Escaping The Chaos

Hi there again!

Sorry for not checking in too much, as unbelievably as it sounds, sometimes it’s actually a bit difficult to balance the time here 🙂 So, what’s new? Well…

Goodbye Bangkok

My stay in Bangkok has improved over time. With each day, I got a little more used to the craziness and a little more comfortable with the city itself and its people.
I’m not going to bore you with more temples, as that’s something I covered last time. As my taxi driver Cha said “It’s all the same, but different.”
I went to check out the famous Khaosan Road. It was filled with tourists, thoroughly enjoying the cheap buckets of alcohol. Each pub had its own little party going on, blending into the one next door.

One of the last thing I visited in Bangkok was a really lovely snake farm. The outdoors exposition was quite limited, however, the indoors definitely made up for it. And I managed to see an impressive snake handling show, at the end of which I held a burmese python. Definitely something to check off my bucket list 🙂

I spent my evening reading a book in the Lumpini Park, waiting for my train to Chiang Mai. All of a sudden, I noticed a huge lizard, just casually strolling next to me and then going for a swim. And then I saw more of them. They were all around the water and mostly didn’t care about the people. I found them very amusing.

Afterwards, I finally took a night train to Chiang Mai. It was surprisingly comfortable and did not feel nearly as long as I thought it would.

Hello Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai is very different from Bangkok. Much calmer, smaller and more relaxed. I met 3 Portuguese guys here, whom I decided to join to Pai and so I only spent 2 nights in here (one of which was in a pretty terrible hostel).

There was a beautiful Mae Sa waterfall nearby. I was happy to finally see some real nature as well, compared to the concrete jungle of Bangkok. I managed to doze off on a rock here 🙂

There’s also a small, remote village of the long necked Karen tribe. I only knew them from documentaries before. They were very friendly, sold a lot of trinkets to tourists and did not mind taking some pictures with us.

Our last evening in Chiang Mai was spent relaxing in a swimming pool and later watching a couple of muay thai matches. I enjoy the occasional UFC fight and don’t shy from blood, but it’s a very different experience to sit there and watch a real life fight. Some of the fights were very quick and ended with a KO within the first round, but some were very balanced. The atmosphere was quite intense and the crowd went wild. If you like fighting sports and find yourself in Thailand sometime, I definitely recommend going.

And hello to you too, Pai!

After two nights in Chiang Mai, I took a bus to Pai. Have I said that Chiang Mai is much more relaxed and calm? Well then that goes ten times more for Pai. Although there is loads of tourists, a lot of them are these hippie “I love everyone” types. It’s very, very laid back here. Perfect for kicking back, reading a book and setting your mind straight. Which is something I feel I need right now.

Together with a group of 6 people, we have managed to find really lovely accommodation – these cute, little huts. I absolutely fell in love with them. This is the first place to sleep where I’m actually feeling really comfortable. I know, I haven’t slept here yet, but they are really gorgeous. I’m probably planning to spend 4 or 5 nights here, possibly with a couple of days of really not doing anything, but chilling in the sleeping net on the porch 😛

That’s about all I got for now 😛 Thanks for reading and until next time.

N.