Chiangmai 1

Thursday morning was another early wake-up call for us as we were being picked up at 7.00am to go to the airport for our flight to Changmai. Quite a long wait before we could board but the flight itself is only about an hour so this went quickly with lunch being served en-route.
Again we were met at the airport by the Hotel Beds rep, this one having the unfortunate name of Pong which she says means "fat" in Thai making a double insult. The airport was much quieter than Bangkok and although we had a little problem with finding our luggage it was soon personally delivered to us and didn't delay our trip to the hotel too much.
It was a more relaxing drive than the one we had in Bangkok with the roads and surrounds being quieter and less built up - suburbia itself until you reach the inner city with the population of Chiangmai city itself being only 160,000 although including the urban sprawl takes its up to nearly a million. Bangkok city is over 8 million and if you include the metropolitan area the figure rises to about 14 million.

T & TukTuk!

After settling into our room at the Royal Princess which is on the doorstep of the night markets and close to the inner city we had a walk down the closest city wall of which there are 4 making a big square. There are only bits and pieces remaining of the wall although part ot it seems to have been rebuilt recently. The roads are busy with cars, motor-bikes, tuk tuks and little red trucks that are virtually like taxis . you can hail them to go where you want if empty or share a ride if the passengers aboard are going in the same direction. Crossing roads can be very hazardous and with no-one taking any notice of pedestrian crossings you basically have to just barge out and force the cars to stop or wait for a friendly local to do this for you!

Lrelaxing with Chan (beer)!

There is a little canal flowing around the 4 walls and we spotted a few fish while we walked along it before diverting into the city centre and stopping to view a temple or two - we think there are about 120 of them in the city so they are easy to find. It's pretty hot so it was good to stop for a beer at a little cafe and take in the surroundings before heading back to the hotel for a shower and then dinner at a nice restaurant down the road and around the corner from the Hotel called The Whole Earth, which had been recommended to us. I spent my "Birthday Voucher" from David and Christine here - an appropriate place as their wedding reception was at a Thai Restaurant. Loved our meals and thankyou so much C&D!