19 November 2014. First taste of Chiang Mai

We arrived dead on time. During the night we had been an hour off schedule at one point. So it came as quite a shock to me to realise that here we were and it was time to decamp. Chiang Mai has a system of Red Buses that fill up and take people on their way. The trick is to stay out of the clutches of the rogues who try and herd you into their red bus and charge way over the odds. I achieved this as much as I could be bothered and found myself in a bus with an Engligh bloke and his Thai girlfriend who made sure I got dropped off where I wanted.

Check in was easy enough and after a shower I had some coffees to recover from the train ride. I quickly got bitten by something, read up on dengue fever and decided to embalm with DEET from now on! Joking apart, although I've always rather jeered at some of the American paranoia at dengue fever (see, for example Dengue Fever Epidemic: Should we cancel?) , it does sound potentially as nasty as malaria and well worth avoiding.

Suitably prepared, I set off on a bit of a recce of the area. Chiang Mai has a quite large inner walled city which takes quite a bit of seeing by itself.

 The road system is superficially simple but once one gets down to the alleys off the lanes (soi) off the roads, it is reasonably easy to getting into a muddle. Which I did. Partly through hunger (I'd forgotten about breakfast and actually had eaten very little since a massive last breakfast in Bangkok) and partly through tiredness I got into a good old muddle on which direction to take but eventually found myself on familiar ground and back at the Tropical Inn where I am staying.

I saw this described as a hipster inn somewhere and so perhaps it is. It has quite a right on, zen feel about it. The room is simple and stylish - a sharp contrast to the big city tower hotels of luxury. Yet it has all mod cons, from AC to wifi (when it  works).

That evening I decided to try a very local looking eatery, which was (like the North East in Bangkok) a street food with seating kind of place. The rather portly and kindly lady in charge took fright at my choice that she thought would be too hot for me. But in fact it was fine and very tasty. All around there is also a near infinite number of actual street food stalls. The place would seem to be an eater's paradise.

With that I decided to head back and have an early night to balance up my reduced night's sleep on the train.