Reflections on Chiang Mai
Trip Start
Oct 24, 2011
1
12
57
Trip End
Jun 01, 2012
Where I stayed
Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Currently sitting round my cock shaped swimming pool at the hotel, just had a nice swim from balls end right up to knob end. Enjoying the fantastic weather, it really is glorious today mid 30's and very sunny. Over the last few days I have learnt what "biker arm" is all about- 2 days with your arms out stretched on a scooter = red forearms, was well worth it though to get out and see a few sights.
Last Day in Chiang Mai and Thailand for a while, I fly over to Laos to the town of Luang Prabang tomorrow which Im very much looking forward to seeing. Back in Thailand in about 3 weeks for a couple of weeks on the famous beach islands.
Sitting round the pool has giving me time to reflect on my time away so far, only been a week but have packed lots in. Loved Bangkok although it was sad to see the city struggling with the floods which has ravaged much of the centre of the country. The authorities have tried to protect much of the city for tourism sake at expense of the communities North and they are now in considerable hardship, more than 400 have died so far and questions are bound to be asked, all I saw was minor inconvenience compared with what alot of the locals have had to endure :-(.
My time in Chiang Mai has been great, an amazing area, was cool to get out to see some of the fantastic National Parks and they call this town the " town of amazing Wats" and they are not wrong. Have seen some spectacular architecture, most of the Wats in the town date from the 13 to 16 Century and are Lanna style, very much Burmese influenced.
A few people back home have asked me what a Wat is - well a Wat is a
collection of buildings within an enclosure serving dual purposes,
Buddhist temple, community center etc. The earliest of them date back to
the 9th century built by the Khmer's. They are mainly found in Thailand, Loas
and Cambodia the most famous being Angkor Wat.
The weather has been amazing all the time i have been here, very sunny and hot, mid 30's, the local people are very friendly and will do anything to help you, even the Tuk Tuk drivers are nice here !.
Chinag Mai town is so laid back, you could happily spend weeks here just chilling out, it's got quite a hippy feel about it, which I like. The food has been great, I love Thai food anyway but this has been the best I have ever tasted and for no money, you can get a 3 course meal for about £2 and the beer is very cheap to, £1 for a large Chang, you cant go wrong.
It's a big shame I have to leave tomorrow, could easily stay for another week so much that I would like to do, will deff come back to do a Thai cooking school, do some trekking around the national parks and hill tribes and some wildlife parks. The American friends I met in Bangkok have gone on the spend 2 weeks living with elephants that sounds an amazing thing to do.
Well it's getting too hot here now and the sun is getting lower, it's difficult to see what Im typing !
looking forward to getting to laos tomorrow.
PS: I'm up to 500 views on my blog so far world wide :-), thanks to all who are following my jottings :-)
Comments
You really have packed so much in (as it were) and seen some amazing sights! The photos are amazing! I definatley need to see this part of the world! Looking forward to seeing pictures from Laos now and reading the blog. x
You would love it here Nat, so laid back and relaxing and so much to do and see and very cheap with it !
Get yourself and Alex over soon :-) x
Hi Gaz,just catching up what you're up to.Nice pool!Emily said 'Look,Micky Mouse pool'.Did a few lengths then Gaz phnur,phnur.Looks like you're having great time-Daz