First full day in Chiang Mai

After my first good sleep in almost 5 days, I found a great little breakfast spot in the middle of the old city and am off to check out some wats and get myself a much deserved massage. I think I've had enough trains for awhile.

I took a picture of my fruit shake from breakfast because yes, there's a naked lady in my fruit juice. And here I was beginning to think Chiang Mai was more wholesome than Patong.

A PG Happy Ending: The Royal Guesthouse

So in the end, after my incredibly long journey I was ecstatic to find a room all my own for 250B (albeit on the 6th floor - up 10 flights of stairs), with my own bathroom, free wifi and a pool. I like Chiang Mai already :)

This is the view from my room:

My home for 15h straight

So I made it to Chiang Mai, after the longest travel day yet (second to my trip to Asia).

9am: I took an hour long bus from Patong to the Phuket airport. Then, an hour later than it was supposed to, my plane left Phuket and arrived in Bangkok ( it's now 3pm instead of 2pm). I took the subway 6 stops and then walked to the mrt and went another 8 stops to the Hua Lumphong train station where by some very lucky chance I was able to get a ticket on the 10pm train to Chiang Mai. It was now 6pm. Four hours later my train left Bangkok and I spent 15 hours on a sleeper train - third class (it was the only seat I could get). The best part: to travel 700 odd miles from Bangkok to Chiang Mai cost me a grand total of $8.51! The worst part: spending 15 hours in an uncomfortable seat with an upset stomach and running on a severe lack of sleep thanks to my Patong hostel. However, for $8.51 it was worth it. Now I just need a few days to recuperate.

I didn't take a picture of the toilets on this train, it would have involved showing actual waste. Yup, they were that pleasant. So instead, below is a photo of the inside of my train car:

Sweet Indulgence

2nd night in a row of "The best apple and cranberry sorbet combination I've ever had". Yum :D 59B

Street Food of Patong

So in the interest of trying to get a decently priced meal here in Patong, as well as getting the full cultural experience, I decided to scope out some street food for dinner last night. I found this little place down a side alley off Bangla Street where a bunch of locals were eating. I had no idea what most of what she was putting in it but she told me they were rice noodles and some pork and fish. So I said sure, one bowl, no soy sauce. And this is what I got for 50B:

My two new books

Shannon recommended Little Princes which is about a guy who works to bring home the lost children of Nepal. The other book I bought Bc my other lonely planet was way too big. Some content to keep me occupied while in Patong :)

A quick side note...

Mother and Grandma do not worry: even though this place is "mind boggling" (to say the least) is is safe (day and night). There are still a decent spattering of normal tourists wandering around (probably wondering how the heck they ended up here...I heard Patong was a party beach but wow, way off) and even families with children. Why you'd bring your children to a place where the bracelets say "f**k you" and "big d*** " and so on is beyond me. There are neon signs with boobs and ass everywhere. If I had kids I'd be on the first bus outta here. Anyhow don't worry, i'm safe, full and heading down to the beach :)

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