17/2/18

Woken up by Oddy knocking on the door at 8.30! J went out and had coffee and I got up and did some yoga, showered and met them to say goodbye to Oddy. We’re off to Chiang Rai by coach so need to leave our hotel at 11....

Caught the Greenbus from Chiang Mai bus station after catching a Grabcar from our hotel. Bus left promptly and got us in at 4, countryside about an hour out of CM was beautiful...

Got a tuktuk to our hotel only to find out that there’d been a mix up on Booking.com, the hotel wasn’t open to booking.com guests, jumped on their Wi-fi and found a hostel in CR (as its Chinese NY everything booked up!) for about £7, got to the hostel (one very happy tuktuk driver!) hostel was ok but didn’t have a private bathroom so it meant sharing with at least 14 other people as two of the rooms next to ours were dorms.

Anyway, they offered us another room with private bathroom in another hotel (Kaew Place) for an extra £3.50!! So of course I wanted to go there, they took us by car but due to a massive mix up over payment (won’t go into it here as too long winded and embarrassing), but let’s just say things got a bit testy between us and the hotel owners which resulted in us having to watch CCTV with them 🤬😡... once we got everything straightened out and dumped our bags in the room, it was nearly 7 by this time so we went straight out to eat.

After the trauma of the hotel mix up and payment debacle I consoled myself with a very naughty dessert at a restaurant called Melt in the Mouth, check out the funky taps in the photo’s. Missing my pup too (was sent this photo of her earlier today).

Planned our trip tomorrow, we catch another coach from CR to Chiang Khong.

18/2/18

Caught a grab car to the bus terminal (100bht) and located the bus to Chiang Khong (65 bht pp). Found the first cafe who could do me a decaf coffee, v excited... coffee was nice, trouble was I hadn’t bargained for a two hour bumpy bus ride afterwards... had to do the walk of shame on and off the bus to use someone’s loo!

Talking of the bus, checkout the guy in the purple hat - yes I said ‘guy’, wearing a fluffy, felt hat in 80 degrees, wtf??

We arrived into Chiang Khong and a short hop away in a tuktuk and we’re there, staying on the Mekong River!! Breathe...

Went for a walk and on the way found a fab little artisan shop (run by a lady called Pui), she’d just finished making a dress and she insisted that I try on and model for her Instagram page...no make up and unwashed hair but she didn’t mind. Next stop was Namkhong Riverside Restaurant, watching the boats cruising up and down the Mekong and for a spot of lunch - stir fried veg - so yummy!

Staying at the Day Waterfront Hotel, what a view and all for £18!!

They all seem to look after their dogs here which is great!

Did a Yin yoga session tonight and sat on our balcony and watched the sun set, ok so I may have enjoyed a cheeky Chang with it!

Our river cruise - 2 days to Luang Prabang via Pak Beng, Laos is booked for tomorrow, we leave here around 8am.