Soz about the lack of updates.
SO.. from Pursat I went to Battambang and spent the night there. In the morning I began my epic journey up to northern Thailand to meet Steve! The trip was complicated by the fact I wanted to avoid going to Bangkok, which would be the normal route to Chiang Mai, because I was afraid of getting stuck in the flooding! Got to the Thai border around 11 without any dramas. The guidebook told me that after walking across the border I could catch a tuk-tuk to the bus station and book from there. Not a single tuk-tuk in sight. Just plenty of 'booking offices' full of people trying to rip me off. One particular character even told me that there were no tuk-tuks and no bus station. So because I'm so stubborn I just decided to pick a road and marched off down it in the hopes of finding a tuk-tuk or bus station. Luckily not far into my march some lovely Thai fellows in a local restaurant saw me and asked where I was going, loaded me on the back of their moto and drove me to the bus station, free of charge. Brilliant. Got there at 12:15 to be told that the bus to Khorat (which is the next major city, where I could book onwards tickets direct to Chiang Mai) was due at 12 but was running late (thank goodness or I would have missed it). Turns out though that the bus wasn't going to leave until 3pm. It arrived just after 1, but then they spent the next couple of hours leisurely packing it with freight. I was also told that the journey to Khorat, which I had read would take 3 hrs, would in fact take 6hrs due to traffic.
Finally set off just after 3pm, it did in fact take 6hrs and there was in fact lots of traffic.
I arrived at the Khorat bus station at about 9:10pm, went to the only window where you could book buses to Chiang Mai, only to find out that their last bus left at 8:30pm, and the next one wasn't until 3am.
Wasn't a high point of my day, I can tell you that. I was trying to weigh up whether to go to a hotel or just stay put and wait. I found a 24hr food area and decided to just wait it out there. It was incredibly annoying because my phone and Steve's phone decided not to communicate with each other the whole day, and so I couldn't let him know that I wouldn't be arriving sometime in the early hours of the morning like we'd originally imagined.
Eventually at 2:30am I went to buy my ticket for the bus (wasn't sure when the office would open again) only to find a huge lineup. The 3am bus was booked out. As was the 4:45am bus. I had to wait another few hours and catch the 6:30am bus! Also, not a high point of my day.
The bus was expensive but very nice. Double decker, LCD screens (although all the movies had been dubbed in Thai and had no English subtitles), and gave us snacks and meal vouchers for when we stopped. Took about 13.5hr to Chiang Mai. By the time I arrived after 8pm, I'd been traveling for over 36 hours!
Reunited with Steve at last! Steve + a serious beard. Wow. That had to be trimmed.
He led me around to a street market and got me dinner. Was really strange just being led around and having food provided for me, without having to think or do anything myself for a change!
The next day we caught a bus to the little touristy town of Pai. Very quiet and peaceful and nice. We celebrated our 3 year anniversary there and basically spent our days trying out each cafe in town. Was a great rest! The day before we left we went elephant riding! I'd never ridden and elephant before but have wanted to for ages! We got to ride just straight on its back rather than on a chair which was more fun but also a challenge to stay on at times!
We rode to the river, and the elephant repeatedly would drop on its side and buck us off! Other times it would just shake its back wildly until we fell off! It was pretty fun but my thigh suffered some serious rope burn and bruising from one time when I managed to hold on, only to be bucked off into the water in the end!
Spent about 8 days in Pai altogether, and now we're back in Chiang Mai. We're staying here for the Loy Krathong Festival in which thousands of candles and paper lanterns are launched into the river or up into the sky. That's on the 10th.. should be really spectacular!
xx
