about life changes and travel decisions led to afternoon start.
It is wonderful to start the day in a swimming pool. Also to end the day there.
Rental bike, backstreets of Chiang Mai, temple, tourist office, bus station check.
Late brunch in pleasant garden restaurant, inspected rooms too.
Good place, lovely garden with WiFi, but no swimming pool, ww.orientalgardenchiangmai.com
Booked an adventure tour for tomorrow, 08:30 - 17:00, 1500 Baht = ca. € 36 :
being tarzan on rainforest canopy ziplines among gibbons
elephant ride 30 minutes
waterfall
orchid farm
trekking 40 minutes
hill tribe village
I am requested not to tell other participants what I paid (1500 Baht), as the same package is sold in the tourist hotels for more.
I will probably also book a package Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang with the same agency
( www.bistravelmaekongregion.com ). The people were informative but not pushy.
The package is: air-con minivan to Chiang Khong, 6 hours;
Overnight in Chiang Khong in boutique guesthouse with dinner and breakfast;
Ferry across river to Laos, time for visa, slow boat ticket to Luang Prabang.
The overnight in Pak Cheng and all meals after Thailand are not included.
1700 Baht, about € 40.
There is also a fast boat, eliminating the overnight stop in Pak Cheng,
but Lonely Planet suggests it is not environmentally friendly.
I once hitched a ride on a canoe with an outboard motor on an Ecuadorian Amazon tributary, heading back to Quito for what turned out to be an appendicitis operation.
The speed boats to Luang Prabang look a lot less solid, more like an Oxbridge punt,
weighed down with backpacks at one end.
In the same street I bought two books to keep me occupied on the two-day boat trip. Note: there are more used books in Chiang Mai than in Munich. Highlight: Orhan Pamuk's "Snow" in Swedish for 295 Baht. However, it is difficult enough in English.
The helpful people at the travel agency also told me that in Laos and Cambodia,
not only US dollars but also Thai Baht are accepted (relevant for money change now).And that my travel plans could be changed to the following:
After Luang Prabang, Vian Vinh, Vientiane, then plane to Siem Reap
(Angkor Wat), boat to Phnom Penh, train to Sihanoukvile, then boat (sea) to Thai border,
after that bus/train to Bangkok.
Note later: no boat on Tonle Sap to Phnom Penh: low water; no train to Sihanoukville: no service for maybe a decade; no sea ferry from Sihanoukville, replaced by bus service on improved road.
When I get online I will check the Vientiane - Siem Reap air connection, seems a good idea. This would mean Cambodia 5/6 May Siem Reap to 10/11 May Sihanoukville, for anyone interested in joining in this part of my trip.
Dinner once again at Ratana's, this time a plate of northern Thai specialities, which contained a surprising variety of sausages and some strange but unexciting vegetables.
On the way back to the old city I came across some stage preparations for a ceremony next day by the moat, the king and queen were present in spirit.
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