Chiang Mai

Betsy left for her trek and I resolved to get to know central Chiang Mai a little better. At first that entailed tracking down a good internet cafe. The first one Betsy and I had gone to didn't allow people to upload stuff and since that was all I wanted to do, there was no point. Through our travels we had used a Lonely Planet guidebook and although sometimes these guides get things very wrong,sometimes they get it very right. The internet access was a case in point, it had said that if you want a fast connection you look for the internet cafe that is full of kids,playing online games.And it's true, but in my case I found one with a load of young Buddhist monks playing video games. And so, during my stay in Chiang Mai, I would spend a few hours a day surrounded by young,Buddhist monks. Although it wasn't until Betsy pointed it out to me that I realised that they were all playing shoot'em up games. Interesting.
In the cafe I started to upload my photos onto my hard drive and then onto my photos website, which would then be followed by an upload on to Facebook. I a not nothing if not paranoid about losing my photos.I also sent a message to Pete, a former couchsurfer,who was now on holiday in Chiang Mai.
I headed back to the hotel and met Pete en route. He whisked me off on the back of his scooter (no helmet) and off to lunch and then a massage. The massage wasn't as good as the one I had had on the first day, but there you go. I chilled in the afternoon and then had dinner with Pete at the place he was staying and then out for drinks. Afterwards it was a quiet walk back to the hotel, where again I think I was the only guest in the place. But they had a 24 hour reception. Lovely.