Bangkok 2.0

The day didn’t start so well. To make sure I didn’t lose all my cards and money on the elephants and in the river I had secretly ensconced them inside the book I bought on the first day in Chiang Mai (it seemed pointless at the time, but it comes into play now). Three cards (debit, credit, etc) and a 1,000 Baht note were hidden from view and I would retrieve them on my return from the day trip. Or so I thought. As I flicked through my new book I retrieved my cards, but the 1,000 Baht note was nowhere to be found. Panick. Had it fallen on the floor? Had I really put it in the book? I had been hungover and tired when I put it in there, because I couldn’t find my money belt. But I was sure I put it in there. The only thing to do was to search through everything and double-check that I hadn’t put it anywhere else by mistake. But it wasn’t there.

Where's ma money???

I advised the hotel manager of the situation and he asked me to come back later when he had spoken with the maid who had cleaned the room that day. When I returned to the office we sat down with the maid and, of course, she denied any wrong-doing. So there was nothing I could do really, my word against hers, and I wasn’t truly 100% that I hadn’t put it somewhere else instead. So I said I would check again in all my things and let him know. During the rummaging I had a call from him advising that he would get the police involved, but I said that there was no point and we should just leave it. I never thought I would get the money back, but I couldn’t just leave it and not say anything. So there may well be a maid (and owner, if he was in on it all) having a bloody good night out in Chiang Mai at my expense! I will be much more careful in the future…

We had the morning and til 2pm to see what was left of Chiang Mai, so we set off to explore the north of the city. It was a hot day, and it wasn’t long before we were breaking into a sweat in the blazing sun. Much better weather than down in Bangkok where it just seemed to rain all the time! We were trying to find the big temple in the centre of the city, the one that we had apparently walked right past on the first day without noticing it. The map and road names were pretty confusing, but we managed to get on the right track and find the way down to it. And when we got there we realised that it was well worth the effort.

Some dude "catching some air"

Wat Chedi Luang stands graciously in the centre of the city, almost destroyed by earthquakes and the ravages of time. Adorned with huge elephants and containing statues of all shapes and sizes it is a truly amazing sight. I could have stayed for hours there as it was so peaceful and there were so many photographic opportunities I didn’t know where to begin. The place wasn’t bustling with tourists too, which was a refreshing change, especially from the crowds of Bangkok. There was also a small reclining Buddha, which was great to see but we were hoping to see the much bigger version on our second visit of the capitol.

Wat Chedi Luang........in all its splendour

We were then looking around for somewhere to eat (and to try and cool off) and we knew that the Night Bazaar area had some pretty cool food courts there. We had also ear-marked some Baht for some market trinkets and souvenirs, but when we arrived there we realised that the Night Market……was only functioning at night. Of course it was. But in our haste and hunger we had forgotten. So we grabbed a bite from somewhere nearby and then got some supplies from the local 7 Eleven for the journey through to Bangkok.

Chiang Mai to Bangkok

We got a tuk-tuk to the train station, and although maybe a little over-priced we were getting the hang of the haggling thing. It seems that 200 Baht is the standard opening offer for a “farang” (foreigner) and once they work out that you know what you are talking about they are quite willing to come to an arrangement. We had a 2 hour wait for the train, but we are more than used to that by now. It looked good, although we were in carriage 13, which may or may not have been an omen. The sleeper cabins looked different, two up and two down, but across the train carriage rather than all along them in a row. We wondered who would be our top-bunk guests.

Welcome to my bedroom!

Once we were on we made ourselves at home and we were then briefly introduced to the young German girls who would be sleeping above us. They seemed very nice, but kept themselves to themselves in the other bunks as their friend was sleeping round there. We were due to arrive at 6:30am in the morning, but knowing what the Thai trains were like it would be more like 10:00am, which would actually suit us down to the ground as we wouldn’t need to set an early alarm. SO in the end we listened to some tunes, watched a movie (Once Were Warriors – great, but not easy viewing at times) and generally wasted time til we turned in for the night. The lower bunks, being more expensive, were much bigger than the top ones, and it was reasonably comfortable, especially as there was no annoying sliding door letting the noise and the smoke in.