Chiang Mai: Going through the Motions
Wednesday, August 1st, 2007The heat and wanna-be hippies of Bangkok forced us onto an overnight bus to Chiang Mai, Thailand`s second city and a twelve hour bus ride away. The twelve hours started with the bus driver taking forty-five minutes to complete a lap of Sanam Luang, a huge park in the middle of Bangkok. It was peak hour traffic, around 6pm, and we inched around the park with the other cars, never stopping to pick anyone up, just driving round in circles for forty-five minutes for the hell of it. Oh well, what can you do, eh?
I had a refreshingly comfortable night`s sleep on the bus, and we arrived in the drizzle of Chiang Mai by 8am. But rather than arriving at the bus station, we were dropped at a service station outside of town, then taken in a tuk-tuk with all the other backpakcers from the bus to a guesthouse where the owner tried to sell us a room and some tours. We politelz declined, drank our complimentary tea, and then got the hell out of there.
Dave