Day 12 - Tacky Tours

I was up early for my tour up to Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep Rajovoravihara (what a mouthful!) which is the famous temple in the hills on the edge of Chang Mai city.

On the tour it was just myself and an American guy Larry. Our guide Sun was pretty hard to understand so I gave up trying to listen much and just took in the sights of the golden temple and read the signs explaining the story surrounding it. The legend is that holy relics discovered during the reign of King Kuena (1355 - 1385) were placed in a howdah on the back of a white elephant which carried them to Wat Phrathat then dropped dead due to fatigue from the long journey. It was at this point that they chose to erect the temple.

Unfortunately there was too much haze/smog up there so taking a photo of the view of the city was pretty pointless.

Following the temple we were taken to a silver factory and umbrella making factory, which although interesting, were not all that enjoyable as there was a great sense of feeling pressured to buy things, which neither of us did mind you.

I'd had enough so got dropped in town to try find and adaptor which I did successfully and even managed to navigate my way back to the hostel without getting a tuk tuk or asking for directions. I was pretty hot and bothered by this point so after having lunch with Jo I had another afternoon spent by the pool.

The blog was seriously behind so prior to dinner I spent a good hour or two updating it before Jo, myself Colum and two Scottish girls, Leanne and Louise headed to Riverside for some nosh. It was totally booked out there though so we moved along the river elsewhere to somewhere a bit more quiet. This turned out to be a mistake as Colum and Louise's steaks hadn't turned up after 45 mins (while the rest of us had already finished our meals!) so they ended up giving up and settling for chips from 7/11.

Heaven Beach was our next stop which was quite an experience! There were touts (mostly children) hassling us every two minutes to buy things off them, even after the boys had gotten up flower necklaces and roses (bless them). One four year old girl in particular took a shining to us and sat with us for a good hour even though she couldn't speak english (but could count to 10 in english!). Another eye opener was the beggars in all shapes and forms, or deforms I should say. I'm not so good with this sort of thing so I had to divert my gaze any time on wandered into the bar with their tin for money. I'm glad I did experience this though as you can't say you've visited South East Asia without seeing these things.

Jo kindly drove me home on the back of his motorbike, pointing out the ladyboys as we went along. I kept having to pinch myself thinking I can't believe I'm riding on the back of a Thai guys motorbike in Chang Mai city! I have him a quick hug goodbye and firm NO! when he went in for a kiss. That's the major downfall of being a girl travelling alone, everyone assumes you're up for anything..