We made it!

We finally got to our hotel about 6pm local time last night. Ugh. All in all, though it was a horribly long time to be in cramped airliner seats and almost impossible to sleep and it was a little confusing and stressful filling out the visa forms in Bangkok, the trip went without a hitch. The kids did great! What troopers.
Our ride from the Lai Thai hotel was right there with a sign waiting for us. He took us on a harrowing ride through crazy 3rd world traffic to our hotel. That ride was just a blur of weird sights and frightening near misses with mopeds. The motel is a mixed bag. The rooms are much funkier than I imagined, but the big garden area is incredibly lush and pleasant to hang out in. There are fountains and spirit houses and the pool was pretty good this morning.
Last night we went out for a walk to find some bottled water. It was very much like an acid trip, and maybe a bad acid trip. I lead us the wrong way it seems and we were in a funky dark smelly part of town with lots of scary traffic and most places closed up (at 7pm?). My guts were all messed up too, probably from the bizarre food on the asian airlines. Anyway we were feeling quite lost when we ran into this super friendly gal from Canada who escorted us into a strange little shop (?) and showed us a cooler with bottled water. 5 bottles for 27 bhat--about 50 cents. She also gave me a little map I've been using today. The first of many Angels we are to meet, I suspect.
So today we've had a swim, a charming lunch and a hot walk along crazy busy traffic streets. We're on the verge of the Old town and hoping to see some tourist sights before much longer.
I think we're about to take our first taxi ride too.
The weather has been pretty good today. It was balmy all morning and only a bit hot this afternoon. Not too muggy either. So far Chiang Mai is much much more congested and dirty than I imagined. But we've barely begun to look about. I'm just glad we made it alive.
I'll try to get some photos up soon.
love
rob xxxx