Congrats to Yerusalem for getting hired as a paramedic with Peel Region. Two intense years, and now the payoff. I'm really proud of you, girl!

I found myself once more on Khao San Road, this time waiting for my 12-hour busride to Chiang Mai. I wasn't sure if I was in the right place until two girls wandered up with big knapsacks. Turns out they were Canadian, and yes, going to Chiang Mai as well. Enter Jodie and Sheenah from BC, who would be my travel companions for the next few days.

Also met a crazy Austrian dude on the bus. At first I was patient as I struggled to communicate with the straggly-haired guy, but as the ride wore on, he trailed off into giggling fits with increasing frequency. At one point, he showed me his left hand, which was devoid of any fingers, as well as the plastic index finger on his right hand, and lump of shrapnel in his neck. It turns out that when he was 12 or 13, he and a buddy found an unexploded bomb while playing in a creek, took it back to one of their houses and tried to open it. Boys will be boys. As you may have guessed by now, the thing was still live (well, until they started hitting it with a hammer, that is.) He gestured to his head at one point during this 'conversation', and I think he was trying to tell me some of the bomb ended up in his frontal cortex. Anyway, shortly after this conversation, I began to feign sleep, and let the responsibility for entertaining the chatty fellow to Jodie.

Chiang Mai consists of an old walled city about 2000x1800m, surrounded by a moat. The place is packed with guesthouses, travel agencies, and cheap and tasty eateries of all sorts. We ended up staying at the Hotel Samwong, near the Tha Phrae Gate. After checking in, we wandered about the town, getting the a feel for the place, which was bustling, but far less intense than Bangkok.

Later that night, we checked out the Night Bazaar, several blocks of streetside vendors and warehouses of stalls selling everything from food, trinkets, clothing, to artwork, furniture, and sculptures. After a session of hard bargaining, I picked up a watch, the fourth timepiece I've owned since I left Canada. I needed something with an alarm, and once I bought it and put it on, I realized that I got so carried away with haggling that I forgot to check whether the alarm actually worked. It doesn't, and thus I'll likely be seeking timepiece#5 once timepiece#3 gives up the ghost.

The area was packed with people, the girls were carried by all the beautifully patterned clothing, and I was distracted by some of the neato Indonesian instruments, so eventually we were separated. I'm assuming it was by accident. Due to the overnight bus, I really hadn't slept for about 40 hours, and had now spent a full day in the sun, so I threw in the towel, returned to the guesthouse, and crashed.