There's a reason that Chang Rai always plays second fiddle to Chang Mai..

So last Monday morning I packed up all my things, strapped them to my back and took a Tuk-Tuk out to the bus station to experiment with the Thai bus system and to head still further north. I bought a ticket (67B), paid 3B to use the bathroom, and then hopped on the non-AC bus, promptly hitting my head (again) on the low ceiling fan, and then dizzily staggered to my seat to get ready for the 3 hour tour. Stopped after an hour and a half for a "break"... but fortunately I didnt wander too far away, b/c the bus pulled out again without much warning. I spent the second half of the bus ride, extremely grateful that I wasn't stuck at a bus stop in the middle of nowhere, w/o my luggage.

Got to the Chang Rai bus station and had to fend off the usual number of Tuk-tuk drivers who are trained to attack when they see a farang. Since I didnt know where I was headed anyway, I decided to save myself the $1 tuk-tuk fare and just started walking around. I ended up at the Mae Hong Son guesthouse in a single (completele with mosquito netting), and shared bath (100B). Not quite the lap of luxury, but sufficient.

Tuesday morning, I rented a regular old pedal bike and decided to pedal around. First I had to find some breakfast... which was challenging. I ended up having some chicken concoction, a unidentified type of fruit, and some sticky rice grilled in a banana leaf. Then because it was there, I went into the 7-11 for some Betagen. What am I going to do when I get back to the states and nobody sells Betagen?

Fueled up for the day, I got back on my bike for more pedalling in traffic. If you look at a map, you will see that Chang Rai is way up in northern Thailand and not anywhere near the coast. So out of curiosity I followed the signs for "Chang Rai beach". Apparently the Chang Rai'ers are as confused as Hopkins kids, b/c there's definitely no beach. They are one step ahead though, b/c its a river bank on what I think was the Mekong River... so atleast they have water and also a little sand. The mystery of the beach solved, I stumbled onto the highlight of my trip to Chang Rai....a basketball court! And wonder of all wonders they had a ball. So naturally I picked it up and did some Mikans, X-outs, and 17s...all in my ill-fitting Chacos of course.

Perhaps its my fault for not being more interested in trekking and hill tribe culture, or maybe its just me being a jaded tourist after 30 days, but Chang Rai just didnt do it for me. So, Wednesday I got back on the bus (careful not to hit my head again) and headed back to Chang Mai.