In my last blog, we watched the sun set on my time in lovely Laos, and I was looking on to the next chapter: Thailand!

I’d initially hoped to make it to Chiang Rai by the day’s end, but a late border crossing scuppered these plans and I along with my fellow shipmates spent the night in Thai border town Chiang Khong. I had a lovely curry overlooking the river and even managed to get a good deal on a data SIM for the month from a 7 Eleven nearby – these data SIMs really are worth it in Southeast Asia either for passing the time on buses or booking hostels en route to your next stop, and you’ll rarely pay more than £5-10 for them depending on the duration.

Waking up not unlike this adorable cat^ the next morning, I was itching to make my way deeper into northern Thailand, with Chiang Mai and Pai already on my radar. To break up the journey, I opted to take the local bus to Chiang Rai for a little over £1. Bargain.

As is the case in this part of the world, the bus journey was full of some stunning sights meandering through rice fields and distant mountains. In the evening I was lucky enough to find a food market stretching the length of the city’s main street and beyond, packed with different flavours, smells, and lots and lots of noodles!

Needless to say it didn’t take me long to get involved…

I came to Thailand with high expectations of the cuisine and this first taste of Thai street food still blew me away! I’m never having noodles without lime again!

I’ve got to give a shout out at this point to Get Hi! hostel. The hosts First and Joe are lovely lovely people, and so welcoming. They have a 24 hour breakfast setup which I can tell you is even better than it already sounds. The rooms and bed are so comfy, and these two invited me to have my first taste of vegan food which was better than expected. Also, who could resist this little pup…

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Sadly I was the only occupant of the hostel this time (another first!) and that killed the vibe a little bit, so I decided to pick up a bus the following day to the bustling northern capital of Chiang Mai, to answer the question; where the hell is everyone?!

Find out how I got on in my next post 🙂