CHIANG MAI, THAILAND

Jan. 9  -  April 1, 2012

We arrived in Chiang Mai, Thailand the first part of January after a short stop in Seoul, South Korea. We rented a small condo in a 20 storey hi-rise next to the Holiday Inn and by the Ping River. We have settled into the daily life here in Chiang Mai.

 

 We have done the touristy things like riding an elephant, visiting the many Buddist Temples, walking to the old city which is surrounded by a moat. We also visited a Botanical garden, shopped for our daily fresh fruit, vegetables, fresh meat and fish (you pick the live one and they kill and clean it on the spot) and possibly prepared foods from the local market across the street. Our street has every imaginable shop within a couple of block – a large hospital, clinics of all kinds, foot and body Thai massages, a 7 Eleven, hardware store, pharmacist, eye glass shop, jewellry shop, bank, about 6 ATM's, food stalls serving Thai and Burmese food, women's clothing, 2 internet places, 2 shops selling supplies as food gifts for the monks and the list goes on. Irene broke her watch strap and a unlikey repair fellow had a stap and made it to fit. He then went back to play his daily chess with his friends in the shop.

 

We have also taken the “Free Shuttle” that goes hourly from the Holiday Inn to a very large modern 5 story shopping plaza near the airport. It is really handy to be near a large hotel for taxis and other benefits.

The street is busy with a dance between cars, trucks, tuk-tuks (motorized 3 wheelers), songthaews (trucks with 2 benchs in the back and are the local bus without routes), motorcycles of all sizes and pedestrians making their way around the vehicles as the sidewalk are really non-existant. There is a real bustle of activity all day long.

Wat Phra Singh

At Doi Suthep

Maetang Elephant Park

Quite a ride

Visiting the |Long Neck Native Village

Vegetable transportation

We are waiting for the rains to come as the sky has been grey with smoke from forest fires and burning of the rice paddies. This happens every year here in Northern Thailand. We just returned from a 4 day trip to the mountains at Chiang Dao, where we enjoyed ourselves – walking, birding and eating delicious food.. We took tuk-tuks and local buses to get there and it all worked like clock work. We could see the fire on top of the mountains and we were not sure if these were controlled burns or a forest fire.

Great Meals!

Our accommocations

Visiting with Bruce

We have enjoyed visiting with Bruce (Chris' son-in-law) as he just happened to come here for a short visit with his friend Mark - also from Winnipeg.

A huge Flower Festival Parade

Royal Flora Exhibition

Note the size of these buses

Band playing at the Sunday Walking Street

Traditional dances at the Sunday Walking Street

Doi Inthanon

At Huay Tung Tao Park

We still have many adventures before we arrive home the end of May.  We will fly to Siem Reap, Cambodia to visit Angkor Wat and on April 2 we will start our train trip to Singapore with a few days stop in Bangkok, Georgetown, Penang; Kuala Lumpur. In Singapore we will board the Diamond Princess for our 35 day trip back to Vancouver.