We are flying off once again. We woke up early-6am- packed, ate breakfast and headed to the airport. We were a little worried about morning traffic, but we made great time and we were an hour and a half early- we had that much time after checking in and getting through security!
I forgot to take a picture of us arriving at the airport. This is airport #6- Chiang Mai.
We walked out of the airport and approached the taxi stand. A nice man, full of energy said he would take us to the hotel for 120 bhat or $4. Sounded like a good deal to us. Chiang Mai does not have any public transportation, so we will rely on taxis only.
Our drives name is Jane. He served in the Thai military as a helicopter pilot. He has now retired and drives for a living. He is a smart man, he picks up tourists at the airport, get them in his car and makes them a daily offer to be their driver. 1000bhat for $35 for the whole day. He has journals of references, from people who have visited all over the world as well as brochures of what to do in the city. He talks to me, I think he has learned women are less likly to say no. Being driven around is nice. So he sells you on the way to the hotel and then will drop the price of the airport shuttle and just roll it into the days price. So we negotiated where we wanted to go and he said, "anything for you Madame".
Our hotel is down this windy back alley. The panic of, we are going to stay in a hole in the wall, started to set in. I got very nervous. But at the end of the alley is our hotel. Manathai Villiage.
We were welcomed by a bellhop who took our luggage. Jane sai he would wait for us as we checked in.
Just beyond the lobby is the pool. It is beautiful. I plan on getting in tonight and relaxing. The hotel is an open air concept with a river running through it and lots of foliage.
View of the room from the head of the bed.
And the bath tub! I needed a bathtub in Bangkok- I now get to soak my little, fat, swollen feet.
After checking in we met Jane out front. First stop- Lunch! He was going to take us to a local shop around the corner, but it was closed. Instead he took us to this lovely Thai restaurant. We had some great food. The portions of the food we have been served is always enough, but the flavor of the food always leaves you wanting more.
After lunch we went on the Sankampaeng Route: we visited a Silk factory, Paper umbrella factory, Gem gallery and a Silk factory.
I liked the paper unbrella factory the best. I can appreciate hand made art, they were excellent artists. I also learned a lot at the Silk Factory. We got to watch them work on loom. We were told it takes 6 hrs of work to produce 5 inches of pattered silk. The looms were massive, and all the patterns were done by hand. It was quite impressive. I also learned that Chinese silk worms make white cocoons and Thai silk worms make yellow cocoons.
After visiting all of the factories we went up the mountin to Wat Phrathat-Doi- Suthep or Dragon Staircase. It was 30 mins out of the city, but Jane got us there. The drive up the mountain was through the jungle. It was also very steep. I could feel the pressure chnage in my ears.
This is the start of the stairs.
I had to rent a saurong to go into the temple. We also had to set out our shoes. Here is is the center of the temple.
The big Buddha- we were blessed with holy water an given a good luck bracelet.
Here you can see the many people entering the the temple. It may be hard to see, but there are tons of shoes on the ground.
Here is a view from the top of the mountain looking down on Chiang Mai.
I love the Buddhas with the elephant heads.
And then we walked down. It loos like a long way, but it is not.
Just as we parked the car, the Buddhist school let out. There were a ton of young monks roaming the grounds and moving furniture.
I love the dragon gaurds.
You cn see this tower is wrapped for ceremony. Here is a picture of the elaborate carvings along the roof top.
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