Ralph

We didn't linger at our accommodation this morning. For starters, a variety of different farm animals decided to be noisy from about 5am and we discovered this glorious place also had no shower to use. We packed up, paid and jumped on the bike. I really didn't want to pay but both of us wanted to leave as quickly as possible. 

On the road it decided to rain on us again. We aimed for a bed and breakfast that we'd originally planned to get to last night so we could have some food. It was a lovely place albeit a tad pricey for rooms but had we reached it last night we both knew we would have just paid it. Sheltering from the rain for well over an hour we had eggs and toast and jam with coffee and as we stayed a little longer, hoping the rain might stop, they gave us some free tea. We also took advantage of the wifi and cheered ourselves up a bit after the disastrous day yesterday. But, of course, the rain didn't stop and so we were soaked again after barely a minute of driving. We reached a town called Mae Chaem and chose to stop for another coffee as well as to top up on fuel. The constant rain made us both cold and moody and so when we stopped a while later at a large restaurant by the side of the road we were both shaking and not the happiest. This restaurant seemed to be the stopping point for tourists before trekking in the national park we'd arrived in. It was quite expensive but we were so cold that we didn't want to look elsewhere. In fact, I don't remember ever feeling that cold. I chose a chicken dish with cashews and veg which was quite pleasant and warmed my belly slightly. We got hot tea to warm up our hands as well. 

Before getting back on the bike I changed into some dry socks (my shoes were still soaked so I doubt this helped) and put on my trousers (they were pretty disgusting from riding an elephant in them) to try and warm myself up. I also stole one of Matt's t-shirts as I was already wearing all the clothes I had (even my shorts underneath my trousers). As the rain stopped we drove a few kilometres down the road to a waterfall as we thought we had to at least see one more before going back to Chiang Mai. The waterfall was nice although a little too touristy. I'd nearly dried off and warmed up when we moved on to another waterfall. This waterfall cost 300 baht (£6) to see so we missed it out and headed on to Chiang Mai. We stopped in a town along the way for a drink and some cake. The little cafe we went to was really sweet with beautiful looking baked goods. I had a blueberry cheese pie and an iced green milk tea. The cheese part kind of tasted like dairy lea which was oddly quite nice and it was laid on a buttery biscuit base with blueberries on top. My milk tea had an odd taste but it wasn't unpleasant. I don't really know how to describe it though. 

Stupidly, when we got to the outskirts of Chiang Mai, we realised we had chosen to return the bike (named Ralph because it was red and we nearly wrecked it) in rush hour. Matt deserved some kind of medal for coping with driving in the rain (it rained again) on a bike through masses of traffic. I directed him as to where to go (sometimes guessing as the map didn't show all roads) and we made it back to the hire place just after 6pm. Both of us were ready to say goodbye to Ralph by this point so happily collected our bags and got a tuk tuk to the train station to book a train for tomorrow. Having not travelled by train since Japan (not including subways) we were extremely excited by this prospect. We booked an over night train that would leave tomorrow at 3.30pm for Bangkok, our last stop in Thailand. 

After the station, we went back to the hostel we stayed in before the road trip as we'd already booked to stay tonight. We chose to get food first before showering (I don't know why as we were disgusting) and so set off for the night bazaar market. I had a chicken dish with tomatoes and greens coated in some kind of marinade which, again, I hadn't a clue what it was but it was yummy. We also shared a really big deep fried vegetable spring roll which was super delicious. The crispness of it was probably the best bit. We also got a beer each and listened to some live music that was going on in the food market area where we were eating. A nice end to what had been a tough couple of days.