Chiang Mai, Thailand

After a ridiculously long journey from Luang Prabang, we finally made it to the Tree Residence Hotel around 17:00 looking, smelling and feeling a little worse for wear! We were in no mood to explore and it was already getting dark, so after a long and much needed shower we walked about 5 minutes away from the hotel to the South Gate Food Market where we had our first bad street food (Crispy Pork with rice - both of which were cold and not very tasty!). However for 60p each we couldn’t complain. We popped to Tesco (yes you read that right!!) for some naughty munchies to make ourselves feel better before heading back to the hotel and crashing out!!

Late the next morning, we headed out to explore and get brunch. Walking into the old town which reminded us a little of Ha Noi, with crowed streets, food stalls, markets and lots of traffic. Our brunch turned into lunch of some very strange not so nice toasted sandwiches, we were starting to think Thailand didn’t do good food. Now it was time for sight seeing which was mostly temples, after seeing so many on our trip we decided to just choose two and take it easy. Both temples were amazing with brilliant decorative artwork and the most amazing monk shrines, they were wax work and looked real.

It was starting to get really hot and I wasn’t feeling great (as you can see in the photo), so we stopped yet again for some much needed ice-blended fruit shakes.

It was now late afternoon and a Saturday meaning the Saturday Walking Street was getting set up and it was supposed to be near our hotel. Heading back we saw it was indeed near the hotel, right outside having to weave through the stalls to get to the front door. After a quick shower we went to explore. These markets differed to the ones we have seen through most of SEA as it was goods you would buy in shops, no rip offs, no real bargains and quality. Once half way down the street it started to get very crowed and repetitive so it was time for food.

This time we decided to go for a stall that had someone cooking from scratch with fresh food to order. We came across a women with a huge queue and great smelling food so put in our order which meant shouting over everyone else and sat down to watch her cook. It was brilliant!! She was so fast, putting a sprinkle of this, a sprinkle of that, breaking eggs one handed on her spatular and all on a small wok over a small single hob. It was almost mesmerising to watch! This time our plan had worked and the food was amazing (again all for 70p each!) so good we went back the next two nights.

Our next morning was spent doing boring stuff; booking bus tickets, accommodation and checking our bank balance! The day almost gone but the sun still shining we went to the only park in town to relax. The park took up a small space at the corner of the old city wall and was quiet small but perfect for relaxing, with a pond, small bridge and plenty of grassy spots to chill. Once the sun finally went in we headed back for a much needed shower and a change of clothes before going back to our fantastic street stall.

On our last day I was starting to feel even worse and lacked any energy so thought we would make it a relaxing one before our night bus to Bangkok. We ate breakfast at a small coffee shop, checked out, brought snacks from Tesco and relaxed in the park till late afternoon. Perfect! It was then back to our now local food stall, where the women now remembered us and laughed at the “No Spice!” hand gestures. Stomachs satisfied we grabbed our packs and jumped into a “Jumbo” to the bus station.