Fuck you, Chiang Mai.

I don't like this city. It's too big to walk, but finding a taxi is like finding a unicorn. There are plenty of tuk tuks though, more than happy to rip you off. Songkran is in full swing here, celebrated predominantly by foreigners. I got a taste of Songkran in Pai - you know, a water gun here and there. Chiang Mai's Songkran goal is to get you as wet as possible. You know how you can't push people in pools anymore because everyone has a several hundred dollar phone in their pocket? They never got that memo here. I thought my poor phone had been killed when someone, literally, stuck a hose in the window crack of the taxi. I was pissed. The driver was pissed. I know you want to have fun but by ruining a car's interior? Luckily a night in a bowl of rice seems to have saved my little S3. Furthermore I've had 2 meals ruined by assholes, and saw some drunk foreigners ruin an old lady's cart of sausages. Why would you do that? Have fun, but let's keep the property damage to a minimum.

So I don't have a high opinion of Chiang Mai, and am cutting my stay short by 1 day to get the hell out of here. Which also because there's nothing to do that doesn't involve getting soaked. The only real point of interest is this temple far up on the hill. It's a pain to get to, but I'm glad I did. Its a beautiful place, and I met this Chinese couple on their honeymoon on the way up. They said my Chinese pronunciation was really good, so that made me happy. Then as we were walking around a monk offered to bless me. After, he softly spoke "Wait wait..." and pulled out a little piece of rope from his pocket. He braided it into some sort of knot in half a second, then tied it around my wrist. It's simple, cool, and I like it. I'm going to keep this a long time.

The only other thing of note was when I arrived. I had a crazy night out with some guys from the hostel. There was a Thai kid at this club, and he asked me to give him a piggy back ride. So that was fun. After he challenged drunk people to arm wrestle. But he blatantly cheated by putting all his weight on his arm. After he asked for 100 baht. I wasn't even mad, that kid was hilarious. If this is his "job", he's making more money than I am.

And that's it for Chiang Mai. With the extra day I'm cutting out from here I'm going to Sukhotai, a city halfway back to Bangkok. But the next destination is up north, to Chiang Rai!