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Oh my head. Alarm happily starts chirping at 7am. By 7:15am I am up and out Mo's room by 7:30am.
One of the larger red moto taxis picks me up and the fair will be 120 bhat to the airport. I say a sad farewell to Mosey and grateful for her company and crashing at her swanky pad (LT). On the otherhand I am cursing the last rum bucket and the 5 hours of kip. Apart from Phuket I've enjoyed my time in Thailand. The north for the most part retaining some charm after all these years. I dread to think though what it will be like in 10 years time. The culture is eroding at many of the highlight locations. No longer the land of smiles, now the land of cautious smiles. A new generation ready for the mass of tourism, innocence lost. It's a shame that travellers will never see it how I once saw the country, but it was one of the first places I travelled so I'm probably a little sentimental and biast. It's an 18 year olds sanctuary where they can see the country and retain the comforts of home with almost no effort. There are areas that good Thai food can be bought, but on the most part it's now diluted. The adventure of simply travelling Thailand is gone unless you are on a motorbike. My eyes are like piss holes in the snow, the coffee I bought soothing.
I catch my connecting flight to Singapore. I decide to get the MRT at the airport. Theres a massive queue for the taxi and its a rip off. I'm staying near the station in Chinatown. The train is 2 dollars 60 (£1.30) cents and takes about the same time. I ask for directions to the hotel and after a few misdirections I find it in the heart of Chinatown. Not quite next to the station as the booking mentioned. The hotel is a little odd. A foyer on the ground floor. An unrelated restaurant on the first floor and rooms on the 2nd. The furnishings and long corridors could be out of the Shining. If I see a girl on a trycicle, I'm out of here. I dump my bags in the small room and go get some local food from round the corner. A mix of pork and duck with rice. Not very flavoursome but the strawberry smoothie is refreshing. I walk round the market in Chinatown, usual tourist trinkets. I find an odd shop with nothing but Tintin memorablia in it. I get an early night and will head to the Gardens by the bay tomorrow.
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