom and
a small balcony with a view of another guest house ten metres away. It was
perfect for what we needed.
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| Multi-talented, some might say, but his musicianship left a lot to be desired. |
Rachael and Kat had spoken highly of the Sunday market and
it’s variety of street food, so I’d planned our flights to bring us here in
time to go out and sample the grub and goods on offer. We hit the strip by 8pm
and browsed the stalls selling handicrafts and clothing, then grabbed some
dinner. I opted for a decent selection of freshly made sushi rolls, which were
all priced between 5 and 10 baht each, knocked them back in record timing, then
returned for the same again, whilst Sarah sat at a plastic garden table behind
the stalls, eating some delicious pork shoulder and rice. I concurred that the
food there was excellent, feeling the sushi buzz as we strolled around picking
up nice little bits and pieces at decent prices. I was digging Chiang Mai, it’s
a fairly big city, but a completely different vibe to Bangkok, more laid back,
not so intensely polluted by noise, smog and dirt. We followed the crowds down
Walking street, and were faced with even more market stalls. It started getting
a bit too much for me, I get stressed when unable to freely move through crowds
and it was starting to feel like a festival for foreign tourists all wandering
around aimlessly with no sense of direction or social awareness. We ducked down
a quiet side street to avoid the crowds and made our way quickly back to the
main street where the market started. We stopped into a place called John’s Bar
to have our first drink together. Sarah opted for a large bottle of Chang, a
local beer that is 6.4% alcohol, and I went for a Mai Tai, because I was tired
of drinking beer, which I don’t even like, except for Beer Lao, which for some
reason I find excellent. It made for a funny photograph of us with our first
drinks, me looking like a dandy whilst Sarah sipped her man-sized bottle
happily. They were showing the Liverpool vs Everton derby, so we sat watching
that, rooting for Everton who are by far the superior team in my opinion. It
was stuck at 2-2 for most of the second half, until the dying seconds when
Liverpool banged one in. The scousers there all cheered, but their celebrations
were short lived as the goal was ruled offside. I laughed and we left. We
returned to the Top North hopped onto our bed and back into each other’s arms,
where we would stay until the roosters started crowing again.
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| His and Hers beverages. |
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