This is actually a really good thing. It means you get the chance to do a bit of travelling and get a break away from the centre and training for a while. It means around 4 trips a year and if planned properly means we can take advantage of the opportunity to see more of South East Asia.
Only problem is that it can be expensive and although you can do it relatively quickly and cheaply if you do the Chiang Mai, Mae Sai run (you are over the Burmese border for less than 10 minutes). It seems a shame not to enjoy the opportunity to do something a bit different.
This time we went to stay in a resort in Chiang Rai. We decided we wanted a proper holiday, where we could relax by the pool and pamper ourselves a bit, so we plumped on a beautiful resort by the River Kok called The Legend.
We set off for Chaing Rai via Mini Bus and Aya Services at 8pm on Monday and arrived after a rather bumpy and a little hairy ride in Chaing Rai at 4am. We did feel for those poor souls who were going on to Laos and were dropped at a shared hostel in Chaing Kong with only 3 hours sleep until they had to go to catch the slow or fast boat to Luang Prabang in Laos. However Laos is such a beautiful country, I am sure they quickly got over the trauma and lack of breakfast!
4am is far from the ideal time to arrive anywhere, let alone Chaing Rai. Nothing except the good old 7 seemed to be open and the original hotel we were hoping to stay at the Starbright (considerably cheaper and in town) did not as promised have anything resembling a 24 hour reception.
We went for a wander and it is really strange and interesting being up and sober at this time in the morning. The little market was being set up and you could smell and see people preparing the food and wears they were going to sell. The area round the market was chaos and the concept of a pavement (or sidewalk for our American Cousins) seemed to be non existent. (In fact throughout the town pavements seemed to be used as glorified moped parks).
We walked by some government offices and saw people doing the Thai equivalent to Chi Kung practice which was interesting to observe for a while. We made it down to the river just as the sun was rising and realised we were quite lost but in a really pleasant residential area. Gates seem to be key to self image here as we saw some really nice gates attached to not so nice buildings.
Through lucky guess work we arrived at the gates of The Legend and instantly fell in love with it. Beautifully laid out, with big airy rooms with two balconies, well landscaped grounds by the river, excellent restaurant (actual service for a change!) and a pool which had a cut away waterfall effect that made you feel that it extended into the river.
We spent a few days relaxing by the pool, which is something we simply haven't had the opportunity to do in Pai and a few days exploring Chaing Rai itself.
Two places of interest that you might not get in a tourist map (many temples and markets aside) are the restaurant Cabbages and Condoms (or C& C if you are feeling shy) which attached to the Hill Tribe Museum next door is a Not For Profit charity, selling high quality food (my curry was delicious) while raising money for Hill Tribe related causes. There is lots of amusing artwork including a Santa made entirely from condoms and promises that their food is guaranteed not to cause pregnancy! You get a free ticket to visit the Hill Tribe Museum next door which is worth a look as well.
The second place is Teepee Bar. Really the Chaing Mai equivalent of DILLIGAF in Pai, but full of strange and interesting art pieces and fun and friendly staff. Beer is expensive in Chaing Rai for some unknown reason but spirits seem to work out quite cheap. Definitely highly recommended.
Our next challenge was actually getting to Mae Sai and packing in as much sight seeing as we could on route. I will cover this in the next post.
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment