Bangkok to Chiang Mai, Log home + Night market

Oince we have been in Thailand it has been 30+ degrees, and whats even better about hot weather is that we don’t feel like snacking on chocolate, crisps or sweets. AND i dont drink tea when its hot so no biscuits either!

However, when we saw these at the train station, we just couldn’t resist :o)

This is my life right now…
But trust me- i’m not complaining.

Fried sweetcorn and sweet chilli sauce! 60p!

We were preparing for the worst…

Initally we got on the train and there were seats, but then at about half 7 a lady came around and turned them into bunk beds. We had booked late on, and only managed to get the top bunks. These are cheaper as they have less room and no window, so for that reason we weren’t really expecting to sleep well.

But to our surprise, they were actually pleasant. Even the sheets were clean and the pillow nice and… feathery, actually i think the word is plump? Better than the hostel we were in last night anyway.
Mum got me some little boofle socks before i went away and insisted that they came with me.
38 degree weather + socks = not happening.
BUT, the air conditioning was so strong that we were actually rather chilly and they came in handy…

…cutie

Me and leanne on the sleeper train!

Testing the safety belts in case of an earthquake or… a bad dream. Don’t fancy rolling off there any time soon!
They worked…funnily enough.

e e e e e ….. AH AH AH AH AH.
Thats a reminder for us Leanne!!!!

I actually slept quite well and only woke once in the middle of the night. Genuinly, i thought there was some kind of earthquake and i held on to the side of my bed for dear life but it soon passed and i fell back to sleep.

Leanne herself had a night experience. She ventured to the toilet to find a hole in the floor. The story was enough for me to stop drinking water until we got off the train!

Hahahaha…. breakfast is served. We haven’t seen 7am yet so this was a first.
Leanne went for ham + cheese sandwiches with chips. For breakfast- yes. But the other option was mushroom soup.
I stuck with my water and my ipod.

We were supposed to, by this time, have about an hour to go. We had slept thankfully, through most of the 14 hour journey and were refreshed and raring to go.
Until some annoying woman runs down the train ‘Happy Songkram’ shortly followed by ‘Train go no further, you leave and get bus rest of way’
P.s. i spelt it how she said it- say it in a Thai-ish/chines-ish voice to get the jist.

Anyway, off we got and waited about an hour for the bus.

Being English we are well trained in pushing and shoving. And the hundreds of us that were waiting were certainly not going to all get on this coach.
Mission accomplished.

Mr. Thai man told us the bus would take 30 minutes…

2 hours later…

Finally arrive and jump on a taxi to our hotel. And yes Thai new year is still happening and yes we did get soaked by hoses buckets and guns on the way.

But we arrived to our own little Log Home paradise.

And it did not take us long to get our bikinis on…

Leanne getting up to date with her Thai vocabulary…

Whilst i skyped mum and pup back home.

After getting operation tan well underway we headed to the famous Night Bazaar in Chiang Mai, a 10 minute walk from where we are staying…

Couple of things we learnt.
1. Never take Leanne shopping, she WILL buy everything.
2. Bartering is not one of Leannes strong points. When they first say the price- you dont just go ‘yeah okay fine’ and give them the money. Or else, yes you will wonder where all your money has gone!
hahah!

Found ourselves, once again being truely British.
Banana pancake with Nutella on.