I have written before about how I tend not to take pictures of everything I see - and I have noticed since getting a DSLR camera that I have curbed this tendency even more as it takes at least fifteen seconds longer to take it out of the case and get it all set up just for the sake of a picture which might not have a meaning to anyone other than me.
Naturally when I visited places like the KL Tower or Borobudur it was only human to act like a tourist, wowed by everything that I was seeing and taking pictures to my hearts content. One of my favourite quotes is "(Next time you get in the endzone) act like you've been there before" - I am trying to immerse myself in as much Asian culture as possible but not turn into someone who does everything and goes everywhere that their guidebook says.
Having been on this continent before, I feel like I am desensitised to a lot of things, but that doesn't mean that I don't turn my nose up when I get a whiff of an open drain or shake my head in amazement when people try to get up from their seats on the plane when the wheels have literally just hit the ground. It's a delicate balancing act and sometimes when in Rome....
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Today was actually supposed to be the day I left Thailand altogether, but re-jigging my schedule due to some issues I came across with flights I am set to stay here for another two days. Some extra time in the country isn't a problem for me as it gives me an opportunity to travel to another city and this morning I set out to go slightly more northerly in the direction of Chiang Rai.
Heading further towards the border with Laos and Myanmar, Chiang Rai is Thailand's northern-most city and like Chiang Mai has a good reputation with many people choosing to use this as an access point either into or out of the country.
I have decided to spend two nights here to experience everything it has to offer and am hoping that it will be just as enjoyable-a stay as I've had in the rest of the country.
Due to their close proximity in the northern region of the country, the best wait to travel between the two Chiangs is by coach, so after checking out from my hotel this morning I enquired about the best way to go about this. On the map I had picked up at the airport, there were a total of four bus stations spread out around the city and despite looking on the internet I had no clue what-so-ever which was the best one to help me continue my journey.
Considering how many of them there are in Chiang Mai, I didn't feel like that would be a problem, but it took a good two or three minutes for one to bob past the hotel so I could flag it down and ask how much.
We agreed on a price of 100 baht, which is exactly how much they mentioned it should be at reception, and with that we took off in the direction of the bus stop.
Tuk-tuks are the cause of much ire in Thailand considering as a tourist you seem to spend a lot of time being hassled by drivers offering you a lift or simply beeping their horn at you. They do have their merits though and are a very speedy and unique way of navigating the streets. I'd much rather weave between the traffic in a tuk-tuk than ride in a taxi any day.
It was about twenty minutes before we reached the bus station and upon arriving there it seemed like it was extremely busy.
It seemed as though there was a bit of a queue and in order to try to work as efficiently as possible I had to take a number, wait until it appeared on screen and then go to that ticket window in order to be served.
I'm not quite sure everyone understood the system, but there was a very officious lady standing there making sure that the correct people were in the queue.
It took about twenty minutes until 662 was called, which was my number and I purchased a ticket for the next available bus which was at 3pm. I know there are two bus terminals in Chiang Rai, and I tried to ask which one was which as by ticket only said 'terminal one', but the man behind the desk didn't speak enough English to be able to help me out.
It was about 1pm when I'd eventually got to the front of the queue so with a bit of time to spare I grabbed some lunch and a seat and waited until it was time for me to go.
I had been told that the bus would pull up at either stop 20 or stop 21 so I tried to make sure that around 2:30pm I was could see the stops and the number of the bus to make sure I got on the right one. My bus eventually pulled up and I boarded as we set off on our way.
One thing I had neglected to ask was how long the journey would take - I had read online that the time depended on the season of the year you were travelling as during the winter it can be particularly hazardous if the weather isn't very good due to the mountainous state of the roads. I figure that despite the 30-plus degree temperature, it has only just turned to spring here and I was hoping there would certainly be no treacherous roads for us to encounter today.
There was some good scenery on the journey to Chiang Rai with plenty of hills in the background as we drove along. I think the drive eventually took us about three and a half hours so I made it to the bus stop at about 6:30pm. Once we got to Chiang Rai, we stopped off at the 'new' bus stop first which is on the outskirts of town, before eventually stopping at the 'old' bus stop (down on the ticket as terminal one) which is not far from the centre of the city itself.
The bus stop was actually in the middle of a market which I later discovered was a rather splendid night bazaar, and I knew that my hotel wasn't far from there so I went out hoping to find some signs pointing me in the right direction of the nearest landmark which is the city's clock tower.
I was following another couple of westerners who I'd heard were talking about going to the centre of town. Just causally walking along I saw signs to the Chiang Rai Bed and Breakfast Hotel which is where I am staying and the arrow was pointing in the opposite direction so I made an about turn and headed back off the way the sign was indicating. After about five minutes I came to a bit of a crossroads and looking to the left I saw a golden clock tower which was standing proudly in the middle of the street. I headed towards it, knowing that my hotel was only about a two minute walk from there and after getting to the clock I turned right and sure enough I had navigated myself to the right place.
I noticed a small sign as I was coming into my hotel which said something about a light show on the clock tower at 7pm so I decided to take this in and headed out armed with my camera about five minutes before it was due to start.
I didn't manage to grab a picture of it in the light, but the street the clock tower is down has gold railings down the middle and each of the street lights near the clock tower itself is gold - it is extremely impressive and naturally looked brilliant when lit up:
Once it got to 7pm, the clock began to chime and all the street lights in the area went out leaving just the glowing landmark in the middle illuminated.
The music faded as did the coloured light effects as the street lights came back on and the tower went back to being a shimmering shade of gold.
Due to my sluggish start to the day yesterday I didn't complete one of the tasks I set myself to do whilst I was in Chiang Mai which was to get a Thai massage. I figured that whilst I was here I may as well attempt to make the most of the cheap cost of the service, and with the amount of time I have spent doing things which are probably destroying my muscles such as sitting on buses, planes and carrying a heavy bag on my back, this might be a great opportunity to experience some 'lazy man's yoga'.
I believe I have explained the story before about how Kevin and I spent about an hour scoping out places in Phuket to get a massage, extremely worried about the reputation of the 'full service massage' which tends to have become something of a negative stereotype. Once again, being alone, I had to be even more weary and on the search for some food yesterday I had seen a number of places that offered massages in full public view - something which would be ideal for me tonight.
Heading towards the market I had walked through earlier - which had now become the night bazaar - I saw that there were a couple of places there and after looking at the prices settled on one which was essentially being run out on the street in front of the massage parlour itself.
I paid for a leg, back and arm massage which are probably the areas which are affected most by my travelling and was about an hour long by the time it was finished.
I don't think I have actually had a massage anywhere outside of Thailand, but I always find that pain is a strange sensation for you to be having when you are essentially doing something which is designed to relax you and ease tension.
I haven't really had any opportunities to do any stretching exercises or yoga since I came here and I often find that at the end of the day when I have been doing a lot of walking that I would really enjoy the sensation of putting my feet in a bucket or warm water and relaxing - no such luck so far, but I guess a massage was also a good option.
Once I was finished I continued to walk around the market on the search for food. The market itself looked pretty interesting, and was much closer together than the one I walked around in Chiang Mai yesterday so I browsed a couple of the stalls before I came to a central area which had food stalls all around the outside.
The middle section was very busy with a band playing at the front and lots of tables set out - almost all of which were full:
I browsed around the outside eventually finding somewhere to eat and picked up a couple of items of street food and a fruit smoothie before walking my way back to the hotel.
Relax
Frankie Goes to Hollywood (1984)
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