Dharma bums

Thursday, January 18, 2007, an unexpected day in Chiang Mai.  We had a wake-up call set for 6:30AM, We had breakfast, checked out of Galare Guest House and were in a taxi to the train station by 7:30.  our train was scheduled to depart Chiang Mai for Bangkok at 8:45.  I watched the bags while Normano and Don B went across the street to get a shave.  They returned to the station in time to hear that our train was delayed until 9:30.  After what seemed like a very long 45 min. wait, they announced that it was now delayed until 10:00.  With little hope that it would actually show up at 10:00 and our connection with the train from Bangkok to Chumpon in jeopardy, we decided to take our chances at the airport.

The airport was another adventure.  The Bangkok Airways ticket booth had a sign “no flights to Bangkok today” but they had a direct flight to Ko Samui, one island away from our destination.  Unfortunately we were too late to get the flight for that day.  We went to the Thai Asia Air window, all of their flights to Bangkok were booked for the entire day.  We checked the third and last carrier, same story.  We went back to Bangkok Airways and purchased tickets for the 10:35 flight on the following day, hence our extra day in Chiang Mai.

Now our only issue was finding lodging for the night.  Normano immediately called our friends at the Galare.  They had nothing available but they did offer to help us find a place and, true to their word, they found us a room with three single beds at a place practically next door at the Riverview Lodge.  if anything, it was even nicer than the Galare despite the snoring.

 By now it was lunch time followed by nap time.  Post nap, we spent the remainder of the afternoon working on the travel blog and checking the Lonely Planet for a place to eat.  We opted for an Italian restaurant, da Stefano, the food was quite good (Normano has promised a food review later), we met one of the owners, Sebastiano, who was very friendly and talkative.  He recommended the Tiramisu for dessert which we all enjoyed, splitting one portion three ways.  Our table was right next to the entrance so we became aware of a young woman hanging around the entry.  We invited her to sit in the empty chair at our table while she waited for her take-out pizzas.  Iris is a Bosnian gypsy who escaped her native country 10 years ago and has been living in Australia and Thailand since.  Our extra day ended we headed off to our new location for a nights rest.

The Karma?  Instead of spending 20 hours on two different trains and a three hour ferry ride, we spent about two hours in the air and a 45 min. ferry ride.  We arrived in Ko Pha–Ngan within a few hours of our original plan. Dharma Karma again.

Dharma Bernie