Trip to Chiang Mai, Thailand - Part 1

A week of overdue blog post.  Been wanting to blog about it but I was busy with other stuff and didn't have time to do it.  Even when I have, I got a bit lazy coz the number of photos I took seems to drain me.  Overall I took like almost 700 photos in comparison to my parents and sis who also brought along their camera but didn't use it much.

Before my trip, I decided to get a new point and shoot camera kekeke.  I had 2 choice.  1 is a Lumix (I'm a big fan) and yet another Canon camera.  After researching and getting feedback from my "guru", Flannie, I decided to get the Canon.

Affordable and cute.  I did not want to bring my DSLR around coz I know there will be a lot of walking around and I do not want to strain myself by carrying that bulky camera.  Not unless it's a local trip hehe.

So last week for almost a week I went to Chiang Mai, Thailand with my parents and sis.  Since mum been wanting to go for years, dad decided to plan this trip.  There's no direct flight from Kota Kinabalu to Chiangmai so had to transit to Kuala Lumpur via Air Asia.  And you might think that air ticket is cheap?  Guess again, it cost more than RM1k.  And was estimating it to cost less than that.  It was a 6 days 5 nights trip (well more like 5 days 4 nights since we took the midnight flight last Friday).

Flew to KL on the 7th and had a I think it was 6 - 7 hours wait gap till the next flight to Chiang Mai.  Was sleeping at the airport on uncomfortable waiting chairs.  Well at least I didn't sleep on the floor like I did last December.

Supper at LCCT.

Smells appetizing but taste a bit meh.

Finally boarded the plane around 7am.

Had breakfast on the plane.  October Deepavali promotion.  Spicy food.  Delicious.

Flight from KL to Chiang Mai took 2 hours 40 minutes.  And the time difference is 1 hour.

Day 1 starts here.

Good thing about this trip was the fact that I was in bad terms with my sis before and we sort of got back in good terms and since we're sharing the same room, might as well right.  I don't think I ever can be mad at her for a long time.  We're always forgiving each other no matter how bad it is.  In comparison with okay nevermind, I'll leave the other bad terming story another time.  I'm gonna make this a happy post.  Well in a way.

Oh!  And I was lucky to get window seats during my flights.  Thank you dad for picking nice seats for me hehe.  Though I think one of the flight I forgot which one (I think it was the flight from KK to KL), the dood behind me was pushing my chair that it was uncomfortable the entire time.

Got this free sim card at the airport upon arrival.  Everyone got it.  :)  Yay!  I wanna get connected.

Took an airport taxi to our hotel.  New Mitrapap Hotel at China Town.  Dad booked this hotel via agoda.com.  And guess how much per night?  RM15 man.  So cheap.  I'm pleased with the hotel.  Very nice and comfortable.

I think the taxi driver was a bit too annoying when promoting tours.  Dad got a bit annoyed.  I was too.  I wanted to like get settled in and relax for a bit when he suggested we should go to the nearby craft shop and start walking around.  Are you frigging crazy?

Our hotel.

There's a map of the city at the lobby.  Plenty of market to go to.  Within walking distance or via Tuk-tuk.

I'm not sure about the number of rooms but there it's 4 floors.

Room view.  Kind of small but who cares, as long as it's comfortable.

Housekeeping everyday, clean towels everyday with soap, new drinking water in the fridge, complimentary drinks.  If want hot water/drinking water, available near the reception counter.  Air-conditioned (damn I had to like reduce it everytime coz it was so cold), water heater (everyday use) and TV (I swear I got addicted to the SyFy and the horror channel that I end up sleeping late coz of it).  Oh and breakfast included but it'll be toast with hot coffee or milo everyday.  But good enough.

You can either take the stairs (which what my sis and me did, no matter how tired we were, we'd take the stairs except if when we had our luggage,  ARE YOU CRAZY?) or the lift.

Btw, this is the view from the window.

 I think when I arrived here, I started to fall ill.  Getting the sore throat and flu.  And it was hot.  Mum thought it was gonna be cold that she packed a lot of thick clothes with her on this  trip, while I had like almost and everyday shirt with 3 pants from short to long.  Next time I'm gonna bring less clothes, I swear.  I just can't wear the same shirt everyday, it irks me.

We went to check out the market which is like 5-10 mins walk from the hotel.  China town!

Busy road, I'm scared everytime I cross the road but the people there said just walk, they will stop.  Okay, creepy but okay.

The market is called Waroros Market.  This place sells fresh juice, dried fruits, clothes and etc.

Cotton so damn cheap!  I wanna bring em home!  These reminds me of Kana and sakuya *chuckled.

I think this place is 3 floors but the number of shops is a bit overwhelming.

We were looking for a place to eat.  I think there's a lot of non-halal food here.  A bit hard to find a place that don't serve pork.

End up eating at this cafe opposite the hotel.

Tasty.  And my fried noodle (the photo which look like char kuey teow) taste a bit sweet.

This is what they gave you if you ask for fried chicken *rofl.

Tummy fill riao, can continue shop.

These pancakes are delicious!  Some with coconut fillings and some with corn custard omg love it!  Too bad we couldn't find it on our last day, wanted to bring em back to Malaysia.  Maybe next time.

I know Bangkok have lotsa these but in Chiang Mai, this is the only stall we found that sells these.

Dried longans!  These are delicious, we bought like 6 packs, 1kg cost around RM30++ after nego.

Mum and her nego skillz.  I can't do it.  She and her back rub skill.  But it worked.

More stuff.  GO CRAZY!

Fresh juice.  Seriously, these are deliciously fresh.

After few hours, went back to the hotel to rest again.  Must gets tired easily because of her weak knee.

I is tired and all sweaty.

Dad decided to check out the Kalare Night Market, but first we were sort of walking for about 15-20 minutes to look for one.

Spotted this antique shop along the way.  This place is kinda near, in walking distance actually.

Came across an indian restaurant along the way, decided to have dinner first.

Tea with less sugar, taste just great.

I wasn't that hungry so decided or order some chicken pakora.  Delicious.

Everyone else's order.

I would wanna come back to this place again.  The fish wait was it curry? was delicious and spicy!

I vaguely remember having dinner around 8pm.

Once done, we find our way to the Night Market.  Little did we know that we just covered a small portion of the night market for few hours.  OMG!

I would impulse get these but since I sort of budget my expenses to what I should and should not be buying, I pass on this.  My sis though, bought 3 of these, at first I think she wanted to give it to her students but I think she decided to keep it for herself OMG!

There were other stuff along the way but I think I was busy shopping and didn't wanna sweat my camera *rofl.  So only manage to take these shots only.  And  I think we were there for 2 - 3 hours?   And I recall it was around 11pm or so.  Oh lord, my sleeping hours just got screwed and the night market was just starting.  I can't remember what time they open though.

Nice looking bangles.  Anybody interested in getting these? XD

Went back to the hotel via Tuk-Tuk which cost around 50-60 baht.  You'd be lucky if you get 40 baht for 4 person lol.

I think me and my sis were so excited that we slept around 1 or 2am.  I even showered.  I'm the type of person who must shower before sleep.

Day 2 coming up.

- to be continued -