Getting to Lampang

So it has been a long journey getting to Lampang. After selling Shawn's house, moving, staying with Woodie, visiting the girls, visiting my family, and of course packing, we were off! WOW! The flight was very long, 13 hours from Chicago to Narita/Tokyo and then another 7 hours to Bangkok. We took to the taxi line which is always interesting, as you know they will rip you off when you get out of the taxi. This should be negotiated before entering the cab but it is so crazy at the airport and you are tired and just want to get to the guesthouse. We got to the familiar New Siam off of Koh San Road and settled in for more sleeping. You know you have jet lag when I am waking up at 6am!! We hung around for the day around koh san road , trying to stay awake long enough to make it to the train at 7pm. We did eat at this wonderful indian restaurant which was sooo yummy!

We took the overnight train to Chiang Mai. This proved to be the same for me as far as experiences go. I.E. THE HOT WATER INCIDENT......So i had these cu o noodles and i was going to try to get hot water..go to the dinner cart and they start saying something to me so i assume that it was like last time and headed towards the toilets to see if there was hot water boilers there...not there...go back to the dinner cart and they make me buy a bottle of water which i tried to not buy because i had plenty of bottled water with me already....so then she fills up my noodles with the hot water...very nice...but then charged me 20B for the bottle of water and 20B for each cup o noodles that she filled...60B.....WAY TOO EXPENSIVE!! I mean this is $2 but...the water shoudl only be 10B and the hot water free..also consider that it only cost me 12B for the noodles!!! HA!! I have learned my lesson....don't try to get anything on the train...go to market and get some food to take that doesn't need anything!

We get to Chiang Mai and check into the little guesthouse that we stayed at last year...same place..thank goodness it was still there....you never know in thailand...one day it is there the next day gone! We met up with Jen and her man Otto and went out for a nice Thai dinner. Still being jet lagged we went home early. The next day we went to this awesome vegetarian restaurant that Jen loved!! Yummy!! Then Otto drove us back to lampang...Thai driving is a bit weird and it definitely takes some time getting used to....Otto is a great driver and it was so retro because he has this Datsun..like late 70's early 80's style....pretty sweet.......we arrive in Lampang and they take us to met Karen at the house we are going to stay at. Pretty sweet Thai house...plenty of room...plenty of extra space....an awesome housemate Karen....and some other plusses.....it is quite here...relatively....and there is internet as well as international tv...karen has been here in Lampang for about 4 years so this is her home...and we are very grateful and lucky to be here. We ended up at Soul Fly bar where a band of friends were playing...fun times!! The next day...Sunday...we had a braai....pronounced like bri..think like bridle.....anyways...a BBQ.....folks from the International School came and it was a really nice time....the following week I went to the International School to check it out and then did a practice teach.....Shawn spent his time putting resumes out around town and we did a lot of good eating!