Until next time Chiang Mai...farewell!

On our final morning in Chiang Mai, we decided to wake up early, and go and watch the monks, who collect food and offerings every morning from the local people. However, we didn’t quite get up early enough! By the time we arrived at the temple, the young monks were on their way to school, and we were probably about an hour late! No cool monk photos for us then! We decided to head into the centre of town to try and find somewhere for breakfast (the one on offer at our guesthouse was unappetizing to say the least). We settled on a café we had popped into the day before, and I went crazy on the old carbohydrates…croissants AND toast! A great start to the day.

After breakfast, however, we realised that still nothing was open, and that there was really nothing for us to do that time of the morning. We wandered around the side-streets, walked through an interesting Muslim area, complete with mosque, and finally headed back towards an area we knew…the street with Starbucks! We pondered what to do next, as out flight wasn’t until about 2, so we had some time to kill, but not enough to do anything big. I went off to explore, and finally suggested to Ellen that we go to the spa across the road, as they were opening at 10. Not wanting to spend too much time or money there, we opted for a 20 minutes session of hand reflexology! I don’t think Ellen was that keen on it, but then again, I think her woman was quite rough, whereas mine took notice of any flinches of pain across my face. I really enjoyed it, and it was a great way to kill a bit of time. I actually enjoyed all the different kinds of reflexology and acupressure I had in Thailand, and would be very interested in doing a course in it some day…back in Chiang Mai.

We headed back to the hotel, checked-out, arrived at the airport with plenty of time, and spent the next 2 hours trying to get comfortable on the departure lounge chairs. The flight was fine, and before we knew it we were back at Bangkok airport. We had arranged to meet in Rutt in Siam Square for some shopping and eating of the western variety. However, it took us an hour to get from the plane to actually getting our bags, and then like another 90 minutes to get across Bangkok to Rutt’s house. It was Friday night, and the traffic was manic. We finally reached our Thai home, where Rutt was waiting for us, and after quickly setting down our bags, we set off for the Bangkok bright lights. After a few subway mishaps (“ooh, we’ve just missed our stop!” – Rutt 2005), we arrived in the land of huge shopping centres, maze-like malls, and western eateries galore! Ellen and I decided a trip to Hard Rock Café, Bangkok was in order! Onion rings, potato skins, and one huge steak with mashed potato later, I was one happy lady!! Just what the doctor ordered. As we left the restaurant, the heavens opened, and we were subsequently drenched as we chased between our new-yrs sorbet shop (no lime this time though…boohoo…delicious passion fruit instead!) and a huge mall. Unfortunately we were a bit late for shopping, as all the shops were closing. But we still had a chance to see the spectacular shopping choices that Bangkok has on offer. We even spotted a Thai pop star (as Rutt informed us!), and so all in all we had a really fun evening.