CHIANG MAI and CHIANG RAI:
The flight from Luang Prabang was nice but we arrived in Chiang Mai to a light rain – this was to be an omen. I ignored the usual cluster of guys at arrivals asking “taxi? taxi?” and headed outside to find the regular taxi line. There was none. I hadn’t read about this, but I saw a couple of fairly young girls who saw me and informed me (one has been to Chiang Mai several times) that the only way you get a metered taxi is to go to the booth in the terminal and pay them 50 baht to get one. Then they call the next one whish is slightly off property to come pick you up – they give you the number of the taxi, it is metered and you pay them. The meter was only another 65 baht or so, so the total paid was about 115 baht, cheap enough. My hotel which I had booked for just one night was the Vieng Mantra, a rather new small Lanna style hotel that was only about $50 a night by prebooking with them. It was just off the walking street and the taxi knew it, but when we turned into the little soi, he had to get out and move bicycles to get through. Then we drove by the dumpsters of the bigger hotel in front of it. In other words, the approach was pretty dismal. Still the rooms were nice, the pool which it was built around was lovely – but it all looked so – well, cheaply done – what did I expect for $50.

I was to meet another internet friend here – a professor of biochemistry at the University Medical School. He had received his PHD at Austin, Texas in a 5 year stint back in the 90’s, and he spoke great English with a bit of a Texas twang. He came to my hotel at 6 and we went off to do the Sunday night market. The rain had stopped and we snacked on a couple street foods and walked along, and he showed me a couple of temples, including a wonderful all teak one. I had also mentioned that I had already found another hotel for my three day weekend return – De Naga – which was just a couple blocks away. On Agoda they were offering a three night stay for $53 a night (reduced price plus a third night free with two nights’ booking). So we went to look at it. Thegrounds and lobby were lovely but my friend, Oui, insisted we look at a room, which we did. Even more lovely and elegant in traditional style. The girl also should us the one premier suite which was almost like a little house in the center of the small complex (I think there were about 55 rooms total). I checked on rates – but it was more than double the Agoda special, so I went back and later booked it on Agoda.

In any case, after about an hour at Sunday market, it started raining. When I say rain, I don’t mean a shower – I mean a downpour that just started out of nowhere. People scattered and ran for shelter and of course all the sellers were scrambling to save their goods. We happened to be right outside a foot massage place that Oui knows, so we popped in – great idea. We got places, but within minutes there was a long line outside. Everybody thought it was a good thing to do in the rain. I had a male for the first time, who was really strong and brutal on my feet. Wow. What pain for the first 20 minutes, but it soon became tolerable and eventually even pleasurable. An hour later it was still pouring rain, so we ran across the street to a place called The Garden – a bar and restaurant with entertainment, basically outdoors but all covered. It was busy, and the music was simply great. A real international group – a Black guy about 50 from Chicago with 2 foot dreds as the lead and playing sax or flute for most numbers, an Indian guy on guitar, a Thai young woman on drums who was really super, a Japanese guitarist who looked like he was stoned the whole night, and a young Thai guy who played various traditional Thai instruments. Over all the sound was sort of traditional American jazz – but all had this vague Thai sound added with the extra instruments. It was a great group. After them came a group of two men about 60 from Australia and a much younger one whom I think was the son of one of the others, playing “fossil” rock – lots of Stones, Dire Straits, Led Zeplin – you name it. Pretty good actually. Anyway, we stayed and drank and ate (Thai food was pretty good) for about 3 hours, and eventually Oui said he had to get going – he had classes to teach the next morning. We ran in the rain and through flooded streets to his car he had parked nearby at a temple (he has a special permit and seems to be able to park anywhere he wants) and he dropped me off at the hotel. It was a fun night despite the rain.

Monday morning I was to take the bus to Chiang Rai. The girl at the hotel said no point in getting the ticket early, it’s slow and I can get the air conditioned bus (which I took to mean the first class one) at any hour. I ended up getting to the bus station by Tuk-tuk at 9:15 to be told the next “first class or VIP” bus wasn’t until 1 PM, but there was an air-conditioned bus leaving at 9:30 so I bought one of the last three tickets, next to last row. The bus was air conditioned but pretty dismal – and my seat was on top of a wheel well with no place for my feet, but luckily they never sold the seat next to me, so I could sit sideways. It was a long 3 plus hours and a bumpy one as well, mostly in the rain.

I got a tuk-tuk in Chiang Rai to my hotel, the Starbright, right by the night market. Never believe pictures on a website. The place was fine, but again realllly cheaply built, although new and sort of unfinished. Like there was an open shaft for an elevator, but no elevator. It was dark, but of course probably due in large part to the almost night like atmosphere outside in the rain. But it was clean, the bed was decent, and it would do (again for 900 baht a night (less than $30) what did I expect. Oh, and the breakfast wasn’t a buffet, it was all cooked to order – but the most tasteless ham, bacon, or sausage I’ve ever seen – I tried one on each of my three days. How can bacon have no taste at all?

I didn’t do much, but walked around town a bit, and then went to the night market, where I immediately ran into the German couple who had been staying at the same hotel in Luang Prabang and had just arrive in CR by boat from LP. I joined them for a while – they were having a beer and listening to the music in the covered pavilion. I looked at the food stalls, but ended up going across the street to Ayr’s (?) a rather nice place where I had a Thai dish – can’t remember what and listened to the live music. There were about three of us in the entire restaurant. Things were really quiet in CR – partially due to the rain.

I had checked the weather on internet and it suggested that Tuesday was to be 90% rain, but Wednesday would be about 20 to 30%, so I opted to save my hired driver and car to the Golden Triangle for Wednesday. But when I got up on Tuesday and looked again, they had totally reversed the forecast and it looked pretty clear out. So I went next door to a little car rental and tour office and asked about a car and driver. Within minutes a driver appeared – a bit of a character dressed ala Rambo, with camouflage long shorts, hiking boots, black long sleeve t shirt under tank top, and even gloves on his hands with the fingers removed. He had a fu Manchu mustache and numerous tattoos. He’d drive me for the day including the car for 1300 baht plus gas (which ended up being 600). He spoke really good English, so off we went. We did the villa and gardens fo the King’s mother at Doi Tung – it was a lovely house built in the 80’s by her when she was in her 80’s, and the gardens were truly lovely – with a tiny bit of drizzle a couple times while I walked with umbrella. But otherwise the only rain we had all day was some while driving. It seemed to clear up whenever we stopped. We went to the border with Burma and he drove me up a little hill for a splendid view over the town, but I opted not to walk across the bridge to Burma – there seemed to be no point. I wandered the tacky little stalls and stores for awhile then we were off to the Golden Triangle. Ooops. The road he usually takes got muddier and muddier and finally he stopped and asked to find out it was now impassable due to the rains. So we had to make a rather long circular detour. At the Golden Triangle I had a great lunch at a little place he suggested, but he refused to eat with me despite my offer to treat, saying he wasn’t hungry. I did the Opium Museum, we visited the other usual near by towns and temples, and finally returned to CR about 5 PM. It was a great day after all.

I went for a foot massage, a totally different one, as this woman used a small wooden “stick” and did all the pressure points in my feet, including pressing hard inside between the toes and at the tips of my toes almost under the nail. Again, it was excrutiating, but by the end was actually pleasurable. She also did herbal wraps on my feet and legs while she worked on the other one, and used lots of aromatic oils on my feet. It was a great hour and a half for about $7! Then I walked over to the night market – oh did I mention it had now been raining solid since just after my return at 5? I ate tempura from a stall at the market – there were lots of them. This Japanese style tempura surprised me but it seemed to be the main thing there. I had a platter of 6 huge shrimp, and lots of various vegetables for 50 Baht – that’s well under $2 – amazing! An early night to bed.

Wednesday I awoke to rain – heavy rain. After breakfast I sat in the rain trying to decide what to do. Finally I grabbed my umbrella and headed out to see the various temples is town. I got drenched. Streets were flooding with the downpour and I kept stepping off curbs into deep puddles, and then a car would go by and splash me with a wall of water. I didn't find much of great interest, but wandered the huge local indoor market for a while as at least it was dry. I walked by one of those “open garage door” places with a few formica tables and a woman cooking soup up front. I saw a man in a suit eating a big bowl of noodle soup that looked good so tried to tell the woman I wanted that, but she wasn't getting it. Finally the man asked if I needed help, I asked what he was having and he told me (in Thai) but said it had pork, and then he told the woman that's what I wanted. She motioned me to sit down and she went into action making my soup. A few minutes later she brought it to my table – this was a one-woman operation. This was perhaps the BEST meal I've had to date. It had coconut milk in the broth, was fairly spicey with chilis and cooled with lemon, and had huge chunks of boneless chicken in it, plus mushrooms, green vegetables, and perfectly cooked yellow noodles. It was topped with crispy fried chow mein noodles. Two people have told me since what this is called and they refer to it as “what used to be a very popular dish” but I have no idea why it still wouldn't be. Anyway, when I was done I opened my wallet having no idea how much this was, and as I pulled out a 50 Baht, she quickly grabbed it and handed me back 25. This mean was 25 Baht -- well under $2. I loved this place. While much street food had been “good”, I woudn't call much of it amazing, but this truly was.

Anyway, I spent all afternoon in my room listening the rain (it was really dark out), catching up on emails, and watching CNN, and feeling sorry for myself – I guess it was just the being alone that was getting to me. I also took a nice long nap and felt better.
In the evening I walked over to the night market as usual – it was only a light drizzle now, ate at Ayr's again – this time having a good T-Bone steak cooked on the grill out front with baked potato and corn on the cob and I had them make me a dry robroy which actually came out pretty good. It was an American break which I really enjoyed.

Then I walked over to the Coffee Hub – right on the corner by the gaudy clock tower.
At 9 PM (and every hour, I guess) it does a light show with music and it becomes even gaudier. It was fun and I drank a really good tall mojito. Then to bed.

Thursday was actually clear – well, of course – I was leaving. I took a tuk-tuk, then the very nice VIP bus to Chiang Mai. Rain off and on along the way.

In Chiang Rai, I actually bargained with the tuk-tuk driver who wanted 100 baht to take me to the hotel. I walked away and he followed me after I said I'd just pay him 80. He finally agreed. Then I felt guilty because we got stuck in lots of traffic, so I ended up giving him a full 100 anyway. I guess I just feel silly holding back 60 cents as if it meant something to me, when it probably does mean something to him.

The DeNaga Hotel was lovely, and despite the fantastic deal on Agoda, they upgraded me to a larger and nicer room. I headed out and went looking for a number of restaurants reommended in the Fodors guide. Well, all that I looked for were either closed or gone. I spotted a lovely little garden (did I mention it actually wasn't raining at the time?) and they had a blackboard special which said in English “wide homemade noodles with mushrooms and smoked pork”. MMM, sounded good, but it wasn't till after I sat down that I realized it was basically an Italian restaurant and the menu showed it as Pappardelle with porcini and speck. Anyway it really was delicious.

I spent most of the afternoon revisiting a couple of the temples we had walked by on Sunday night, and picking up brochures along the way. My new friend, Oui, on Sunday and given me the name of a friend of his who does guiding and driving as a “sideline”, speaks great English, and we had been emailing during the week. This guy, Wiwat, had suggested some mild hikes in the National park to waterfalls, and also talked about a bamboo raft ride on one of the smaller rivers. Well, when I talked to him by phone that evening he informed me that most of that was off. The paths in the mountains were all mud, there were even some mudslides and it was all too dangerous to attempt. The rivers? Forget it, they were all at flood stage. So he said he'd meet me at my hotel at 9 with a new plan. That evening (Thursday) I simply went to the night market then ate some decent Pad Thai at a street place. I stopped at John's Place, a popular ex-pat type bar right by my hotel for a few drinks.

Wiwat appeared at 9. He was great. We went to the king's summer palace and gardens and to the golden pagoda overlooking the city, and a couple other things filling up the full morning. Then he said he'd take me to a “special place” for lunch but he had to call to make sure they were open. They were. It was in a beautiful valley behind the mountain with the Golden Pagoda on it. It was a private home with a small restaurant with spectacular views on the roof. The wife teaches cooking school in town and they run this little place sort of when they feel like it. We had a unique green papaya salad in that the papaya had been cut into shoestrings and deep fried into sort of patties, and then you ate the rest of the salad on top of it. We had a seafood dish including squid, shrimp, and crab, an omelette with minced pork, and special mushrooms sauteed with sugar snap peas. Great meal. Afterwards we simply did a long drive to the west and through a couple of valleys. We did stop in one small village and visited the market there, and also stopped at a flower farm where he knew the people. In the winter they grow strawberries and the summer they grow flowers. Meanwhile I found out that Wiwat who was about 50 retired two years ago after being the front desk manager of the Four Seasons Resort for about 7 or 9 years. So we stopped there and he gave me a tour of the place and entertained me with stories about demanding rich travelers who did things like call in the middle of the night to say “I'm not paying all this money to listen to all this noise. What are you going to do about it” referring to the sound of the cicadas in the trees.

He dropped me back at the hotel where I had a brief swim, and then took a tuk-tuk to the riverside restaurants. He gave me the names of several of his favorites, but most were very crowded and very loud with music, but I popped into Brasserie was delightfully quiet – although they started some nice light live jazz a little after I got there. It's a funky garden like place right on the river. Apparently normally there are a bunch of steps that go right down to the river, but now the floor was just two steps above the river, pretty much in flood stage. When I left I noticed there was now only one step, so the river had risen about 6 inches or so just while I was there. Kind of eerie to be sitting there with this river rapidly moving past. I felt like I was on a boat. I mistakenly ordered a whole steamed fish with lemon and chilis because I saw one at another table and it didn't look very large. Mine came out HUGE, but delicious. And I also had some more spicey papaya and shrimp salad – more traditional this time as opposed to the lunch version. It was a nice night and I returned by Tuk-tuk.

The next day Wiwat was busy, but he contacted a friend of his – a regular taxi driver and negotiated with her to take me to the Maesa Elephant Camp and wait for me and then take me to the Queen Sirikit Botanic Gardens. The elephant thing was of course kind of touristy/hoaky, especially the show, but the elephants painting pictures like recognizable vases of flowers was pretty amazing. Then I had a one hour ride through the mud on an elephant. My guide didn't speak English but he did tell me that my elephant which wasn't very big was a “baby” and that the much bigger elephant right in front was his “mama”. But unless female elephants have tusks and large penises, I'm sure he was wrong about that!

The Botanic Gardens are very nice, particularly the green houses each organized with a type of plant, but when I came out of those it started pouring rain so I headed to the waiting taxi and just headed back into town, arriving back about 2 in the afternoon.
My friend Oui had planned to spend the afternoon and evening with me, I called him and he picked me up about a half hour later. He normally gets a massage on Saturday afternoons, so I joined him. We went to massage school (all I know is it was next to a big driving range). It was very busy (due to the rain, I suppose) and we'd have to wait nearly an hour, but if we did 2 hour massages (we were going to do 1 and a half hour ones) we could also use the herbal steam room free – so we did. Of course we had to rent “shorts” to wear in the steam room – Thais are remarkably shy – I was even surprised when in the locker room, men wrap the towel around them to remove their pants from underneath. And no one would ever go naked into a steam room, Oui told me. The steam room was very hot, and I could only take a few minutes at a time, but each time I re-entered it had a different herbal smell.

Then I had the two hour full body oil massage. It was wonderful! I was like jelly at the end thanks to both the steam room and the massage. Then we drove out near the zoo for dinner overlooking the city at the outdoor Palaad Tawanron. We ordered too much food (so I was glad that even Thais do that). We had fried seafood and veggies, a huge pot of coconut/lemon/chicken soup, spicy papaya salad, fried rice, and nice cocktails.

Sunday the hotel booked me a taxi to the airport (200 Baht) which ended up being the concierge driving me in the hotel car. The flight to Bangkok was right on time, and I took the city line rail link into the city to connect with the subway to SamYan then walk to the Tawana Hotel, booked by OAT tour – the Vietnam tour I was joining. I took a walk into Patapong and had a souvlaki platter at a small Greek place run by Australians.
Didn't do much all afternoon, except some walking. Then in the evening had a couple drinks, then went to Mango Tree for dinner – spicey chicken in coconut soup and fried noodle with shrimp. I sat outside in the lovely garden with nice live Thai music.

So that completes my Thailand stay and I will start a new thread for my “Inside Vietnam Adventure” with OAT.

Patrick...

Thanks for writing about your stay in Thailand. I've gotten some great tips here for my trip. Looking forward to reading about your time in Vietnam as I will be there too, in the spring!

Wonderful, i really enjoyed reading that. I have done some of the things you mentioned (the elephant show is a bit cheesy isn't it?)

Am very much looking forward to your Vietnam adventure.

Thanks for a great report, Patrick. I was fun to go along with you to CM and CR, it was easy to imagine the rain from here in Seattle.

You really did a great job of planning this trip, and good for you that you utilized your internet friends to get a more local experience in each place!

Gee, I really liked the elephant show. Maybe because they could paint and play soccer better than I. Great report Patrick. I am looking forward to the report of your OAT trip to Vietnam.

Thank you for the details. I'm really enjoying this report.

I think on your OAT tour you will not be lonely, my experience is that your fellow travelers will be very friendly and interesting. Can't wait to hear all about it.

Patrick-Any thoughts on your OAT trip so far would be appreciated. I need to make a decision soon. Just a recommend/do not recommend indication would be great until you do your detailed trip report.

great report...looking forward to your vn adventure and to getting some restaurant names from you for my november visit.

loving your report -- so many great ideas and tips. Looking forward to VN.

Patrick,
Did you book your flights using the Bangkok Discovery Pass before you left the US? Thanks for clarifying how it works.

Yes, I booked them all online. I sent an email to them asking a couple questions and they sent me back a proposal with all my flights listed and I booked it with them online.

Thanks Patrick. How do you specify a river viewcroom at center Point Silom?

ask for it

Yea, I think rhkkmk has it right. I didn't though as I believe they were considerably more expensive.

neo---where next??

On July 31 I'll be flying to St. Petersburg, Russia for three weeks there, Moscow, and Kiev. Then to Barcelona where I'll be joined by a friend and also doing Amsterdam, Brugge, and Paris together. Then I'll go to London for a week. Another One World Pass for me. But I'll be spending the month of May in an NYC apartment and spending June and July in Lambertville, NJ. Ah, escaping Florida for the summer this year.

I cant wait to hear your report on St. Petersburg. My DH has decided that we will go there in Spring 2012 so starting my research now.
What a nice life you have!

i have a fantastic guide in st pete if you want to contact him....good english and comfortable autos.... much more reasonable than any of the others we found on the internet....

let me know at [email protected] and i will send you his contact info...

bob

you can also read my trip report of the baltic area by clicking on my name...

a visit to tallinn is well worth it as a side trip...

Patrick:

I envy your summer travel plans. I've been to Lambertville, don't know if there's enough there to keep one interested for 2 months.

Shanghainese, without getting too personal here, trust me -- there IS! Lambertville was not chosen at random.