Chiang Mai Province

Chiang Mai

Today, we were meant to be doing a day trip to Chiang Rai to see the white and blue temple. However, when we woke up, all the busses were sold out till 12.45 which then wouldn't arrive till 4.30 so that was a no go aswell. I gave Dang a call to see if he was free for Muay Thai but unfortunately he was in Bangkok. This left us with no real plan.

We head out in search of a pharmacy and breakfast. A short walk away and we find somewhere to top up our supplies, finding suncream and some bandages. I also needed tissues, a razor, and shaving foam but I couldn't find any of them for the life of me. A stop in 7-11 found me a razor but no shaving foam. I had never shaved with a non electric razor before so i opted for a 10p more expensive Gillette razor than Alfie's Bic.

After we grab some breakfast (now more lunch to be honest) from JJ's Waffle again, we head back to our hostel. I go for a quick swim then whilst Alfie goes for a nap I head out into town. I didn't really have much of a plan but I was on a mission to buy some more stuff. Without the tethers of Alfie's judgemental eye, I finally feel brave enough to buy a typical Thai elephant shirt, going for white and red to mix up the colour palette.

At a temple, I met a dude who had travelled up from Phuket to buy wedding dresses and suits for his daughters wedding, as Chiang Mai was apparently the best place in South East Asia, better than Vietnam which although is cheaper, apparently won't last. I thought fuck it, and with his recommendation headed to Tom's Tailor where I chatted to him about the different materials and prices. Surprisingly, the suits ranged from £180 to £260, which was much more than I was prepared to pay for something I didn't need.

I grab a mango smoothie, finally find shaving cream, and head to a park to do some planning along with a durian ice cream (wouldn't have again). The park was small and had a nice fountain with some very skilled slackliners set up not far from me. After an hour or 2, I order my very first Grab bike back to the hostel (imagine South East Asia's version of uber, but on the back of a scooter, as fast as it is cheap).

After a while, we head out to a few of the night markets that weren't too far, where our mission was a dry bag and a shirt for Alfie. As Alfie's clothes are about as diverse as the Brits in Benidorm, he found nothing to his liking and declared he was gonna go to H&M tomorrow. I managed to find a dry bag which would be useful when we venture down South. After finding some fried squid which didn't have a lot of flavour going on, we sit down when I get a message from Hong Yao inviting us to a Cabaret show which just so happened to be less than 1 minute from where we were sat.

Alfie went back home, but I joined Hong Yao for a 390 Baht experience of a night, with a Chang beer on the house. I can't super describe what the show was like, but it was an hour and a half of both drag and non-drag queens dancing & singing, with alot of audience participation & interaction. It was also an hour and a half of cheering & laughing. Leaving with my ears ringing and not trying their signature drink "Suck Me Please!" which was served in a penis shaped glass, we headed towards some bars.

These bars also happened to be the red light district, as well as a Muay Thai arena, where for free we were able to watch a 5 round fight of green shorts vs yellow shorts. We obviously were on team yellow shorts. They both persevered but eventually green shorts was declared the victor and we headed towards 7-11. After grabbing some cookies and FINALLY finding some tissues, we chatted more about the differences between Signapore & the UK, where I showed him what a roast dinner was

Eventually, I grabbed a grab bike back home, brushed my teeth and went to bed.Meer informatie