Waking up in heaven....

Waking up in Thailand is just so much different to Vietnam, Alvo looked over the balcony this morning and saw her favourite street food.....bbq pork sticks so on our way to the the 7-11, again one of Alvo's favourite things in Thailand, we stopped and bought 3 for 20 Baht (less than $1) and they tasted just as we remember so Thailand is definitely delivering the goods. After our visit to the 7-11 just to make sure the alcohol prices haven't changed and to buy more mouthwash, a bigger bottle this time which by the way they would not let us take on the flight sooooo we had to throw in the bin unopened (lets not bring this up again) we saw a local restaurant that we decided to eat breakfast at. They were serving rice with either pork or chicken so we got a pork one to share and it was great and cheap. Off to the airport now and again the time passed quickly due to the Masterchef episodes and we landed in Chiang Mai to sunshine and smiles. Things are very organised here, we needed a taxi so there was a nice lady giving people a ticket number so they can sit and wait for an available taxi and within no time we were on our way to the "old town" part of the city in the cleanest taxi in the world with a very nice driver. She told us that there are lots of hotels and guesthouses around so we walked around looking for a good room at a good price. A local man told us to visit the local info centre to find out more so we headed that way and was helped by a young lady who took us to a couple of guesthouses for a look. She did not pressure us to book anything with her or at all for that matter, she advised us to look around and then choose what we like. We walked up almost the full length of the street asking prices and looking in rooms and settled on a little out of the way place (that is code for up a laneway and not noisy) which has air conditioned rooms for 390 Baht/night (around $14). They have a code activated security door after hours so it feels safe, free wifi of course and is a short walk to just about anywhere. We left our backpacks there and headed out in search of food. I NEED something delicious and found one of my local favourites.....Pad Thai. We sat and ate at a cafe called The Funky Monkey and Alvo tried their customer favourite shake, coffee and banana while I slurped on a coconut milk and coconut water shake.....delicious. School must have finished and the owner bought a little boy to the cafe on his moped, he was very cute and not long after he arrived he bought a pad and pen over and gave it to Alvo, we assumed he wanted her to draw something....he was 4 years old and I guess he can't read English so she drew him a stick person that he insisted wasn't right and took the pen from her and drew hands and feet on it. He was such a funny little bugger, he wanted to look at Alvo's phone so perched himself up on the seat next to her and started tapping the screen.....he found card games and was loving watching the cards fly all over the screen. He let Alvo help him to move cards to the right places and was so happy just sitting there playing. I guess when you can't read or write it doesn't matter if you speak English or not, sign language and facial expressions were saying it all. Ok, time to head back for a shower before we walk down to the Night Bazaar when all of a sudden Alvo saw a sign at the rock climbing joint that said tonight was ladies night and from 5-8pm chicks can climb for free. Ok....what's the catch, I went to talk to the girl at the counter and guess what.....there is no catch. Come in at 5pm, borrow a pair of climbing shoes and go your hardest with trained climbers to help you. It was bang on 5pm but we needed a shower so the nice girl told us to return when we were ready. OMG it was heaps of fun and a great challenge. Alvo made it to the top once and then decided that she was going to be the photographer so I had a few goes at different climbs and made it to the top a couple of times, I tell you.....it isn't easy and is a great workout. Now after our workout for the day we started walking to the market. We made it to the night bazaar and it is so laid back and not hurried like the chaotic market in Ha Noi, walking there was a pleasure and there are plenty off cool stalls to look at. We stumbled across some cool food stalls at the beginning of the street but were not ready to eat and then saw the coolest Japanese restaurant that is all you can eat and there are conveyor belts like a sushi train and heaps of other cool things so that is definitely on the list of places to eat.....Danielle you are going to be soooo jealous when you see all the photos. We walked and walked and walked and didn't realise that it had got to almost 8pm and we still had not eaten so we came to the end of the market and headed back to the old town in search of food. The privilege of sitting in a fancy restaurant costs you money so we looked until we found something a little more local and found a vegetarian place in our street where we ordered Penang Curry and it was damn good along with the coconut shake we ordered. The lovely chef allowed me to watch her cook the curry and told me the ingredients she was adding, it was cool. The meals are served with a combination of red and brown rice as she told us this was better for your health and it was so nice. She then gave us directions to find my favourite dessert, mango sticky rice, she was nice to chat to. I will be hunting for the mango rice tomorrow that is for sure. Alvo's feet are starting to tire and it is 9.30pm so back to the hotel we go to finish the final episode of Masterchef. We have had more fun in the last 8 hours here than we had in 3 weeks in Vietnam.....bring on the next 7 weeks. Tanya xxx.