Last day in Chiang Mai

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Geo: 18.8, 98.98

Looking back at the past week, I think the highlights of touring were definitely the Elephant Camp, though may be not the bamboo rafting. The large Wat on the mountain is worth organising a ride to get to. The Monkey show is awful. For 200 baht you get to see about a dozen monkeys all in chains and looking very unhappy doing things they wouldnt normally do. We only stayed 5 minutes and walked out. The trip to the Orchid Farm was very nice if you like orchids as I do. For 40 baht you can wander around the lovely garden and see some lovely species. We bought some nusery plants sealed in a bottle, which we have to remember not to leave on our balcony when we pack today. Chiang Mai city is a bit confusing to get around as there are a lot of one way streets. The large Wats are worth going round. The night market and the Sunday market have to be seen even though they are obviously very touristy. We have only had 3 meals out of the hotel so far as the food at the Manadarin Oriental is very good; the Thai rest particularly is excellent. There is a Thai dance show every evening from 8 till 9 and a gourmand menu for 1300 baht excluding wine. Good value couldnt eat it all. The Gallery rest. by the river has a nice ambience and mid range prices for tasty food. The Riverside rest we only tried at lunchtime and was good and apparantly is good for evenings. Last night we tried Da Stefanos, an Italian- cheap and cheerful. The Melon was a little underripe but the pastas were excellent. There was an electric shutdown during the evening but the staff just light candles and carry on so probably a regular occurrence in this street. However it did happen just as we were trying to pay by credit card so I hope it wasnt a result of trying to clone it! We paid by cash in the end as it was going to take some time for the lights to come on. We came back by the oldest Tuk-Tuk I have ever seen in my life. Even a dog, of which there are loads round here stopped and looked at us. The man hadnt a clue where the hotel was but eventually the machine staggered to a halt outside the hotel and he had to get out his tools to get it going again! We have had 2 very different massages. The first was a 60baht shoulder job in the street which several backpackers were using to get rid of the aches from carrying back packs. Our other was in the hotel, an hours back massage which was expensive torture but certainly loosened up all my tight muscles. We shall now sit by the pool before having to pack up to go to Bangkok. We have loved this place.

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Photos

in the bar at the Mandarin oriental
The GM and his wife are lovely people and Poppy the wine waitress is a hoot