It was 6am when I woke up in my top bunk, the ear phones from my ipod now firmly rammed into each ear, having fallen asleep wearing them whilst listening to music to drown out the sounds of the train rumbling along the track.
We still had a couple of hours to go before reaching Chiang Mai; Thailand's second largest city. But within half an hour we were being turfed out of our beds so that the train staff could revert them back into chairs again ... so no chance of a lie in!
Our Hotel for the day and night was called the Buaraya, it was very comfortable and clean and the first thing I HAD to do was to get into the lovely hot shower and wash off the grime from our long train journey. And most importantly I had an enormous urge to scrub my feet til they shined; having had to make several trips to the loo on the train and finding that it was actually marginally cleaner to use the squat toilet rather than the
Western one. but still not a pleasant thing to do in flip flops!!!
After freshening up, Karen and I went for a walks to see if we could check out the Old part of the city before meeting up with everyone else. However, crossing the road outside, proved to be an adventure in itself ... it took the best part of 20 minutes to get across with no sign of a zebra crossing on traffic light nearby, even the locals seemed to be avoiding it!!
Finally we made our way down the dusty streets towards the old city to find Temple upon Temple upon temple upon Temple ... each one was just as stunning as the previous. But knowing that we were off to Doi Suthep that night, I was starting to feel 'Templed out' and needed to rest, so we made our way back along the dusty street towards our hotel and prepared ourselves for the onslaught of traffic as we tried to cross back over the main road.
That evening we were taken up to Doi Suthep temple, there were three hundred steps to get to the top!! I took the cable car! Well I had been walking all day.
The huge shining temple stood before us, it was pretty magnificent then our tour guide for the evening took us aside to give us some history. He was a lovely and friendly guide, but had a strong accent and we all found it hard to understand exactly what he was saying ... at one point I thought he was talking to us about Donkeys being transported to the temple as he kept on going on about the 'Asses'... it was only later I realised he meant 'Ashes' and was obviously relaying a totally different tale to the one I had heard?!?! Oops.
The sun was setting and we were invited into one of the prayer rooms where a Monk was sat on his little plinth. We all knelt before him and he blessed us with holy water, then one at a time we shuffled over to him and held out a hand, into which he placed a strand of platted white cotton, which he had blessed.
I wasn't sure if I was allowed to turn my back on him as I left so I shuffled backwards on my knees, trying not to bump into anyone behind me. Not sure if that was the correct thing to do, but at least I gave the floor a good old polish with my new Ali Baba trousers!!
The white string was then tied around one of my wrists for protection and I am now to wear it until it falls off. Not sure what happens then, but let's not think about it?!
After our blessings, we joined others to watch the Holy Monks take their evening prayers as the sun set. It was quite a moving experience as the last few rays of sunlight glittered off the sides of the golden stupor.
Then, feeling blessed and revitalised, we left, this time I walked down the three hundred steps, it really wasn't that hard, no trouble at all :)
Our next destination was the night market, for a local Thai meal. I was tempted to go shopping again, something I usually hate to do, but out here it is so tempting!! However, I managed to hold back, need to save some space in my back pack for Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia after all!!! And I joined the others over at the local bar, where we had a drink and watched The Girly Show ... well actually if I were to be pedantic, it was really a 'Girly-Boy' show - if you know what I mean?
We all sat, bonding as a group as we joined in the various renditions of 'I will Survive', 'I am what I am' and a couple of Britney Spears numbers, while staring at these men/boys jealous of their amazing figures and dodgy make up skills.
Then it was back to the hotel ready for Laos the following day.
We still had a couple of hours to go before reaching Chiang Mai; Thailand's second largest city. But within half an hour we were being turfed out of our beds so that the train staff could revert them back into chairs again ... so no chance of a lie in!
Our Hotel for the day and night was called the Buaraya, it was very comfortable and clean and the first thing I HAD to do was to get into the lovely hot shower and wash off the grime from our long train journey. And most importantly I had an enormous urge to scrub my feet til they shined; having had to make several trips to the loo on the train and finding that it was actually marginally cleaner to use the squat toilet rather than the
Western one. but still not a pleasant thing to do in flip flops!!!
After freshening up, Karen and I went for a walks to see if we could check out the Old part of the city before meeting up with everyone else. However, crossing the road outside, proved to be an adventure in itself ... it took the best part of 20 minutes to get across with no sign of a zebra crossing on traffic light nearby, even the locals seemed to be avoiding it!!
Finally we made our way down the dusty streets towards the old city to find Temple upon Temple upon temple upon Temple ... each one was just as stunning as the previous. But knowing that we were off to Doi Suthep that night, I was starting to feel 'Templed out' and needed to rest, so we made our way back along the dusty street towards our hotel and prepared ourselves for the onslaught of traffic as we tried to cross back over the main road.
That evening we were taken up to Doi Suthep temple, there were three hundred steps to get to the top!! I took the cable car! Well I had been walking all day.
The huge shining temple stood before us, it was pretty magnificent then our tour guide for the evening took us aside to give us some history. He was a lovely and friendly guide, but had a strong accent and we all found it hard to understand exactly what he was saying ... at one point I thought he was talking to us about Donkeys being transported to the temple as he kept on going on about the 'Asses'... it was only later I realised he meant 'Ashes' and was obviously relaying a totally different tale to the one I had heard?!?! Oops.
The sun was setting and we were invited into one of the prayer rooms where a Monk was sat on his little plinth. We all knelt before him and he blessed us with holy water, then one at a time we shuffled over to him and held out a hand, into which he placed a strand of platted white cotton, which he had blessed.
I wasn't sure if I was allowed to turn my back on him as I left so I shuffled backwards on my knees, trying not to bump into anyone behind me. Not sure if that was the correct thing to do, but at least I gave the floor a good old polish with my new Ali Baba trousers!!
The white string was then tied around one of my wrists for protection and I am now to wear it until it falls off. Not sure what happens then, but let's not think about it?!
After our blessings, we joined others to watch the Holy Monks take their evening prayers as the sun set. It was quite a moving experience as the last few rays of sunlight glittered off the sides of the golden stupor.
Then, feeling blessed and revitalised, we left, this time I walked down the three hundred steps, it really wasn't that hard, no trouble at all :)
Our next destination was the night market, for a local Thai meal. I was tempted to go shopping again, something I usually hate to do, but out here it is so tempting!! However, I managed to hold back, need to save some space in my back pack for Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia after all!!! And I joined the others over at the local bar, where we had a drink and watched The Girly Show ... well actually if I were to be pedantic, it was really a 'Girly-Boy' show - if you know what I mean?
We all sat, bonding as a group as we joined in the various renditions of 'I will Survive', 'I am what I am' and a couple of Britney Spears numbers, while staring at these men/boys jealous of their amazing figures and dodgy make up skills.
Then it was back to the hotel ready for Laos the following day.
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