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Published: April 26th 2008
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Finally our last part of the trip has come. It's just never enough time to travel. I and Doug arrived to Chiang Mai in the evening so it was dark. Our airport limousine driver didn't have a problem finding our small hotel even though it was located in a fairly complex area. We stayed at TadKham right next to Tad Kham temple. It was nice and simple boutique hotel with affordable price. We walked to get dinner at the local market nearby. There were varieties of food available and i wish my stomach were able to handle food more than it actually did. There was also a night market where they closed the road for the pedestrians and vendors to shop and sell. We skipped that unfortunately.
The next day, our rental car agent came exactly at the appointed time to drop off the car for us. I really liked their service. It was straightforward, quick, and easy. In less than 15 minutes, we drove off from the hotel. The rental car company was North Wheels.
Our first destination was Doi Suthep approximately 30 minute drive from Chiang Mai town. It was my first visit there. I had all
Doggie on the stairs
He looked so comfortable on the stairs up to the temple. along pictured the surrounding area of the Chedi being bigger than it is. The Chedi was very gorgeous. Tourists, both laypeople and monks, came to take pictures and worship the Chedi and the Buddha. We walked to the overlook spot hoping to see views down there but all we could see was smog, so sad.
We went a little further up the mountain from the Chedi to visit the Winter Palace(PhuPhing Rachaniwej). The paths were very well maintained and organized. What amazed me the most was those beautiful flowers. I'm not a flower person but their beauty was irresistible. Picture after picture after picture of these flowers just doesn't seem to be enough. The Palace itself was not an attraction but the beautiful garden was.
The next destination was Doi Inthanon. it is the opposite direction from Doi Suthep so we had to go back the way we came, drove through Chiang Mai town again. From Chiang Mai town, it was probably close to 2 hours when we approached the entrance to Doi Inthanon. We made our first stop there at Mae Klang Falls, the biggest waterfalls in Doi Inthanon. It was huge and quite pretty. We spent
a little of time there before headed out since we didn't know how far we had to go to get to our resort. Well, apparently not that far.. just a short drive we got to our resort.
I had high expectation with this resort, Inthanon Highland, just because of the views I saw in the pictures and some reviews. I had to admit I was quite disappointed. Even though they didn't have many guests at that time, I saw just us actually.. I think they could still have done a better job than they did. The resort didn't do a good job in maintaining the facilities. The lake on the side close to our room stank a bit. One of the room windows was left open no wonder why it was so hot even with the AC on. However even after we fixed that problem ourself, the AC still wasn't giving much cold air. So instead of staying there for 2 nights as planned, we headed back in town the following night.
The next day we visited various waterfalls and view points. I was surprised that these waterfalls were well maintained. They were fairly developed but yet not
Real tribal girl?
A group of girls dressed in tribal clothing sitting on the bench on the way up to the temple. Several tourists, including me, spotted them and definitely we took pictures of them. The girls then started yelling "give us the money too". That was enough to scare all the photographers away and yes... me too. overdeveloped. I like use of rocks, gravels, and wood to build paths and walkways. We drove up to the mountain top, the highest point in Thailand. On the way up, our small SUV, in Thailand called MPV I'm guessing it stands for multipurpose vehicle, acted like an old man/woman. I floored the gas and to a certain point it gave me an encouraging sound of a powerful engine roaring and so we went up and up again. Then, it started to slow down, and slow down, and slow down, and i thought to myself dear God don't slide back... I don't want to abuse my newly wed husband that bad yet. Just when I felt that the car was going to stop the encouraging sound roaring engine would return and then repeat the cycle over and over until we reached the summit. The temperature was around 18 C even though it was noon. unbelievable!!! A Bangkokian like me just can't imagine that temperature level at "noon". Dont' think that this is true everywhere in Chiang Mai, at this time of year many places could be in late 30s C if not 40C sometimes. We took a little hike at AngKha
nature trail. I loved it. I like the boardwalk, the cool temperature, the rain forest, the bird sounds, and the serenity. I asked Doug to sit down for a while so I could fully immerse myself with the nature and just quietly observed what was going on around me.
On the way down, we stopped at the Chedis dedicated to the King and the Queen. They were built by the Air Force. The King one was still under construction. The main attraction for me wasn't so much the Chedis but those small elephant statues posing in playful gestures. They were so adorable so much that i wanted to take them home with me.
It took us about half a day to visit major attractions so we wrapped up our Doi Inthanon part and headed back to town. On the way there, we stopped at Baan Ta Wai(Tawai village), carved wood, earthwear, artwork, and pottery village. I was determined to get a clay plant pot home regardless. I saw these clay pots and statues displayed almost everywhere i went. The adorable and playful postures of the statues got all my attention whenever I saw it. Finally, I got what
was closest to what I wanted and could carry back to the States with no hassle. Yes, 2 elephant plant pots. Since we came to the village, in another word a factory, the prices were also factory prices. Things were much cheaper and we felt we could spend as much as we wanted to. The only limitation we had was practicality of certain items and transporting them home.
so we only baught a few things.
We went back to Chiang Mai and stayed at a new boutique hotel, Baan Mandala. I recommended this small hotel. Even though, it was somewhat complicated to get to but the hotel was nicely decorated and fairly cheap. What's not cheap is things you find around the hotel. Because it's close to Night Bazaar so everything was tourist price. Ridiculous.
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Heather Kilpatrick
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Flower photos
For someone who says they aren't much into flowers, you surely took some fantastic photos! They came out really really well. the Photos of the fucia were great and the orchids too. I was mos surprise by the waterfalls. They really seemed very accessible, paths, etc, but no one in the photos but you and doug. I was surprised by how empty it seemed, especially given that it looked like it was accessable. Anyhow, thanks for not leaving us hanging. And cute flowerpots!