More travel
I'm not sure that it's a good thing that I don't really flinch anymore at 24 hours of travel.
Turns out I was wrong about the full moon; it was actually the 18th, the day to which I switched my ticket. I considered changing it again but meh, my friends had left and listening to bad trance surrounded by wasted dudes with bad tattoos just didn't seem worth it. Maybe I'm just getting old.
So I took an overnight bus to Bangkok, arrived at 4:30am; it was much much nicer than any bus I rode in India, complete with airbrushed dragon on the outside. Upon arrival I went straight to the train station to wait for my 8:30am train to Chiang Mai. Once again, my new netbook saved me, it's been so good to be able to watch movies during all of these long layovers.
The train wasn't great but at least it had AC. All the guidebooks say not to go to Thailand in April, and now I know why. At least Chiang Mai feels a bit cooler. I even opted for a fan (non-AC) room for tonight to save a few Baht, though I may change places tomorrow.
I must say that I was not really looking forward to how tourist-oriented I knew Thailand would be, but after India it's actually really nice. Helpfulness and smiles and all that. However, I'll probably head to Laos soon, it's supposed to be cheaper and less developed.