Goodbye, Chiang Mai

I'm back in Macau after a mad dash across Vietnam and Thailand. It was tough to leave Chiang Mai - not only was it a cool place that we were just getting a real feel for, but we had such great hosts in Andy and Hilary. 

On Tuesday we decided to forgo another coach trip and instead headed to the Chiang Mai zoo. It was only a short ride and gave us the easiest way of seeing the elephants that this part of Thailand is famous for. It was a surprisingly well-looked after place. We got to feed, hippos, elephants and Soph even gave a jaguar some meat. As you do. It was also really quiet for a zoo. And it cost about £2 to get in. Yep, that cheap. 

We paid a little extra to see the pandas, which did what pandas generally do and just laid there next to some bamboo. We did get the chance to get one of those terrible, photoshopped pictures where it looks like you're holding the pandas though. Well worth it, results to come soon. 

After the zoo we met Andy, Hilary and Molly and went to their favourite Thai place in town. It was far and away the best food I've had in Thailand. I had one of the local specialities, khoa soi kai; chicken, noodles in a creamy broth and topped with crispy noodles. It was delicious, as were all the extras. It was also home to Soph's favourite Thai dish and, as far as I'm aware, the only good Asian pudding - mango with sticky rice. You can't beat it. 

We then proceeded to do the done tourist thing and spend our remaining baht on crap t-shirts, copious amounts of beer and some elephant trousers that the people of Chesterfield are going to be seeing an awful lot more of. They are more comfortable than falling asleep in a fat girl's cleavage. And that was about that for Chiang Mai. A smashing city and a great end to to two weeks on the road. 

I'm now back in Macau for around a week before England welcomes me back into its own ample bosom. I celebrated this fact by watching the Man U-Everton game on Chinese time aka 4am. I was duly rewarded with a 1-0 win. And after some well-earned rest, I spent today wandering around the Three Lamps district. The Red Market was certainly an eye-opener - eels, fish, prawns all still alive and (not quite) swimming...until one of many butchers was there to carve them up. It was carnage. Also turns out that a bearded white person seems to stand out in that environment. Hello again, China!