Out In The Open

-


Sleep didn't come to us so easily last night. The little bungalow / mosquito net had a comfy mattress but didn't stop the noise of the cars, the cockerels and the night club.

Coffee and Internet searching kept us busy until it was time to start our walk back to bus terminal 3. It would take about an hour to arrive at the station with a stop for breakfast on the way.

The bus to Chiang Rai left on time. It was full of fresh faced backpackers and a scattering of Thais. We slept for most of the 3 hour journey and arrived fresh at our destination. Another walk from this station took us through a market, residential streets and delivered us to our hotel.

The hotel received good reviews and we could understand why. Newly renovated it certainly stood out from the crowd of budget hotels. After dropping our bags we sat and relaxed in the social area with free tea, coffee and hot chocolate to keep us entertained.


We eventually decided it was time to explore and took a gentle stroll along the river. There were a number of Zumba sessions in full swing plus people playing tennis and basketball. We took a shortcut through a fancy restaurant before arriving in the heart of Chiang Mai.

We decided to eat first at a cute little spot before visiting the night market. We busied ourselves 'shopping' until 8 o'clock when the golden clock tour makes its daily chimes.


Walking back was a breeze. We checked out 10 Baht washing machines, bought washing powder and fruit for tomorrow.

Popular posts from this blog

First Day Explorers

-
Image
After a good night's sleep, we woke early...ish for breakfast. We were hoping for a traditional Indian spicy fair but got a traditional boiled egg, bread and jam. We washed it down with a hot cup of Chai, so all was good. We ventured out in search of a few sites, however were easily distracted by fresh fruit platters, mango lassis and mobile phone cover shops. Next, an ATM stop to test various SBI machines. One small branch failed but the head office one worked. This was near the Mumbai stock exchange, complete with bull outside. We ended up at Horniman circular garden. An interesting name but the garden was being 'refurbished' - dug up. Marine drive is famous amongst the people of Mumbai. A huge boulevard next to the sea for romantic strolls. The stroll today wasn't filled with romance, more noise pollution as the whole sea defence boulevard was being fixed. Almost all of it for mile after mile. We had to walk on the dual carriageway but soon got fed up and headed inla
Read more

Le Havre to Nevers (7th-18th March)

-
Image
We have been cycling for 2 weeks now and have covered a lot of ground.  We have had varying weather of heavy rain, scattered showers and dry but cold.  Night's in the tent have been pretty cold! THE ROUTE (Le Havre) After our last night in a 'proper bed' for a while, we stocked up on food and headed out of Le Havre. We cycled through farmland to a pretty little town called Harfleur and then on to Lillebonne. We saw 2 massive birds nesting at the top of a post. Our first night camping was beside the river, very tranquil. (First night camping on the River Seine) We followed the Seine down to Rouen. This is funky town with lots of bars and restaurants all along the river. Unfortunately the heavens opened just as we approached so, after taking shelter for a while we continued on to find a camping spot for the night, this time near a railway line. From Rouen we headed throy St Aubin Les Ebeuf and Les Andleys following the river.  We saw lots of beautiful houses and chateau
Read more

Around Valence 22nd March to 9th April

-
Image
We are now staying with friends. One lives one side of the Rhone in the Ardeche and the other on the other side, in the Drome Region. We had originally planned to visit for a few days, however, due to the weather we have been here over 2 weeks! The day we arrived we had blue skies and sunshine, which lasted the first day! Since then we have had a lot of rain, thunder, lightning and hail. Our friends have very kindly said we can stay as long as we like. We have spent some time mending broken things eg. the bike repair kit bag, which virtually disintegrated and the sleeping mat, which we have now accepted cannot be fixed easily! We went to the Salon des Vin de France for a wine tasting event and tasted many wines from around France - some good, some not to our taste and not worth the high price. One sunny day we explored Valence. There are some very pretty parks and lots of historical buildings. We saw the Maison de Tete and a house where Napoleon used to live. We wandered the
Read more