The travel tales of a lost PR girl: Down a River and Up a Mountain Only in Chiang Mai

After an incredible first day in Chiang Mai we weren't expecting anything to top yesterday... but it did! And the rest of the days turned out to be just as interesting!

Down a river in a rubber ring:
Doesn't sound pleasant... but it was. It was a unique experience on a beach and river in Chiang Mai. Now for those of you who don't know about Chiang Mai, its no where near an ocean. Chiang Mai is right in the middle of Thailand so you're wondering where's the beach?

Well it was recently opened by a man who decided he liked Chiang Mai and also liked hammocks. Its named Chiang Mai Tubing and Beach Club. Not opened too long ago it's still a quiet little resort which hasn't been touristyfied (i know its not a word).

There were ten of us (eight of the LoveTEFL who made it to Chiang Mai and two boys who were travelling South Asia and who were also from the UK).

We got there and honestly (this is no lie) we were like WOW! There was sand, little beach cabins with pillows and hammocks in, swing ball sets, a volleyball net, a badminton net and a tightrope. I was like 'yey, volleyball' and 'oh my god badminton!' This place was like a little bit of heaven and definitely a weekend destination... if it wasn't on the other side of the world.

We were asked about beverages and snacks as we would be connected to cooler box (awesome right!) which would have five of us roped together with it. We split into two groups, girls and boys, and were taken up the river so we could paddle ourselves back to the beach resort.

The whole two hours and a bit was a little traumatic with us bumping into the bank of the river and through the twigs and bushes, the low lying ground of the river and mud (tubing is not as exotic as it sounds). But with the sun peeking through the clouds to warm us up a little, my poor wet behind stuck in a little round ring sitting in the (not so clean) river water didn't feel so bad. I shared a few laughs with the girls and we all soaked up the silence of the area (and literally through our clothes), it wasn't a bad few hours (it only got a little bad when the two new boys were around because of their loudness, rudeness and no consideration for some of the peoples feelings in regards to their comments)!

But I guess there are people like that travelling...

Anyhow, we made it back to the beach area (after a few selfies and shots of us rolling down the river). I played all the beach games there; volleyball, badminton (with Mark outlining a proper court with lines... Also marking my side cos my line was exceptionally bent), swing ball, this ball catchy game with a device and sticky hand pad ball (no idea what its real name is). Then me and Charlotte decided to create some jumpy beach and cultural pictures (Little posers).

One and half veggie burgers later we enjoyed watching the sun go down and then turned to star gazing once it went pitch black. There were so many stars. The whole sky was literally twinkling it was beautiful.

The last time I remember staring at the stars like that was when I was watching for shooting stars in Evington park - this was just like it but without the fear that you'd be eaten alive by mosquitoes (which I discovered I was when I had a shower that evening!)

After a tired and damp taxi ride home some of us showered and got ready to explore the night market whilst the rest climbed into bed suffering from tiredness and coldness of being in damp clothes all day.
The night market was a few footsteps from where we were staying and it was literally a street full of vendors selling touristy stuff... it kind of reminded me of London at Christmas time near the London Eye with all the little stalls... My kinda place (sigh)!!

Up the Mountain we go:
After a delicious English fry up and a good strong coffee (obviously)...

We were joined by two lovely Birmingham girls who were on a four month world tour and on their last leg in Thailand before they headed home for Christmas. They were also staying in our room at the hostel and Charlotte and I had the most terrifying night one night. So what happened was Kerri mentioned earlier that day she's known for waking up randomly and sleep walking and not knowing it happened. So considering she was sleeping on my top bunk I was already a little nervous. So that night we were up talking generally about being in Chiang Mai and suddenly she woke up and pulled off her eye mask and stared directly at Charlotte. Now Charlotte being her chatty self tried to start a conversation by asking if she was ok but had no response from her and she fell back asleep again. Then in the bed next to Charlotte, Roseanne started saying something and moving her hands in her sleep too then stopped and nodded off again... hmm I didn't realise sleeping in a room full of strangers could be so scary...

But getting back to this day... The Tuk Tuk driver we had for our journey up the mountain was very comedic and entertaining and let us stop off at certain points on the mountain to take pictures and admire the view. We were then dropped off at a hill station to explore the hill tribe and then at the kings palace (which we viewed from the outside because it was past opening hours). So we then grabbed a few snacks as we were all starved at this point and were taken to the temple with 300 steps (Wat Prahthat Doi Suthep). It was beautiful... the walk to the top was so tiring my thighs were burning bad! Once at the top we explored the temple and we even got the opportunity to sit in on a blessing and string tied on our wrists for good luck and happiness. The view from the top was breath taking and is definitely worth a visit if you're in Chiang Mai.

So... we were recommended to try the "best Pad Thai place ever" and the cheapest place for Pad Thai which was also located around the other corner from the hostel. It was a little cafe kind of place (there was a little scream about a mouse but I didn't see so I don't want believe it) with an open kitchen. The food was nice (well I think anything would have been nice at this point because I was hungry).

Thai Boxing:
We got ring side seats and were ready with our towels to wipe down the blood (ok this is a little too dramatic). To be honest it was a little weird because there were skinny kids fighting and they looked so fragile... it weren't too bad near the end when the men were fighting but all in all a strange experience. There was this especially weird fight between three blindfolded men who were randomly punching the air and the referee. Not so entertaining and by the end of it we were just looking to get back to the hostel and our beds! I just don't think it was our cup of tea.

Cooking tomorrow.... yum!