Enough suffering in the heat of Bangkok! So I decided to head up to the 'cool' north... I had booked a 12h 'VIP' bus for the overnight journey. I would be picked up from the hostel, how convenient! This turned out to be true, but slightly different from what I had expected. A little while after the scheduled departure time, a young girl on a vespa turned up and signaled me to hop on with my two backpacks. OK, I thought, whatever, as long as I would not have to spend all of the twelve hours on that vespa.

And off we went through the narrow sois near the hostel (small alleyways packed with all imaginable sorts of food stalls and other shops, not to speak of the crowds). A few surprised foreigners jumped out of our way while we continued to race through the maze of tiny side-streets until we reached a big avenue. There we went straight onto the sidewalk in order to avoid the traffic. More scared and unbelieving foreigners rushing to get out of our way... When we reached the bus, simply parked on one of the two lanes in the middle of the heavy traffic, what had been promised to be a deluxe bus with air-con and all comfort, turned out to rather ramshackle. At least the aircondictioning worked. Smashed windscreens and window had simply been 'fixed' by covering them entirely with adhesive plastic foil etc. Anyway, I have certainly had much worse in Bolivia.

I actually managed to sleep quite well until at about five o'clock in the morning the bus broke down and the drivers woke us up so we could get out and push the bus along the highway. This and several following futile attempts to start the engine again took a little while until we all got onto the bus again. I simply went back to sleep, what else can you do? At about seven two sawngthaew (converted pick-ups with two rows of seats in the back) turned up to transport us the remaining 35 kilometers to Chiang Mai.

Chiang Mai turned out to be really pretty and very pleasant. The climate is just perfect, the early morning welcomed us with temperatures well below 30 degrees, what a relief! I spent that day walking around the old town to see the most important temples. This is a little difficult, since there seem to be temples and shrines at about every second corner - so which is the one you are supposed to see according to the guide book? But they are all very beautiful! The food was a very positive surprise, too. Although dirt cheap (dinner for three with yummy dishes and washed down with several milkshakes: 4€), absolutely delicious. First we thought we had found a particularly good restaurant, but after a while it became clear that all of them were very good! And then the street vendors - even cheaper but not less tasty. I felt truly sad I had not put this place at the end of my little Thailand journey, since it would make for a perfect place to relax and hang out. The only thing that was a little disappointing, a major tourist attraction according to the guidebook, namely the night market - is just that, a tourist attraction. Any imaginable kind of souvenir, tacky stuff to decorate your home, cheap t-shirts, industry-produced 'handicrafts' and so on. I have certainly seen worse, but this marked failed to impress me.

Worth to mention is also the ceremony and the little firework on the 5th, His Majesty The Kings birthday. Very pretty also the long chain of little fire-driven hot-air-balloons in the sky! And the majority of the people dressed in yellow shirts to express their love for the king whose counterfeit looks at you benevolently from every street corner from photographs, huge and tiny. Makeshift shrines for His Majesty The King can be found in every street and every major square has certainly a massive place of devotion set up in a prominent spot.