Blogs from Chiang Mai, North-West Thailand, Thailand, Asia - page 344

I am writing this from a free internet terminal provided by Bangkok Airways in their terminal at Bangkok. I arrived at the airport on Koh Samui for an 8:10 am flight early so they put me on an earlier flight to Bangkok and also and earlier flight Chiang Mail. This sure beats about a 17 hours bus and ferry ride to Koh Samui. The flight was only 45 minutes! I am saving another 14 hours or so taking the plane to Chiang Mai. By air, Chiang Mai is about an hour or so. Bangkok Airways gives free coffee, tea, cake, internet access, and even popcorn while waiting for the flight. US airlines could learn a lot from the level of service and nice freebies provided here. I got an offer on my former rental condo and ... read more

We touched down in Chiang Mai airport on the 23/12. From the airport we got a taxi into town and started looking for a place to stay (literally walking up and down ally-ways). We found a flier that said 5-stars Guesthouse and thought this must be the ticket. A tuk tuk came past and saw us reading the flyer so she drove us there 3 people at a time. After arriving at the hostel we organised a few things (3 day trek around the mountains and Laos visas) and then headed out for some chow around the corner. While we were at the hotel, we booked tickets for thai boxing (muaw thai or something) for that night. Dinner was just down the road at a new restaurant (only 1 month old) called Bamboo *something* (don't remember), ... read more

6 Nights Our last days in Thailand before Laos have definately been some of the best we have had! After returning from Pai we went back to our wonderful AU$2.50 a night guesthouse and decided to check out the Chaing Mai Night Bazaar which is an array of markets, restaurants and cool things to see. We scored some great bargains; new fisherman's pants, shorts and shirts (I have thrown out some of my 'western' clothes and decided to dress thai style). It is good times bartering with the market stall owners and walking away with 3 bags full of clothes and stuff for AU$20 is my idea of a smart shopping trip. The inner child came out in Rane and I when we bargained hard for some 'laser' pointers so we could be juvenile and point ... read more

We were collected by pickup & driven to the local market. Our teachers for the day were Noki, Ma & Meow & they set about showing us all the Thai herbs & vegetables we would be using. We had all piled round one market stall & no one else had a chance to buy anything from it, so I'm sure the stallholder was pleased when we moved onto the curry pastes. Having got what we needed for the day we headed out into the countryside to the Pad Thai Cookery School. At the school we sat down on floor cushions at a long low table & were given our recipe books, aprons, tea towels & stickers with our names in Thai. We split into two groups, seven doing course A with Noki & Sam & I ... read more

Another great day in and around Chiang Mai. I rented a motorcycle and decided to drive out to a temple called Wat Rampeong to learn meditation from some English speaking monks. The motorcycle rental costs $3.50 for 24 hours....cheaper than the whole pizza and beer I had for dinner tonight (that was $4.00). Wat Rampeong is about 25 miles out from the city of Chiang Mai but pretty much a straight shot and easy traveling roads. On the way there I kept thinking about meditation and what I'd be asking the teacher and thought, I should stop for a bit of lunch before I arrive. So I stopped at a roadside restaurant which was not much more than a shanty with some tables. The people were wonderfully polite yet could not speak English any better than ... read more