Chiang Mai

If you're looking to get from Koh Phanang to Chiang Mai the following is a recipe for a full day in transit:
- Ute
- Catamaran
- Bus
- Tuk tuk
- Train
- Minivan
It was a little over 26 hours in total, but served its purpose of getting us to Chiang Mai rapidly. You could sleep on the bus and train which was good.

We arrived in Chiang Mai yesterday and had a decent walk around the town. The city is cool and pretty chilled out. It is a lot better than Bangkok in terms of people numbers, noise, navigation etc. The temperature is a little cooler which is great, you can walk around in the sun during the heat of the day without dying of heat stroke. In short, we both think that Chiang Mai is much better than Bangkok.

Last night we went to the night bizarre - a night time market. In all honesty the market wasn't very good. I can't see a lot of the stuff they were trying to sell ever being sold!

After the market we went out for a couple of drinks. It's a pretty quiet night life, but enough people to have a good time. Instead of drinking to excess people are more about socialising and having a good time. I can safely say that we both met our first really annoying person last night. She was Irish, had spent 3-4 months in New Zealand and "knew" absolutely everything.

This morning we decided that we didn't like our accommodation. We shifted to a place that some friends had recommended. It's good - cheap, clean and the main guy that works here is hard case with decent English.

They can organise trekking trips for you. We're both looking at going on a three day (two night) trek in the next day or so. They all seem to involve elephants, walking, waterfalls and local villagers. Apparently the local villagers have electricity and it's a bit of sham but I guess we'll find out for sure soon enough.

It's time for the afternoon nap - early start of 10am this morning!

Hope the real word is going well.

AND in case you were interested we found a South African sports channel which played the AB'z vs Aussies - NZ commentators and all. If the cameraman had of known what he was doing it would have been like watching it on Sky. Didn't find an aussie to watch it with but it was still really good.

Highlights:
- Chiang Mai in general - very chilled out and not so "in your face".

Lessons Learned:
- Don't buy breakfast on the overnight train. The quality is poor and walking past the filthy kitchen carriage afterwards is even worse.
- If you find yourself on an overnight train make sure you get the bottom bunk (we both got the top ones). They are hotter and brighter and you wont wake up shouting "ARGH, ARGH" when you think you're falling out (Dan - I had a sleep mask on and was confused after a long day!).