i heart chiang mai
oh my goodness, i LOVE chiang mai! so far, i think this has been my favorite of the places we’ve been on this trip…
we left bangkok last night on the VIP sleeper bus around 8:40pm, which was kind of fun. a little uncomfortable, and a little bit chilly (cold a/c blasting for 10 hours!) but we had the first two seats on the top deck of the bus so we had a whole windshield in front of us – an unobstructed view like we were driving the bus itself! the seats reclined, but they were somewhat small so it was hard to find a comfortable spot – sort of like riding in an airplane, but with more legroom since we were right up front. you get these little taro buns or red bean buns as a snack about an hour into the trip, and just after midnight we made a pit-stop at a place that had noodles and other stuff to eat – i slept throught it but jess said it was good. =)
when we arrived just after 6am in chiang mai, we jumped in a sawngthaew (its kinda like a pick up truck with two rows of benches in the back that functions as a taxi) that took us to the sk house guesthouse where we’re staying in central chiang mai. it doesn’t look exactly like the pictures, but our room is like $15/night and it works fine for me! our room is right in front of the pool on the ground level – in fact, that’s where jess is now and where i plan to be in about 20 minutes! =)
the weather here in chiang mai is a lot cooler than bangkok and the pace of overall life is much slower. i LOVE it! it reminds me of maui sort of… the weather this morning was PERFECT sleeping weather for me (jess was cold!) because it reminded me of makawao mornings. =) we fell into bed as soon as we got here and got some much needed horizontal rest, then we went to explore our neighborhood area.
sk guesthouse is in the northeastern corner of central chiang mai, also known as the “old city”, (sorry i couldnt find a good map to link to – will update later.) which is generally laid out in a square, surrounded by a little moat on all four sides – so we’re on the top right corner if you look a map. to the east is the “new city”, where we will head tonight for chiang mai’s famous night bazaar. our little hotel is off moonmuag road on soi 9, a little lane that sees mostly pedestrian traffic and has a bunch of little shops and cafes and a few other guesthouses. we took a little walk down to a place called ginger for lunch this afternoon – it was so pretty! it reminded me of a european little english garden. we had a bunch of beautifully presented thai goodies and two tall thai iced teas and sat in a little shaded area in the middle of the garden. it was heaven!
our cooking school for tomorrow is about a 5 minute walk from where we are staying, and everything is pretty close by, so we can walk or take a sawngthaew or tuk tuk just about anywhere we need to go. the following day we will check into the monastery, so we won’t have internet for the 10 days we’ll be staying there, but i will try to update our pictures and things tomorrow before we leave here. =)
thanks again for reading along, and sharing my excitement with me! it’s so fun to be in a new city – i can’t wait to explore. actually, correction – i can’t wait to go lay around by the pool and do nothing. that’s probably a more accurate description of how my afternoon will go… damn, this is the life. hehe. =)
Tags: chiang mai (thailand), malia
malia
Bus and Chiang Mai sound so cool! Love you. Mom
Sent you a photo of the snow atop Haleakala this morning:) via email….
My friend Brandon has $20 that says you guys will be bored out of your mind and will bail the monastary on either day 3 or 4 seeking ono Thai food and excitement. I have more faith in you. My $20 says you will bail on etiher day 5 or 6. Some of my friends think you will join a cult by day eight!! j/k… have fun and we hope you find Enlightenment!!
Ooooh I kinda want to get in on the bet Eric has going on…I mean 10 days is pretty damn long!!!
but back to the subject..
Yay for chiang mai!!!! sounds so awesome. It must be such a nice, refreshing relief to be able to walk everywhere now, after being in outskirts of huge bangkok.
sounds heavenly….soak it up ladies!
I think I say 5 days hehehehe.
I have faith in you ladies…but not so sure about the no talking part. I can see you two talking in your sleep just to get a word out. hehe.
Just think…when you’re “released”, you’ll have an appreciation for EVERYTHING!
Good luck and I can’t wait to hear all about it! =)
XOXO
i’m going to say that you’ll make it the whole 10 days (won’t run off and escape) but that you will end up 1. talking at some point, even if it’s through silent lip reading/signing (which counts!) and 2. you’ll end up killing some insect of some sort
good luck though. i can’t wait to hear all about it. i bet it’s going to be such an interesting experience!
Seriously.. Anyone wanna put $20 down on day 1 or 2? Lemme know 😉 Christy’s on to something too. We could also place bets on the “Insect Death Tally.” Scratch that. Sounds like it’d be sacreligious. I don’t want to come back in my next life as one kakaroach.
Im in on the bet — I say they go the whole ten days — w/ some form of communication though — insect killing — I’d say accidentally if anything.
ditto to bri =)
just what I wanted to hear about Chiang Mai….:) This is where I’ll be staying for at least 3 months. Can’t wait to read the rest of the stories! Aloha…