It took about a day to reach Chiang Rai from Sukhothai, and it made us realise we actually quite enjoy bus trips. We think the affinity started in Canada, when we would spend days on buses and enjoyed every minute of it. In Thailand, although we were first slightly disappointed that we would have to get the bus rather than the train (due to the flooding), we have been pleasantly surprised to find the roads are excellent and the buses are usually in pretty good condition. The Thai’s are great travel companions, love talking to us farangs, and the scenery of rural Thailand has been beautiful. It has also made us reflect on our buses in Laos – the Lao’s have a reputation for weak stomachs, but nothing really prepared us for entire bus loads of people vomiting the entire journey, or the poor elderly lady who we almost thought would die because she was so sick (she consoled everyone by hanging her see-through sick bag in the aisle of the bus for all to see when she wasn’t using it). Although the roads were terrible and the buses very average, we were still surprised by how much we enjoyed ourselves on these journeys.
In recent days we have been driving around on motorbikes a lot, a freedom we both really love. Our time on buses, tuk-tuks, scooters/motorbikes, songthaews, and boats has been a part of our trip that we weren’t really looking forward to as much as just being in places; and a part that we have both enjoyed immensely.
