Arriving in Chiang Mai

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Thursday, July 5

We left Bangkok early - 10:30 AM flight - and arrived in Chiang Mai at 11:45 AM. Chiang Mai is 370 miles north of Bangkok into the mountain areas. We had arranged for the hotel to pick us up at the airport - Leslie had suggested this since metered taxis are not that common in Chiang Mai.

We are staying at a boutique hotel - The Yaang Come Village. It has 42 rooms grouped in 4 buildings that are designed to look like traditional Thai structures. It is even more beautiful than their web site - incredible level of service. The concierge has been very helpful - she is extremely attentive without being overbearing, and speaks perfect English. We arranged Friday’s activities through the hotel’s tour desk. We will have a car and driver which will take us to the elephant park/show, a tribal village and Wat Doi Suthep temple. We have to be ready at 8:30 AM.

Today was “laundry day” - just like at home - ya gotta do it. The hotels we have been staying in offer laundry service, but it is priced on a piece basis - at those prices it would have been cheaper to buy new clothes - but, we were starting to approach “desperate” level. The concierge pointed us to a laundry shop about 1oo yards down the street that charged by the kilo - we had 8 Kg - about 18 pounds. Next day service at a total cost of about $12.50. Problem solved.

We had a late lunch (actually turned out to be an early dinner) at the hotel and spent a few hours at the pool. In the evening we went to the “Night Bazaar” - which is a main attraction in Chiang Mai. This thing goes on for blocks, has several indoor pavilions and a few food courts. All sorts of stuff - we did not buy anything, as we plan to go back each night. It is only about a 5 minute walk from the hotel.

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