Where's Vic?: Thailand part 1- Chiang Mai

I was pretty happy to be leaving Vietnam after all my adventures there. Although I only had two weeks in Thailand, I was determined to go to a few different places to get a taste of it and to try my best to chill out before going home.

Chaign Mai was not what I was expecting. Although I knew it was quieter, I was still bracing myself for a South East Asian city- busy, loud and chaotic. It was quite the opposite. Well certainly where I was staying in the old quarter. It was very peaceful. There were pavements too and traffic would stop if you tried to cross. I was staying at a lush hostel called Lullaby, which was spotless, in good condition and covered in fairy lights. It was also pretty easy to make friends- they offered free classes twice a day of Yoga, Muay Thai Boxing and cooking (though not all at once, that would be messy). I had an incredible Pad Thai for dinner round the corner and was thoroughly impressed.

The next day I wondered around the town looking at all of the beautiful temples, had another incredible lunch (mango sticky rice for dessert, yum) then went to the free cooking class and made, you guessed it, Pad Thai, before going for coconut ice cream with some of my hostel friends.

The next morning, after a sleepless night thanks to a heavy snorer in my room, I took part in a Muay Thai boxing class. Naturally I was pretty rubbish, even worse due to lack of sleep, but an interesting experience and a quick way to make friends.

I was keen to visit "sticky falls" the next day, a waterfall about an hour away, but this required a bit of planning and to gather people who also wanted to go. This didn't work out, but instead I went up to some mountain temples on a tuktuk taxi- a van with an open back that could squeeze 10 people in. The temples were beautiful and elaborate as always, we had planned to walk between them, but the jungle was so overgrown we lasted about 5 minutes. Then it was back for a yoga class. Later on, I went for dinner at one of the night markets with some other travellers and had some dumplings followed by the greatest dessert ever- roti bread with banana, nutella and a drizzle of condensed milk. I also discovered that one of my fellow travellers went to school with my cousin Charlotte in Walthamstow. Small world!

The next day, I was meant to be travelling to a hippie village called Pai and staying overnight. But I'd sacked it off last minute as it sounded like a faff to get there and the type of place where you needed a few days. Instead I booked a day trip to Chaign Rai, a town a couple of hours away with some interesting temples. The day trip was ok, I saw a white temple (so bright I could barely open my eyes), a blue temple then a black temple/museum. I was glad I did it (I have a feeling if I didn't have it booked in, I would've wasted the day), but perhaps I should've just chilled instead.

That evening I had to move accommodation for one night, so I thought I'd treat myself to a hotel. Although it wasn't really a treat in the end and more like a downgrade and I was missing my nice clean hostel. Frustrating as it had good reviews.

For my last day in Chaign Mai, I had plans to chill, but accidentally became an organiser of a group trip to a nearby waterfall. Hostelworld, the app I book some of my Hostels through (the alternative is booking.com which is generally cheaper and more flexible) has a great chat function, meaning you can seamlessly message other travellers in your area. Which is how I met some other travellers to split the cost of this excursion. Sticky Falls is a waterfall you can climb due to the super grippy rock underneath it. There are ropes you can grab if you want something to hold onto, but even I, who has worse balance then most toddlers I know, could handle it. Though best not to look down when you're half way up... It was so much fun and I was so glad I did it. It was a bit slippery at the top, but we worked as a team to defeat it. Afterwards we went into the little shop to get an icecream and I managed to fall over a 2inch step in an incredibly dramatic fashion, sprain my ankle and cut my knee. Everybody was very concerned, but this does happen to me about once every couple of years. So aside from being embarrassed, I was fine hobbling back to the taxi. Serves me right for wearing silly, unsupportive sandles. Plus SE Asia is literally trip hazard city, so if anything, I did well to go 5 weeks before this happened.

When we got back, I RICED and grabbed (aka uber eats) a silly meal to eat not at a table (the hostel was more floor cusions and hammocks rather than any practical furniture). My ankle improved enough for me to hobble, so I arranged to meet one of my waterfall buddies at a night market as planned. I was starting to feel sick again, and the sight of some fried insects was a bit too much for me to handle. So back to the hostel for the next bout of food poisoning. On the plus side, I had a nice bonding experience with a nurse in my room who was also struck down by the same illness, so we sat outside and swapped travel stories and had a good laugh.

The next morning, I was feeling somewhat better, which was jolly good as I had yet another flight down to Phuket.

Mango sticky rice with Coconut icecream