I made it! Im safe, happy, and still in awe that Im actually in Thailand! Its my first full day in Chiang Mai and I'm exhausted. Big surprise. 26 hours of travel time and a 10 hour time change will make anyone tired. Luckily I slept a lot last night but am still pretty tired today. I woke this morning with 2 things on my agenda. 1. Find a fruit market with freshly cut mango to fill my stomach! 2. Visit the India consulate to apply for my visa. (needs at least a week to process so wanted to take care of it asap. Of course I can't give myself a day to just settle in before taking care of business. There is a voice in my head yelling "Elana... Let go of being efficient! You are on vacation!") Ya well that voice also screamed pretty loud as I was determined to find the consulate by foot and deny any option of jumping in a tuk tuk or taxi. "stop roaming around a strange place and get in a taxi!" But how could I listen to myself when I just love walking around a strange town?! I didn't want to give up. I felt sure I could find my way. 3 hours later... sweat rolling down my back, my feet starting to hurt from wearing in my chacos, not seeing another white person for the last hour of my journey, I finally found it! Talk about a goal accomplished! I took care of my visa and decided to take a tuk tuk back. Awesome, only $1 for the entire trip. Nice Elana, a 3 hr journey or a $1 tuk tuk ride? Well I'm on vacation... Wouldn't have done it any other way :)
So I accomplished my second task but my first one was shockingly difficult to accomplish!! I expected fruit markets on every corner, or at least fruit stands on every corner. Well I was wrong. I'm sure they exist, they have to exist, but they weren't in site on my 3 hr adventure. Shame. I missed out. Well I'm not giving up. I did stumble upon a small market that had a small assortment of fruit but didn't satisfy my giddiness of what markets usually bring out in me. But not to worry.... Im certain they will appear soon enough!
After my long walk I was starved. So found a guesthouse to grab a bite.
My first meal. Pad thai $2 (yep $2!!!) delicious!
For my first day it's been productive and now I'm exhausted again. I'm going to take the rest of the day easy since I'm on vacation and because I can ;)
One thing I saw that I couldn't help but share. As i was walking around Chiang Mai this morning I peeked through the gates to get a glimpse of a temple. Look who I found in the bottom left corner!!
Yep - Donald duck!
Hope that made you smile just like it made me :)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Location:Ratchamanka Road Soi 3,Phra Singh,Thailand
Damn that pad thai looks scrumptious....
ReplyDeleteYeah so the best fruit market is through the walls of the old city into the newer part. They call it something like the Wororot Market. It's mostly only Thai people you see there and they mostly don't speak english (however they do have prices written on signs for you). Seriously there should be some prime-time mangoes, mangosteens, rambutan and durian if you dare!
Glad you're having fun so far :)
Heath