Visit to Chiang Mai
Well after spending a weekend in Chiang Mai, I've discovered that I'm really glad to be staying in Lampang. Chiang Mai is wonderful...it's up in the mountains, has a really interesting history and there's lots of foreigners there. I had a really great time but I felt like there were so many foreigners there that all of the businesses and vendors were constantly trying to take advantage of us. Luckily we knew enough Thai to tell them that we didn't want their goods and that we knew their prices wer too expensive. I feel like I will learn so much more about Thai culture by staying in Lampang and that I will really improve my Thai speaking. It's nice however to know that Chiang Mai is nearby and that we can visit anytime. Maybe once a month would be enough for me since wee also spent quite a bit of money there.
So we had to take the bus to Chiang Mai and even though we had tickets, once the bus pulled in, it was like a crazy race to grad seats. People were pushing and shoving and a lot of people had to stand on the two hour bus ride there. Once we got to Chiang Mai we went to this quaint little guesthouse called Rendezvous. It was nice enough and it was located right in the midst of the city. The old part of the city is surrounded by this moat and bits of an old wall so it's really quite romantic to walk around there. We were definitely in farang (foreinger) territory. There were tons of cool restaurants and bars. We ended up going to this place called the Art Cafe. It actually had Mexican food which I did not expect to see at all in Thailand. Then we had some beers at an outdoor pub and managed to find an Irish pub owned by an old Irishman turned Thai named D0m. He gave us some good advice about living in Thailand and was interesting to talk to since he's travelled all over the world for the past 30 years.
Saturday we got up early and walked around to various wats or temples. Don't worry I took lots of pictures though i'll have to post them tomorrow. Unfortunately I got a terrible sunburn just from walking around a couple of hours. Even though I put sunscreen on, I still keep forgetting how much more powerful the sun is here. It's crazy! In the evening we went to the Night Bazaar which is similar to the night market in our town except a million times bigger. It was like being lost in a labyrinth. It was fun to practice my haggling skills there and i managed to buy a cute skirt, some island pants, and a beautiful tiger's eye pendant all for under 300 baht (=10 dollars). Then we ate at an Indian restaurant which we were also ecstatic about.
Sunday we had a late breakfast and went to this mall by the airport. The only reason we went there was because I needed to buy some black pants for school and I haven't been able to find any in my size in Lampang. It's been pretty frustrating! Even though I've already lost some weight I still feel like a giant here. Actually it was lucky that we were at the mall today because there was this breakdancing battle happening only this weekend there and i captured some of it on my camera. i made my first film! hopefully i can upload it here cause i also want to take a video walking around my house in Lampang. I know that we'll be back to visit Chiang Mai many times...there's so much more to see but I figure that I've got a few months to check it out. Next time, we're going to go up into the mountains on a trek! Can't wait!
So we had to take the bus to Chiang Mai and even though we had tickets, once the bus pulled in, it was like a crazy race to grad seats. People were pushing and shoving and a lot of people had to stand on the two hour bus ride there. Once we got to Chiang Mai we went to this quaint little guesthouse called Rendezvous. It was nice enough and it was located right in the midst of the city. The old part of the city is surrounded by this moat and bits of an old wall so it's really quite romantic to walk around there. We were definitely in farang (foreinger) territory. There were tons of cool restaurants and bars. We ended up going to this place called the Art Cafe. It actually had Mexican food which I did not expect to see at all in Thailand. Then we had some beers at an outdoor pub and managed to find an Irish pub owned by an old Irishman turned Thai named D0m. He gave us some good advice about living in Thailand and was interesting to talk to since he's travelled all over the world for the past 30 years.
Saturday we got up early and walked around to various wats or temples. Don't worry I took lots of pictures though i'll have to post them tomorrow. Unfortunately I got a terrible sunburn just from walking around a couple of hours. Even though I put sunscreen on, I still keep forgetting how much more powerful the sun is here. It's crazy! In the evening we went to the Night Bazaar which is similar to the night market in our town except a million times bigger. It was like being lost in a labyrinth. It was fun to practice my haggling skills there and i managed to buy a cute skirt, some island pants, and a beautiful tiger's eye pendant all for under 300 baht (=10 dollars). Then we ate at an Indian restaurant which we were also ecstatic about.
Sunday we had a late breakfast and went to this mall by the airport. The only reason we went there was because I needed to buy some black pants for school and I haven't been able to find any in my size in Lampang. It's been pretty frustrating! Even though I've already lost some weight I still feel like a giant here. Actually it was lucky that we were at the mall today because there was this breakdancing battle happening only this weekend there and i captured some of it on my camera. i made my first film! hopefully i can upload it here cause i also want to take a video walking around my house in Lampang. I know that we'll be back to visit Chiang Mai many times...there's so much more to see but I figure that I've got a few months to check it out. Next time, we're going to go up into the mountains on a trek! Can't wait!
posted by Jen @ 4:08 AM
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