From Bangkok to Chiang Mai

On Thursday evening I was supposed to be at the travel agency, where I had purchased my bus ticket the day before, at 5:30 pm. I was there even before that, but, as I don't have the best orientation I accidently bumped into the wrong travel agency (on this street behind the railway station there is one travel agency beside the other and they all look pretty much alike). When I politely asked for the bus to Chiang Mai the lady in the agency barked at me in a very rude tone and told me that I am wrong and should leave immediately. When I dared to ask twice she even yelled at me and showed me the door. I made my way quickly to the door, however she must have said something to her cute little puppy as well, because the little dog - not even the size of my cat - turned into a little monster barking loudly with this typical high pitched voice and bit into my foot just at the moment when I stepped out of the door. Nothing bad had happened as I was wearing closed shoes and socks I just had some scratches, however I was shocked by the rudeness of this lady.

Finally I found my travel agent and as I still had time I went to the next door coffee shop. There were a bunch of completely drunk English guys and I was hoping they would not be on the bus with me. They were in their late twenties already and screaming and yelling and two of them even ended up on the floor. I paid quickly and left the place and preferred to wait in the travel agency. There I met a couple of France and the three of us ended up to be the only ones to go from this agency to Chiang Mai. At 6 a car picked us up and brought us to another agency from where we were to get on our bus. The French guy spoke a little English and was very friendly, however with his nice wife Kati the conversation was very limited due to my poor French knowledge.

Arriving at the next travel agency we had to do our bus check in by presenting our passports and tickets. The people working there were not very friendly and we didn't really know what was going on. We only knew that our bus will leave at 8 pm. The place was cramped with young and old backpackers from all over the world. And going to the North and to the South to different places in Thailand. All people who just like me had not managed to get a train ticket 😉.

The French couple asked me if I wanted to go for dinner with them. I though this was very sweet, but declined because I was not hungry at all and just bought myself 2 bananas for the bus ride.

During waiting I met three backpackers my age from Spain, 2 men and one woman with beautiful long curly red hair. We were talking for quite a while in my 'Portugnol' and Spanish because they also did not speak English. I really think people are very brave when travelling without speaking even English. However they seem to get by somehow.

Then I met two Young people from Germany, not travelling together; they also had just met. For the girl it was her first trip alone and she was feeling lonely and homesick and was happy to chat a little bit with us in German. However we had to separate soon as she was heading South.

Soon it was time to get on our bus and the guy responsible for the organisation of the passengers was also extremely rude and unfriendly and yelled at all of us the whole time. We were once again very shocked how unfriendly and rude some people were as we had imagined that everyone is very friendly here. I was also surprised of the bad English most of the Thai speak. And even if they speak quite well it was and is still a challenge to unterstand them because of their accent.

I managed to get a window seat in the first row. After a while the German boy I was talking to came and sat next to me. He told me another seat was assigned to him but he preferred to sit next to me. When the bus was almost ready to leave two young girls rushed in and made a scandal right away because there were no more two seats free next to each other. The man behind me was nice and gave up his window seat for the two little beauties and so I had them sitting right behind me. And the first thing I saw of the one girl who already made a scandal when entering the bus were here bald feet and toes which she put up front almost in my face. I realized right away that she is a spoiled and selfish little brad. But for the sake of peace I kept my mouth shut. And to be completely honest probably I was just too big of a coward to reprimand her. Moreover that she was Israeli made it even more difficult for me. I also helped her to get in the Internet on the bus as she was not able to do that by herself. But I didn't even get a friendly smile back.

Björn, the young German man sitting next to me, was a very nice guy. Several years ago he had lost his job and went to Vietnam for a year to work in an orphanage with abandoned children. He told me that those children have been left behind by their Patents because most of them were disabled. I think people like Björn are really inspiring. Instead of sitting at home and lamenting about how life is not just the way it is. After talking for quite a long time I decided to listen to an audio book (The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald - for those interested in English literature) and Björn to music. After a little while it was really cold in the bus and the driver stopped and distributed blankets to us. Then all of a sudden there was a terrible odor in the bus, in other words it was stinking like hell. Even the blankets were stinking es well we put them over our noses to be able to bear it. Then the driver started stopping around every half an hour. He would stop the bus right in the side of the street and walk out. We had no clue what he was doing. I assumed that he had some digestion problem. When I talked to the French guy after our arrival he told me (they were sitting in the back of the bus) that the driver every time he stopped had gone out of the bus and was looking for coconuts. This really makes no sense to me. If he really had been doing that - looking for coconuts then he really was nuts:)

At about 1 am we had an half an hour dinner stop at a restaurant. However almost nobody was eating, just walking around a little bit or having a cigarette.

After we went back on the bus I decided to recline my seat backrest like all the other passengers. However the Israeli princess behind me started to yell at me that she does not have enough space when I do this. We explained her that everyone on the bus had the same space. She made a real drama out if it and I told her to take her private jet the next time instead of a bus full with backpackers. She continued wincing and kicking with her feet into my backrest til she finally fell asleep.

The busdriver continued to stop around every half an hour and because of all these stops we arrived in Chiang Mai at 8:30 instead of 6 am.

As soon as we arrived in Chiang Mai a very nice guy welcomed us at the busstation. He even entered our bus and provided us with all necessary information upon arrival in Chiang Mai. If we already had booked a room we were entitled for a free transfer to our hotel. If not we could book a room there. And there was good coffee to buy at the station.

I had some coffee and sat and talked with the French couple for a while, afterwards I went to the transfer desk and a little while later I was taken to my guesthouse - the R.M.P. Residence (Backpacker's Meeting Place). I had booked this place already in Bangkok together with my busticket to Chiang Mai.

When I arrived there I drank some coffee and waited for my room. In the meantime I talked to the hotel manager, who is also in charge of the travel agency which belongs to the hotel about my further plans in Thailand. Here every guesthouse and hotel is at the same time a travel agency and one can buy bus-, train and plane tickets nearly everywhere, what makes travelling here really very easy. So for everyone who wants to go on her or his first solo trip I can highly recommend to go to Thailand.

My original plans had been to go to Laos for a 3 days Gibbon experience where one sleeps in a treehouse for 2 nights. However for going to Laos from Pai and coming back I would need about 6 days. So I decided to leave the Gibbon experience for my next trip to South East Asia when I will focus on Laos and Cambodia.

However I already booked my flight to the South as well as my train ticket on my last day back to Bangkok in advance and already made some hotel reservations. The fact that there were no train tickets available for days in Bangkok and that next week is the Chinese New Year and thousands of Chinese tourists are expected helped me to reach this decision.

After I had made my travel arrangements I relaxed for a couple of hours at the swimming pool. There I met a nice lady from Spain, who was my age and who also was traveling alone. Unfortunately she was just about to go to the airport when we met. After relaxing I went to the Chiang Mai gate where the old city wall was. This is a walk of about ten minutes and brings you right into the center and the main street. There I got oriented and had a first look at some of the temples. Afterwards I decided to treat myself to a nice massage. Accidentally I stopped in front of a massage studio where I read: Ex-Inmate Employment and Skill Development Center. When my son Silvio was in Thailand several years ago he went to a prison where the females were trained as massage therapists, so they had an education and could start a new life right after getting out from prison. And especially for them the Lila Thai Massage Institute was established to support the lives of newly released inmates in society.

So I went in and enjoyed one hour of Thai Massage. It was great, but quite different from the massage I was used to. She would stretch my arms and legs and put her complete body weight on my back. It hurt quite a bit and sometimes I squieked like a pig. Afterwards I felt great and I think it was not my last Thai massage.

After the massage I went to a nice restaurant where I had dinner and a good cocktail. Next to me there was another lady sitting alone - she was from Brasil - and as soon as we both had finished our dinner I approached her and we sat together und talked for more than one hour and became friends on instagram.

On the way back I hardly missed the street where I had to turn right. What helped me was the sign 'Massage by beautiful girls for men only, starting from 1490 Baht', as this place was in the street which led to my guest house and I had seen it before. A bit more expansive than my massage, which was only 250 Baht.

When I arrivied at the hostel I met 2 young boys from Boston and we talked for a while. They came up to me and asked me what plans I have for the next day. I find it really nice that young boys like talking with me and some of them have such good manners. For them it was their first backpacking trip and I told them how I was backpacking in the US back in 1979. So we shared experiences and they hardly could believe it that I had travelled from NY to LA six times by Greyhoundbus. They did not even know Greyhoundbusses. They seemed to come from rich families, one mentioned just casually that the dad of bis best friend is the CEO of Reebok.

When the Americans went to bed I met a nice young German fellow with who I sat and talked for a while. Unlike the US boys who were students and probably came from upperclass families this guy was a modest young man, who had been working since his youth and had started traveling many years ago. He spent all his free time traveling, has been to Southeast Asia many times and provided me with a lot of useful information.