I landed in Chiang Rai just after one o’clock and got the local bus into the city centre within a few hundred metres of my hotel. My hotel is down a small side street near the golden clock tower but alas once again my choice of location is not good. The noise from the road is just too much. The hotel come hostel is comfortable but I just can’t get a good night’s sleep with this amount of noise. I’m used to sleeping in a very quiet environment.
The clock tower chimes every hour but that’s not a problem as the noise it makes is rather pleasant, but the noise of the tuk tuks and motorbikes and of course there just happens to be a bar not far away that will play all your eighties hits well into the wee hours.
At this time of the year Thailand is very popular and so the accommodation is booked pretty quick and of course the prices are high. I was trying to keep to a budget for this trip but I think in the future I will have to rethink the way I choose a place to stay. I feel that it is more unlikely that the reviews are honest.
The reviews very rarely mention the traffic noise but instead focus on how comfortable the bed was or how friendly the staff were and the location was perfect but I think that like many things in life they turn out to be fake. Fake reviews written because the host was friendly and you don’t want to say anything bad because even although you want to speak the truth you lie on the reviews and then someone like myself reads it.
In China with Airbnb I know that the host and guest will often discuss the review and agree they will say that each other was fantastic. This generates more money for the host and maybe the guest will receive a small discount. I often dismiss reviews that I read when the reviewer comes from America or Australia or the Middle Eastern countries because often their expectations are too high, instead I am more likely to trust a review from a New Zealander or a Canadian, but maybe these guys are falling foul of the fakery.
Anyway I went for a wander around the place, visited the night market, had some very delicious beef and vegetable curry and on the way home I went for a foot massage which was even more delicious than the curry. After my trek the other day my feet were in need of some R&R.
Today I’ll go to a few local temples and then to a small cafe that serves local coffee and that’s about it for today. Tomorrow I’ll leave this hotel for another one close to the bus station where I’ll get the bus to Chiang Mai later. I hope that the new place will be quieter because it’s difficult to function if you don’t get a good night’s sleep.