Day 5 - Sunday Bloody Sunday

Woke up too early again. At 9am we had our breakfast, a small one.

During breakfast, we were informed that the car hire bloke would be arriving in 10 minutes, only an hour and a half earlier than he had told me he would return. I did not have enough time to put more fuel in it. I was also slightly nervous because I had noticed scratches on the door which I didn’t remember noting down with him. I needn’t have worried because he hardly looked at the car & gave me the full deposit back.

After a disagreement over Jackie’s outfit for the day, she insisted on wearing her Navratilovas & a vest top, which didn’t cover her knees or shoulders, we set out for the day. First stop was Wat Srisuphan, the silver temple. We paid our 50 Baht and entered the complex. Jackie put on her cardigan & crouched so it covered her knees. As it happened the main temple was men only so only I was allowed in!

Next we stopped at Chiang Mai’s former women’s prison which was now a restaurant and massage parlour, then we went all authentic & had lunch at Keatocha Chicken Rice. It was a locals fast food restaurant that served only 4 different dishes. Jackie had crispy pork & rice and I had crispy chicken & rice. The mystery pieces of fried animal were a bit cold & it wasn’t even that cheap! The best bit of the meal was a westerner, fell unconscious & had to be taken a way in an ambulance.

We then visited the Lanna Folklife Museum, which was recommended. The Lanna Kingdom was an Indianized state centred in present day Northern Thailand from the 13th to the 18th century. The museum had several life size waxwork models to depict life in Lanna. There were various others relics and an obsession with gold infused skirts, at least 20 of them were on display. It wasn’t a particularly exciting museum.

Next we visited a photo gallery, which had an exhibition on street photography & another displaying recently taken photos of Chiang Mai landmarks alongside ancient photos of the same scene. Much more interesting.

We decided to walk back to our hotel to sit around the pool for a couple of hours. We passed a location along the city wall where pigeons were encouraged to gather with seed being thrown for them, then people, mainly girls in their best dresses, would get amongst the flocks for photos. It was a bizarre, but apparently popular pastime.

Back at our hotel, five people were sat around the pool and there was literally no room for us. We decided to go back out & find a bar in the sun. As it happened, we couldn’t find an open bar full stop. Apparently all bars are closed between 2pm & 5pm on a Sunday!

After mooching around all the roads in the vicinity of our hotel, we headed back into the Old City. Still everywhere was shut, but as we passed a hostel, we saw a fridge containing beer and 2 chairs out front in the sun. I went in & enquired if we could purchase a beer, which we could, then if we could drink them on the chairs, which we couldn’t. However the receptionist kindly allowed us to go into their back garden where they had tables & chairs. We spent a nice hour or so supping our beer in the sun & taking advantage of the free WiFi on our iPads. The best bit was that the large bottles of beers were just 65 Baht, our cheapest yet.

About 4.50pm, we headed out for the Sunday Walking Street market which is open between 4pm & midnight all along Th Ratchadam. It is pretty much the same market as Saturdays, but it was a bit quieter, probably because we were earlier and the road was wider. Jackie bought 2 silver toe rings & 2 anklets for a bargain price & I bought a white linen shirt for not much more than a fiver. That’s our Christmas presents for each other sorted.

After a much more enjoyable market experience, we left in search of some street food. Pretty much everywhere was closed, apparently they all set up stalls in the market. In the end we returned to our local bar, where we had Pad Thai & a spicy pork dish, each costing just the equivalent of a pound.

With a small bottle of whiskey & soda water, we watched the Man Utd game on the bar television & chatted with an English family who live in Dubai. The son with them is currently studying at Bristol University. It wasn’t the best game, ending in an unsatisfactory draw.

Song of the Day - Sunday Morning Coming Down by Johnny Cash.Read more