What a fantastic end to a long day of travelling.
Amber's mum dropped us of at Heathrow around 6pm and after the usual making sure we had at least one aisle seat we headed straight through to the departure lounge in Terminal 3. I bought myself a much needed new pair of Oakleys in anticipation of several days of glorious sunshine ahead and we grabbed a bite at a well known coffee chain to tide us over until food on the plane.
Once on the plane we were horrified to find out that our Thai airways flight didn't have personal in-seat entertainment. Luckily for us they compensated with plenty of leg room, fabulous food and complimentary alcohol. Result!
As luck would have it, we ended up sat next to a nice chap called Andy who had been to Thailand twelve times and was full of stories and recommendations. This time he was flying out to meet his Thai girlfriend in the North East, as she is expecting and he is hoping to move out to Thailand permanently, so needed to research his options. I had to bite my tongue when he started spouting animal 'facts' he'd learned from a tour guide on a previous trip. But not his fault the guy had fed him a load of BS.
The flight was as smooth as silk and despite initial concerns over the lack of personal screens, the time flew by. It only took us 10 hours and 45 minutes to get to Bangkok.
Our connecting flight up to Chiang Mai was equally straightforward and before we knew it we were getting out of a cab outside Nichar's house after paying only a mildly extortionate 180 baht fare. To give some background, Nichar is the girlfriend of Pete, one of my friends from uni. Nichar kindly offered us the guest room in her parents' house in Chiang Mai, despite the fact we've never met her before. So grateful.
As expected, Nichar is lovely and has already outdone herself by taking us to dinner at The Riverside for an exquisite Thai meal with live music overlooking the river. Couple this with an ice cold Chang beer and you've got my recipe for an awesome chilled out introduction to our next adventure.
We even managed to fit in our first rides on a song tao and a tuc tuc! Amazing.
Plus Nichar showed us our first ever Tokay gecko in the flesh. I've seen hundreds in reptile shops in the UK, but to see a wild adult is a real treat.
Amber was just saying how great it is to meet someone for the first time and feel instantly at ease, like you've known them for ages. She's dead right.
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