After another rainy day spent in the hotel (it got so bad I actually worked out for an hour in the Gym!! Shocking!!!) it was time today to move on to Chiang Mai. While we still saw quite a few stressed tourist being stuck at the airport on our way out, we left on our scheduled flight on time and with no problems. On the way to the airport we saw some of the damage the weather had done in the last few days – at one point the street was almost completely blocked by some massive granite rocks (good luck with getting these out of the way!). Apparently some hotels were without energy or water for a couple of days – at least we didn’t have that problem! It really was a shame about the weather, the place we stayed at could have been really nice, a private beach surrounded by beautiful landscape, a good resort, etc. Whatever.
We arrived at Chiang Mai this evening, checked into the Hotel and then went straight to the Night Market, which was smaller than I imagined (still pretty big). After strolling around and looking at mostly rubbish on sale (fake watches, stupid T-Shirts, etc.) we went to one of the Food Plazas and sampled some of the local specialties, which actually proved that the restaurant we discovered in Bangkok was serving authentic Northern food. I went for three North Thailand classics, Papaya Salad, Chiang Mai sausage and sweet sticky rice with mango (that’s 130 Baht, or about £2.50). The first two were very tasty, the latter very, very sweet (but disturbingly delicious!)We’re now back at the Ratilanna Hotel, which is a five minute Tuk Tuk ride from the Night Market in a quieter area on the river. I booked a river view suite which is really nice – a gorgeous dark wooden floor, a large sitting room and bed room and a ridiculous bath room (see picture below). The public areas of the hotel are also very nice, with a large pool, a Spa and very attentive and friendly staff. Very good first impression!! Haven’t made any plans for tomorrow yet, we will probably do that over breakfast. I don’t want to go to visit one of the mountain villages since I don’t like the idea to invade what is supposed to be a traditional village maintaining its original culture (which with the constant invasions from tourists it probably isn’t anymore anyway – I imagine it to be more of a rather sad simulation of what these people’s lives once looked like, at least that’s what we had experienced when we visited the Tunisian desert people many years ago). Maybe we go to Elephant Nature Park, the elephant „retirement home“ I believe I mentioned in an earlier blog. Maybe we just do some city sight seeing tomorrow and take it easy (Spa, Pool) before the rain catches up with us, or whatever Mother Nature has in store for us next!!
And here a few Chiang Mai impressions:
I can see the baby bath. Why not take some soap and a sponge to the hotel’s large pool and get the friendly staff to give you some spa treatment.
What a great idea!! I just asked and they refused. Not such a great hotel afterall…