Last days in Chiang Mai

---

Geo: 18.8, 98.98

The last 3 days have gone by in a whirl though most of it was spent lazing by the pool as it is so hot. Stefan discovered that he had brought odd sandals so this stimulated a trip to the shopping mall called the Central Airport Shopping Plaza. They only had one pair of men's sandals and luckily had the right size. I have never seen so much awful ladies clothing under one roof! However they did have a Teddy Bear shop so sandals and shorts were purchased for Ted. We should have stayed at the hotel for dinner as the 7th March is a big Buddhist festival and no where was serving alcohol. We had a simple meal at the Riverside restaurant accompanied by 7 Up!
A family of Mozzy bites have moved onto Tiz's legs with multiple cousins now residing on feet and ankles, several on arms and a few in places where they have no right to be! This is despite splashing on loads of anti mozz spray and no perfume. Stefan needless to say does not have one bite. Perhaps they like red wine more so than white!
One day we took a car up the mountain to the Doi Sutep Temple, which is one of the most beautiful we have ever seen and is well worth the trip. A cablecar takes you to the top.(30 baht each for foreigners) and after you can walk back down the stairs. Inevitably our driver later said he would take us to the Jade factory where they give you a presentation on all the types and colours of jade, show the craftsman working and of course you spend a fortune you hadn't planned on spending.
Dinner that evening was at the Casa Antonio,a restaurant we had been to before. The Carpaccio of beef, Linguine Grancio and Linguine with prawns were fabulous. It was far better Italian food than we get at home.
On the last day we went into town to see Poppy who used to be the barmaid at the Oriental but is now working in the Irish Bar in the old city. A basic bar where you can get BBQs and Guiness and watch sport on their screens. A favourite haunt of the expats here but certainly not elegant. However it was good to catch up with Poppy.
Our last supper was in the French restaurant back at the Oriental which is very good but very pricey. As always it is the wine that costs as the tax on wine in Thailand is huge. However that still didn't stop us consuming the usual!

---

Comments

[steve cole]

What's wrong with Italian food here? Chave's fat choice pizza with added fag ends and beans is just fantastic from our local Pizza Shed.

[jacqui squires]

Almost the -typical tourist photo of 'ex-pat' enjoying the Thai Life