I looked up another dorm: Julie’s Guesthouse. I lugged my stuff down there and it was packed! Unfortunately, they were booked solid for the next week. Crap. I booked a single room at the guesthouse behind theirs (Lanna’s Guesthouse).
I walked back to the other dorm to get my bicycle. I saw a guy standing there at the front desk. We talked a bit.
His name was Mike. He came from Hawaii. He had been in Thailand for a few days. He was looking a lively backpacker atmosphere like me. He used the same site as me and was impressed by the good reviews of this dorm.
I chuckled and told him, “This place is a ghost town. I had the room all to myself last night.”
I told him to move over by me near Julie’s Guesthouse. There were tons of backpackers over there.
We tried to meet up that evening for dinner, but it didn’t work out. It’s tough to plan things on short notice without having phones.
Go to town and buy yourself a cheap gsm phone. I finally caved and bought myself one in NZ because it’s just so much easier coordinating with people you meet. My phone cost me $30USD plus $15USD for a sim card with $15 of air time on it. I barely use it but it’s nice when you want to meet someone again later. and if you play your cards right you can take it home with you and use it with tmobile or att.
@Alex–Sounds good. Maybe I’ll do that.
I don’t know what it means to “play my cards” right–buy a make and model that ATT or T-Mobile support? I wouldn’t know where to begin.