Chiang Mai (February 7)

I have been asked if I actually enjoyed my trip. Absolutely yes! I don't know how one could actually start doubting after all I have written in this blog. Maybe I have to try a more emotional style of writing. Naturally when you are travelling alone there is ups and downs and enjoying or not depends heavily on who you meet. The last four days in Pai were absolutely great because I met so many nice people. Yesterday afternoon for instance I got invited to a beer in the guest house by Dave, Claire and Andrew (from Liverpool and Portsmouth) and then all ended up at around 1 am (which for Pai is actually early). I have to complete the group by adding Magdalena from Austria, Krystyna from Vancouver and Hannes also from Austria who I already met the first day. In Pai you don't even need to do an effort to meet people. That's also why most of the travellers end up staying a lot longer than planned. In some cases it can be weeks or months, in other cases a whole lifetime. For me it was also hard to leave because you get infected by the great mood of the people.

I have finally arrived in Chiang Mai, the main city in Northern Thailand and also the transportation hub for activities in this region. It's not particularly nice but there is quite a relaxed atmosphere. I visited the obligatory temples but they all quite similar, so you don't need to have a bad conscience if you skip one or two. I have booked a trekking tour for tomorrow (2 days, 1 night). It's a tour without elephant riding, rafting and visits to hill tribe villages, only walking and waterfalls. I don't like riding on elephants abused for tourism, visiting villages which sell Coca-Cola and rafting in dry season is not so much fun neither. I don't expect too much, the tour is rather aimed at moving my ass because I was too lazy recently and my lifestyle was not very healthy. You can really get used to a motor scooter! I also hope to meet some nice people. My tour experiences in from Latin America were all very positive and I hope it will be the same here.