What's the reason to get up really early to make it to class before you are flying out on your weekend vacay, if they just tell you there, that the class has been cancelled. Sitting around in the coffeeshop waiting for Udo to get out of class. At the airport we meet up with the other 4 lucky people who did not have class today.
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| Chiang Mai Airport - lovely welcome |
Flying AirAsia is a breeze. Got the boarding passes preprinted and with our tiny backpacks we are breezing through security and just chilling till the flight comes. Bad thing for airports is... the food prices are insane. Even water costs more than triple than outside. Arrrgh! Nothing you can do. There's a prize mafia and if you are hungry or thirsty you just gotta shell out the dough.
Arriving in Chiang Mai we get free Sim Cards for foreigners. Would be very nice but unfortunately I already got one. Catching taxis to the guesthouse is also a breeze. And it makes a good first impression. They are nice there, speak good English and run jokes. When we decide not to book tours with them straight away they aren't as nice anymore. But we can deal with that.
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| Pool chairs ;-) |
So what's the plan for the first evening in Chiang Mai. Let's start with fooood. Everyone's starving and we find a sweet little place close by that's really nicely decorated. And there it is... the second power outage of the day. We had a short one before in the Guest House. But it all seems very harmless, light is coming on again shortly after.
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| Fooooood |
Walking through Chiang Mai it appears to be really, really quite. There's not much going on here on a Friday late afternoon. We read something about a Monk Chat at a Wat in the city and that's where we are headed now. By the time we get there the Monk Chat is already over but we witness all the monks praying in the temple. Since we are 'inappropriately' dressed we slip on the robes provided and it makes for some great photo ops. The temple is nice, just like aaaall the other temples I've seen so far. Far more impressive is the giant hill, forgot the proper name for it, behind the temple. Looks fab, especially with the sun setting over it. If it wouldn't be for the howling and fighting dogs the scene may even be somewhat romantic.
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| I am sooo hungry I could eat a monkey! |
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| All dressed up for the monkcasion |
What's one of the bigger attractions in Chiang Mai? That's right the famous Night Market. Since it started to rain we hop in two Tuk Tuk's and off we are. One Tuk Tuk driver actually offered to take all 6 of us in one Tuk Tuk. It would have been interesting to try, but I am not sure we would have made it. It's a fun drive anyway. What differentiates the Chiang Mai markets from other markets in Thailand is the fact they don't mainly sell clothes but lots of handicrafts too. There is everything from homesewn, stitched, woodcrafts, iron and whatever else you can imagine. Most of them look really good too, and sooo cheap. Since I really don't need stuff but am so tempted to buy something nice I get a few gifts. I can't let out what though, coz I wanna surprise a few people. Check your mail folks ;-)
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| Monks |
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| Temple Hill |
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| Tuk Tuk ride |
Just before heading back to the Guesthouse I peek in a Travel Agency that's by the end of the Night Market. And lucky us... their prices are more than reasonable. After bargaining - after all it's for 6 people - and bargaining and discussing and discussing we manage to book 4 trips alltogether for around 50 €. Since the price got cheaper the more we booked we just fill up our schedule for the next few days. So booked the following: Morning Trip to Wat Doi Suthep, most famous temple near Chiang Mai on a 'mountain' with great city views. Evening trip to Chiang Mai Night Safari. Full daytrip to go Elephant riding, ziplining and whitewater rafting. And a full day cooking course. Since we've lost one group member who is nowhere to be found and not reachable via phone (a very common theme over the next few days) we decide to book everything for all of us anyway and it should turn out to be a fantastic decision.
More on the trips during the next posts.
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