After an incredibly noisy and chaotic journey, I am in wonderful Chiang Mai. I am staying in a lovely little guest house that's run by a very friendly French man called Gilles. I have my own hot shower and TV! I think tonight will be spent becoming a television zombie...I can't wait.
The ferry trip from Koh Phangan was interesting. I was unable to find a chair so I got to spend 2.5 hours on a very thin and steep wooden stair. My bottom is now quite bruised. Then I boarded a very colourful bus that would take me to Bangkok. I was last on the bus, so got to sit in the middle of the back seat...not the most comfortable place to be on for a 12 hour bus journey.
Squeaks on the bus would cease, only to be replaced by another whirring noise that made sleep difficult. At one stage, I noticed the bus was travelling slowly along with a lot of other traffic. I looked out the window to see that the bus was travelling in nearly half a metre deep of flood water! Luckily the bus was big enough to get through, but the waters added another 2 hours to the trip.
The intermittent leaks on the bus also made it difficult to sleep. I awoke to a French man's squeals beside me, and as I turned I saw a long stream of water fall down onto his seat. It still makes me chuckle to think of the terrified look on his face.
A long wait at the airport and a paranoid delusion that "my bag was on the wrong plane" later, I arrived in Chiang Mai, along with my bag. Tomorrow I will explore the various temples of this city, and will hopefully have some beautiful pictures to show you all :)