Ferg & Jude\'s Thailand Adventure 2002

Sunday 10th November
Travelling north to Chiangrai

We left some of our luggage stashed at the Riverside Guesthouse and headed for the bus station in a songthaew. We caught the 9.15am bus and it took 4 hours to reach Chiangrai. The road through the mountains was very winding and steep but scenic all the same. We avoided the bus station touts and walked into the town centre. We found Pam's Guesthouse in one of the back streets and booked in. The room was clean with fan and hot water although the bed was rock hard. We had a little balcony overlooking the soi. We took a walk through a day market that took up a whole city block. It sold everything from clothes, hardware and food. Some of the food was still alive including eels, fish, worms and cockroaches. We hired a 125cc motorbike for 300bt/day from a shop next door to the guesthouse. We took spin down to the river and got some great shots of the sun setting over the mountains and Mae Kok River. We got caught in a traffic jam near the day market on the way back and just made it back before dark. We parked the bike inside the guesthouse and then spent some time on their computer checking emails (20bt/hr).

That evening we took a 5 minute walk to the night market. It was filled with hill tribe handicrafts, fantastic colours. The vendors were not so pushy here but they also weren't prepared to bargain much with the prices. The food stalls were all laid out around a big square and there was a stage on one side. There were hill tribe dancers and a solo guitarist performing while we ate our dinner. We bought some gifts for the family back home then headed back to the guesthouse.