Not much happening today

Thursday 6^th January 2011

MP3 track of the day:: The importance of being Idyle – Oasis

Weather: Hot, very hot

I leisurely got up and leisurely got ready for the day. Having breakfast at 11am, which was a new experience for me, I got ready ... but I wasn't really that bothered that the day was slipping away. Actually I was so not bothered that when someone put on a film at 11:30am I decided to watch that until 1pm.

'21' was the name of the film and it was about a guy who had just turned twenty-one playing blackjack for a team in Vegas. It was a really good film with a great twist at the end.

At 1pm I eventually left the hostel; the sun was out and, when standing directly in the sun, it was very hot … luckily Chang-Mai has a lot of shade. I stopped by KFC, again, for a quick lunch before heading into town. Once at the western edge of town I didn't actually go in, instead I skirted around to the northern edge to head towards the bus station. I had just booked another two nights at 'Spicythai' but I still wanted to know how much, and how often, a bus ran to Chang-Rai, my next stop. It was great to eventually find a town, within South East Asia, with a bus station close enough to walk to, this was certainly an improvement … until I found out that said bus station was local services only and the bus station I wanted was, yet again, miles out of town.

Giving up on the whole 'visiting the bus station idea' I went into town and visited areas that I hadn't seen before, including a few new temples. Whilst walking around I found a few travel agencies and got a quote for 250 baht to Chang-Rai … which didn't seem too bad.

It was so hot, and I had been walking around for a couple of hours, that I was pretty tired and so, without achieving a lot today, I headed back to the hostel. There was a big group of travelers sitting outside of the hostel and so I joined them for a chat before we all headed in to watch another film.

At 8:00pm I headed out for a quick bite to eat at a street-food place called 'Orchid'; the food was great and at thirty baht per meal (60p) it's a steal. Most of the other guys within the hostel decided to head out to see some Thai boxing whereas I, who hates boxing and thinks that if fox hunting was banned for cruelty then why the hell is boxing continuing (a sport … I don't think so), went back to the hostel to watch yet another film ('Salt' … good film but strange ending) before heading to sleep.

So today I haven't done much, and but for tomorrow I've booked myself onto a Thai cooking course … being totally rubbish at cooking it should be fun and interesting. The main reason I haven't done much is that I'm pretty tired at the moment; Bangkok was exhausting, and so the change in pace is actually a great relief. As you may have noticed the last few places I have visited I've spent rather a long time in each of them, which has allowed me to experience not only the 'tourist' things to do but a bit about life in each particular place … I like it. Another new experience I'm currently gaining, whilst doing less moving around, is spending time with other travelers ... just watching a film and having a drink. All-in-all I wouldn't say that the type of traveling I find myself doing at the moment (i.e. staying somewhere until I get bored instead of giving myself a three / four day time limit) is any better than my time rushing around in Japan or New Zealand, however I wouldn't say that it's any worse ... it's just different.

As this blog isn't very long, or exciting, I thought I might end it with a little bit of an overview of me traveling in Thailand and South East Asia. I'm still struggling with the area, mornings are the hardest where I really can't be bothered to do anything. When I move on I always wish that I was moving onto Kyoto or Franz Joseph, I don't know why because as I look back at my time within South East Asia so far I have done some brilliant things that I couldn't have done anywhere else in the world. The only explanation I can come up with, of how I feel, is that I could be experiencing a side affect of my Malaria tables. Mild depression is a side affect. Now I wouldn't say that I'm depressed, I think a state of 'I can't be bothered' is more fitting for how I'm currently feeling. Hopefully this might end soon but who knows. Money wise thinks are okay, I spent a lot over Christmas and all these 'tours' are hurting the old wallet; however I didn't spend too much in Bangkok and neither here in Chang-Mai. I think my current daily budget is some where near £15.00 per day, which is over the original budget set however, as it turns out, my original budget of £10.00 per day was unrealistic.

Toodle Pip!