A Solo Travellers Mind

The journey from Koh Phangan to Chiang Mai was split over 2 days. The first included a boat to Surat Thani. After some contemplation I decided I would fly north, for a few reasons, the first being that it’s far quicker and the second being I was getting ill and going on a night bus was not going to help this! The ride to Surat Thani was welcomed to be honest, a day to just sleep and do fuck all. I checked into my hotel (a private room to help nurse the brewing chest infection as quickly as possible), however the room did smell and the place gave me kinda bad vibes… (It was only for 1 night so it’s okay). A rather long nap completed and I headed out to see what Surat Thani had to offer… it’s not a particularly touristy location, with almost no one speaking English, so after visiting some temples, and the night market I called it a night. The market was an unwelcome change if i’m honest, with animals such as turtles being kept in small buckets to sell, and fish in very small bags. It was also somewhat confusing as Monks were on stages blessing those that walked by, but due to a lack of english signage i couldn’t figure out if this happens every day the market is on, or whether this is linked to the festival that was happening in Phuket. I managed to get my hands on some local cough medication however I honestly couldn’t say what it is or if it’ll work. The Aircon is absolutely fucking my chest, and I’m still a firm believer that anyone that thinks you should sleep with it on, should be shot…
Awake and ready for my flight to Chiang Mai, but first breaky. This was tasty but incredibly unsuccessful, due to the language barrier my order of egg on toast turned out to be ham and egg? Still good though. My nose was running like a goddamn tap at this point and the cough sounded like I was drowning in my own flem. Clearly the thai cough tablets were working a treat…
On arrival to the hostel I quickly realised that I’m a minority, which is fine but my social life expectations lowered. After a quick wonder round, I head to meet the one and only Olivia and Neal! With our paths crossing on our travels. We go to see a lady boy show (which was actually incredibly good) and head to the local “strip of bars”. In the club I get the surprise of my life, running into an old companion from my fresher days. You could imagine my face when I walk in and see a ghost from my past is standing in front of me when I’m thousands of miles away from home… a giggle was had for sure!
After an incredibly rough sleep (this cold is slowly going to kill me) I take a wonder round the city before heading for my sunset temple tour. The temples in the city are incredibly beautiful, some with the craziest details! The tour meant I got to visit some temples outside of the city. It was really quite something to see the temples at sunset/night, while veiwing the city from the mountains. And i got to see the Monks chanting (something they do everyday at 6am and 6pm). After I headed out to the Saturday walking market (running into liv and neal, literally). A spread including a jacket potato were devoured. Potatos are probably the thing I miss the most about the UK so I was incredibly thrilled when I saw the carby goodness on display.
Up incredibly early for a jungle trek around Don Inthanon. The trek was incredibly fun, seeing many water falls and weird a wonderful plants (a plant that moves if you touch it and weird mushrooms). We even got to see the elephants crossing the river which was very cute!
The evening was spent reunited with friends from Southern Thialand, eating home made food followed by a trip to the Sunday Market (I swear there is a different market every day).