So. Having awoken ridiculously late, we resolved upon getting ourselves scooters for the day and exploring the city - we had been somewhat ashamed that our only experience of it so far has been the night market, the english pub, and mcdonalds.
We went downstairs, avoided the clause that said it was necessary to have a driving licence and signed our rights away, eager to get on the vespa. Now. I can't drive, I have zero understanding of the highway code, and I failed my cycling proficiency test in year 6. I don't know what part of me thought this was a good idea. We practiced in the back streets, kemi whizzing along, and I, nervous as anything, trying to understand that if i squeezed my hands from nerves, we would go faster. Eventually, we reached a crossroads. A car was coming up behind me and i panicked. I thoroughly forgot the back brake existed, accelerated, freaked out, held the front brake, put my feet down and prayed. The result: holes in my shoes, a vespa on its side in the middle of the road, and thai people laughing at me from every direction. It was this that made me decide that perhaps biking wasn't my thing, so I returned mine and sat on the back of Kemi's bike. She turned out to be fantastic. However, we needed petrol, and in attempting to follow some bad directions, we ended up near the airport, very, very, very far out from where we needed to be. It was only with the directions of friendly local people and a lot of sign language that we made it back to the city walls.
The whole purpose of our expedition had been to find two food places, one called Amazing Sandwich, and one called Love at First Bite. Now, at the hotel, a receptionist had drawn us directions on a map to the sandwich bar, (chiang mai has a horribly complicated system of one way roads..) and after three hours of struggling, getting lost, losing hope, finding hope and renewed enthusiasm for our sandwiches, we drew up outside a distinctly uninspiring grey building with the words "sandwicth bar" inscribed tinily on a plaque. We blanched. This couldn't possibly be the place - where was the amazingness?! I cautiously stepped inside - it was empty - and attempted to converse with a waitress who didn't speak a word of english, couldn't read a map and would have been the worst charades partner in the world. I mimed eating a sandwich with a quizzical expression and she just burst into peals of embarrassed laughter. Who knows what she thought i wanted! In the end, i cut my losses and retreated with kemi and got out the guide book. Kemi's guidebook had agreed with the receptionist, mine had said it was on a different road, so we tried the address stated in mine, and got there in an alarmingly short time - although it was still three hours since we set out. Needless to say, our sandwiches were amazing. It was like subway but on a whole new level. You chose a bread type, two meats, four vegetables, 3 cheeses, two sauces and then a side. Oh my goodness. SO worth it.
However, now it was 5pm and we had but an hour to find Love at First Bite, a cake shop - we were informed - of such amazing cakes that we had no choice but to hunt it down - plus, i had been craving real cake for a while now. We searched in vain for about an hour and a half, and then conceded defeat and returned wearily to the accommodation. We returned Kem's bike - undamaged! We were still alive, and hadn't done anything ridiculously stupid - except accidentally going down an unsignposted one way street, and veering off into what looked like chaing mai's hidden red light district.
That night we returned to the night market to buy shorts and trousers for flight of the gibbon the next day, and we returned at about 11, exhausted and needing to sleep since we were up at 6 the next day, to pack, check out and go gibboning.
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