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Chiangmai Day 1
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Decided to take a short trip to Chiangmai during the National Day weekend since we could not get any tickets for the National Day Parade at Marina Bay. Return ticket on Tiger Airways cost $260. We stayed at the Rarinjinda Spa and Wellness Resort, a lovely boutique hotel opposite the Riverside Restaurant along the Mae Ping River. Since it was the low season, the hotel offered a special deluxe room rate of $180 per night, 50% off the advertised rack rates. I took lots of photos during this trip, honing my photographic skills with our new SLR. I think I looked very touristy with the SLR slung over my shoulders, but hey, I am a tourist here and need lots of photos for my blog! The Thai people here are very friendly and polite and normally oblige my request for a photo with a smile.
our deluxe room
toiletries in the bathroom
the hotel grounds
the pool
The airport was only a 15 minute ride to the city and we arrived at 9.30 am. Walked to the Warorot market, looking for food as our stomachs were rumbling. Finally found some eating stalls inside the market and ordered a bowl of yummy chicken soup for only 25 baht. Longans, longkong and mangosteens were in season and were abundant in the market. The mangosteens cost only 10 baht per kg and longans between 20-50 baht, depending on the grade.
chicken noodle soup
warorot marketWe walked to the old town, which has a number of Buddhist temples or wats. We visited the grounds of Wat Bupparam, one of the more ornate and intricately decorated wats. Along the streets, we saw this shophouse which looks more like a jungle and decided to pop in. The shop sells all sorts of wood carvings and paintings by John Gallery. Co saw this unique cabinet with a chest of drawers, made of teakwood and we bought it for 750 baht, without even bargaining for a better price!
what is Donald duck doing in a wat?
the jungle house
miniature teakwood cabinet
We brought lots of fruits from Warorot market on our way back and after lugging the bags of fruits in the hot sun, hailed a tuk tuk back to the hotel, which cost only 40 baht.
The two hour Thai massage (1,200 baht) was rejuvenating, especially when the masseuse used the hot herbal compress at the end of the massage. We actually fell asleep during the massage.
Dinner was at the famous Riverside Restaurant and our meal consisting of fish cooked Thai style, stir fried asparagus with prawns, red curry beef, tom yam gung and drinks cost only 660 baht. The prawns in the stir fried asparagus and tom yam gung was a bit soft and not very fresh, but the rest of the dishes were quite tasty. The lighting was a bit dim and we would have enjoyed the food more if the lighting was better. Nevertheless, it was a very reasonably priced meal, especially the whole fish cooked two ways which cost only 200 baht.
The night bazaar was a long stretch of shops selling all sorts of merchandise and was a 10 minute walk from our hotel. Generally, the shopping here is cheaper compared to Bangkok or Phuket. We were truly amazed by the talent of the local artists, who drew such fantastic and life-like portraits from photographs. We would want to get our portraits done on our next trip.
Labels: chiang mai, thailand, travel
posted by Co&Ji at 10:32 PM, | 
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