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We left Kanchanaburi on 23rd june and got the bus to Suphanaburi then onto Ayattaya we stayed at the Old Palace resort for 2 nights the first night lee wasn't too well so I sat in the outside lobby area of the Hotel and caught up on Facebook and emails. We hired a bike from the Hotel on the second day and just biked around lots of temple ruins struggled to find somewhere to eat so got back to the hotel and had lovely Thai chicken soup and green curry very tasty. Next day up early then off to Bangkok.
Arrived at Mo chit station then had a nightmare taxi ride as we the told driver we wanted to get to Hualamphong train station we then realised he didn't understand where we wanted to go and had to stop and ask he also had to 'phone a friend' and passed us the phone to explain where we wanted to go. Eventually we got to the station but because he went the wrong way he had to pay for a toll rd and then expected us to pay so that resulted in an argument at the station. Lee stood his ground and we walked away and just paid the fare he said at the beginning. We had about 5 hours to spare so decided to get the sky train and see if we could either do a quick trip to the koh San rd or one of the big shopping malls. As we crossed over the road to sky train we were talking and a man approached us, we thought he was a taxi driver and wanted to take us somewhere so we was a bit reserved with him, turned out he was an English school teacher from the school situated behind Hualamphong temple. He really took to Lee so we spent the next 2 hours chatting to him, he took us all around the temple, to a TAT (tourist info) then over to a shopping mall attached to the University. It was really hot in Bangkok so after leaving Tom we just went back to shopping mall had something to eat, by that time we needed to get back to the station for our train to Chiang Mai. This time we didn't have to worry about going to the restaurant cart, we ordered a meal and breakfast which was very tasty and so we arrived after a very noisy bump ride through the countryside into Chiang mai. We got a songtheaw to our lovely little guest house Home@chiang mai. The room was amazing and we fell in love with the place straight away. It was situated on the corner of soi 9 which was a bit noisy at night because of the bars but we enjoyed some good food and cold San Miguel lites here. We hired a bike from a friendly tour shop next and off we went the only thing we didn't do was to venture off into the mountains but we enjoyed where was so much didn't think we needed to go off. So we decided 5 nights in Chiang mai and made an enquiry at the desk but they were booked after our 2nd day. We made enquiries about going to Pai as it was only a 2 hour drive. They were happy to keep our bags as we booked another 2 nights with them. Before we headed off to Pai the guesthouse owner was also a dentist so we booked in to have a teeth clean, lee went first and all was well with him, I followed but had to have a filling which i hadn't had since I was about 14 so I was a bit nervous. Bloody hell it hurt like mad, but was worth it so we walked away with a bill much less than we would pay at home and nice shiny teeth. We got up next morning and had a 2 hour windy journey to Pai. We arrived in a lovely quaint little town which loved straight away, our hotel was only down the street so we hired a bike straight away for a very reasonable price of £3 for the day and set off our Family@pai resort. Fell in love with it, small swimming pool, river and mountain, very clean bright spacious bungalow. We dumped our bags and set off to explore Pai. It was just gorgeous took lots of photos which have already been posted on face book. Sadly we had to leave the next morning but not before we nipped off on the bike and went and found somewhere for breakfast. We stopped in a very quaint coffee shop in the hills where we was served by a Pai local in traditional dress her new born baby wrapped around her 2 other adorable children running around. We had a drink with the most amazing view and hopped back on the bike with 2 children running behind us waving goodbye. Next stop back to Chiang mai. Have to mention the fantastic breakfast we used to have at Mad Dogs owned by an English guy who we didn't meet, big full English with coffee and fresh orange juice for £2 just as well we was only staying for a short while as could feel the pounds piling on. Chiang mai must be the best place in Thailand for their markets.Before we go home I am heading straight back there and going to fill a suitcase as i Ioved it. So we left Chiang mai on 2nd July (our 29th wedding anniversary) for our journey to Sukhathai.
We arrived in the evening and I completely screwed up where we was staying. I looked at so many places got a name of a hotel in my head so when we arrived told the tuk tuk driver the name of hotel, it was raining and we arrived at hotel to be greeted by lovely staff who took our bags into reception it was only then we realised we was in the wrong place and they had no record of our stay. When I did finally find the booking we was also in the wrong side of town, I had booked us into a hotel in the old town of Sukhothai. The owner of the hotel kindly drove us to where was staying which was in the middle of nowhere, the staff could speak little English and of course we still havnt learnt Thai enough to communicate. As it was our WA thought we would treat ourselves to a nice resturant. We asked the staff of the hotel how do we get into town and they offered to take us, the guy that drove us stunk of alcohol and the young girl came with us, thank god as I don't think we would have got there otherwise. So we was dropped off in a dark street with only 3 bars, so much for a treat we had an ok meal then had the task of getting back, we managed to get on some strange tuk tuk in the rain. Next morning we packed up a our bags and waited excitedly for our pick up to Boon Lott Elephant sanctuary. We was due to be picked up at 9.15 the driver was late and the staff were very concerned that we was sitting waiting in their lobby and we could not get them to understand that we was ok just sitting and waiting for our lift, eventually our driver arrived and we met a very jolly Thai guy called Far who we enjoyed the next few days of his wonderful company at BLES the photos of I have already posted and will write about next time.
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