Thursday, December 16, 2010

2010, Day 349 - Chiang Mai, Day One

This morning we bid farewell, temporarily, to Bangkok and boarded the Skytrain to the airport. Along the way we were reminded that while there is a great deal of beauty in Thailand with its golden temples, abundant silks and tantalizing food there are many here who live much more basic lives and who struggle to keep food on their plates.



Our flight to Chiang Mai took a little over an hour and we were met upon arrival by a driver from our hotel. As we left the terminal the first thing we noticed is that the temperature was much more comfortable and the humidity greatly reduced. I already decided that I preferred Chiang Mai to Bangkok without even having seen the city.

My rash preference of Chiang Mai over Bangkok was reinforced on the drive to our accommodations where it became quickly apparent that this is a better maintained and much less congested city as well. We shortly checked into our room, suite might be a better word, in an old teak mansion that also houses what is reputed to be a very good restaurant. With only five rooms I suspect that we will be given a reasonable amount of individual attention.


The patio outside of our room.


Once settled we spent a little time exploring the grounds and then relaxed a bit with our books before deciding that some additional adventure might be nice. Given that the sun was already setting it was decided that a trip to the Night Bazaar was in order. The Night Bazaar is held every evening just outside the eastern wall of the old city and while it caters primarily to tourists it seemed like a good way to spend an evening.


The emporium of dried foods.



Row upon row of stalls, many selling identical items and trying to best the price of the their competition.


Women examining silks.



And there are nibbly fish!


Because I remember how much Laura enjoyed them when we went to China Brad and I spent some time with our fishy friends.


That's the look of someone enjoying themselves, right?


Tasty snacks!

After eating dinner and a few hours of wandering we decided to call it a night and haggled with a tuk tuk driver for a ride back to our accommodation.

1 comment:

  1. hahahaha on the fishy friends...

    and,

    tasty snacks? I think ...NOT!

    ReplyDelete