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(02.10.11) OR 03.10.11 - Doughnut!
So it turns out that i've been a complete div and got the date wrong. Although in my defense the GH that i'm staying had written out my stay card incorrectly - which is why I thought today was the 2nd. It isn't, it's the 3rd!
So there i am writing my diary at the airport waiting for my flight to appear on the departures board drinking my nice iced cold mocha, with yummy chocolate sauce. I realise that the time is now 2 hours before the flight so i can now check in. i packed my notebook away, and headed toward the board again. The flight still isn't showing. So off I trott over to the information desk and enquire about the 3pm Laos flight to luang Prabang, to be told there is no flight to Laos today. I told them, there must be some kind of mistake because i have booked and paid for my flight. As you can imagine, yet again on this trip my heart sank in fear. I was directed up to the Laos Airlines office, to find it was closed. Next door was the Bangkok Airways office so I decided to speak to one of the ladies in there and ask when the Laos Airlines reps would be back. She told me they wouldnt be back until tomorrow. when i explained what had happened she listened carefully and asked me, your flight was on the 2nd you say, to which i replied, yes. she followed that up with, but today is the 3rd! OMG seriously, how stupid did i feel. I'd got myself all ready, all excited, all mentally prepared for the next leg of my journey to be informed that i was a day late!! Raz you idoit! why didn't you check the date?! Seriously, What the hell. I was mortified and somewhat embarressed too. I was told to go back to the information desk downstairs and get one of the ladies to call Laos Airlines and explain, to see if there was something they could do with the ticket. THANK GOD, the kind lady i spoke to on the telephone transferred the ticket to tomorrow, the next day that they fly without incurring any charges. Laos Airlines fly to luang prabang twice a week, Sunday's and Tuesday. Thank god i'm lucky enough to get the flight for tomorrow. So not only had i paid out for a taxi to the airport, sat around for an hour and a half before i realised what I'd done, I had to now get back in a taxi and head back to where i'd come from. Book another nights stay and try again tomorrow. All i wanted to do was cry! :-(
first thing i did after checking back into the GH i'd been staying at and got back to the room was, guess what, cry! I figured it'd be best to let it out than let it stifle! I also tried to call Scott but got no answer so instead sent a text explaining what had happened. A few minutes later he'd text me back so I called him. hearing his voice was great..... but also had the more emotional effect and i started to cry again when i reiterarated what i'd done! All the while though, it was great talking to him. We caught up for about 5 minutes, he told me to not worry about it and that i'd be fine, and not least gave me the boost i needed to get on with the extra day i now found i had in Chiang Mai.
After the phone call, i pulled myself together, took a few deep breathes and deceided to visit the temple that Chiang Mai is most famous for, Doi Suthep that is 25km out of town. It is quite a trek hence I hadn't seen it with the time i had here already, so instead i decided to get on with it, not worry about the cost of getting there and back and to see the spectuacular views from the hilltop that the Lonely planet guidebook had described. And that they were. it was beautiful and by far the most spectacular temple i've ever seen, it was gorgeous! In the tuk tuk on the way there and back I shared it with a guy from Singapore and who i assume he had hired for his holiday to escort him around and accompany him, for she was a Thai girl from Kanchanabari. She told me they had meet in Chiang Mai after she had made the trip from where she lives (hence my gut instinct that he'd probably hired her off the internet). All that said and done, they were both lovely people and actually their English was amazing. i had a great ride in the back of the tuk tuk with them both. It was nice to actually forget about what had happened that morning and get on with the day. The other thing was, whilst i was waiting for the same tuk tuk to take us back the Old City of Chiang Mai, there were a group of Chinese people who for some reason found me mesmerising. Of all ages they each took a turn of having there photo taken with me. It was something else and reminded me of the time I visited the olympic stadium in Beijing when i was getting the locals asking to take photos of me. VERY strange!!
When i arrived back to the GH, in the communal area were the bunch of irish lads i had seen a few days previous. Rather than taking my things straight back to my room I decided to start chatting with them and pulled up a chair to join them. They were lovely and very friendly. Four of them who had each taken a year out, one 2 years in order to travel. They offered for me to join them for dinner but it was early, 6pm ish so i declined and sat on the internet booking my flight from Vietiene, Laos to Siem Reap, Cambodia. So thats all done now and i'll be dammed if I miss that flight. Although that one isn't until 9th October, but had still crept up by US$10 in a day from when I checked it out yesterday. Whilst i was online i also checked out some of the GHouses/hotels on the coast of Cambodia and I think this is going to be easier for me to get back to Bangkok in time for my flight to NZ, rather than spending 3 days in total trying to get from Cambodia to Southern Thailand, then S.Thailand back to Bangkok again. This will be a treat at the end of my time in Asia if I do decide to do this. If I do, then i've decided that i'd really LOVE to go to Koh Tao with Scott next year and dive with him. Experience that together ;-)
I headed out after doing all of that onto the main street to grab some dinner as i was starving. I just sat there watching the world go by as I hadn't up until this point seen Chiang Mai at night. It was really relaxing and quite something to watch. Now i'm sat in my room typing this up wearing the t-shirt that i made Scott wear before i left home. Hopefully i sleep well ;-) x
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