Well I survived the night and actually slept. Guess knowing that the spider had moved on helped. After breakfast we went for a short walk in the opposite direction to see what was up that way. Came across another bamboo bridge.

Guess this was the one that maps.me had tried to direct us to on our arrival day in Pai. It would be much easier to cross with luggage as there were no steps to go up. There was a sign stating that a maximum of 5 people on the bridge at one time. Can’t believe I didn’t get a picture of that sign! Checked it out to see where it came out and it was really close to where we had to catch the van back to Chiang Mai. Took a few pictures.

This a field full of garlic growing And papaya trees

After heading back to our hut we collected our backpacks and took the newly discovered bamboo bridge to the van pickup location.

It was another scenic drive back to Chiang Mai which took about 3 hours. We were dropped of in the Center town area of Chiang Mai. Good thing we had been there before and knew how to get to our hotel. We booked the same place we were in before going to Pai. It wasn’t quite a km to our hotel but it was mid afternoon and the sun was beating down on us. So thankful for our new backpacks that have wheels. This has made it so much easier for us. I would not have been able to do this trip with my old backpack. Just too much walking with them. Got all checked in.

Then headed out to get something to eat. Came across this Canadian owned restaurant so thought we would give it a try. Doug had a burger and I ordered spaghetti bolognese. Both were pretty good.

Later in the evening we headed back to the night market and found a whole new area of vendors. I bought a pair of Asian type pants (no photos of them).

These are bars of soap that have been hand carved. Watched a lady making them one day. They are real artists.

The next morning we headed to the Chiang Mai airport for the first leg of our flight. Chiang Mai to Suvarnabhumui airport, Bangkok then Bangkok to Phuket. Bangkok has two airports, both are huge, but this one was massive. In Chiang Mai you go through a luggage security check as you enter the airport building. Saw this as we walked into the Chiang Mai airport.

We were flying Bangkok Air and the flight was approx 1 hour. They served a full meal on the plane. We didn’t have it as it was some kind of stinky fish. On the second leg, Bangkok to Phuket which was a little over an hour flight they also served a meal.

Landed and got our luggage. Headed out to get a taxi to our hotel. What a nightmare out there. People and taxis and taxi booths everywhere. Taxis here seemed expensive as they were quoting us 650 baht. (Approximately $27 Cdn). Turned out Phuket town is far from the airport. Took a good hour to get to our hotel. Seems like it is always rush hour everywhere. Got checked in. Our room was on the third floor and once again no elevators and no air conditioning in the hallways. The girl helping with our luggage was just a tiny thing, but she and I carried my big bag up together. The room was large and air conditioned.

After a bit of a rest we decided to head out to get dinner. The hotel I booked turned out to be in a more residential area of Phuket and not in the old town. There were many restaurants in our area but definitely all Thai and local foods. Not much English spoken here. We picked one and ate. Doug had cashew chicken and I had fried rice with chicken. They had no Chang beer here so we tried the other local beer, Singha. I didn’t like it.

Called it a night