So many things to do and see and to buy too! Simply unforgettable. I love this city so much that I am determined to return to buy some of the most unique stuff that I have never seen anywhere else before. I am glad that I bought them here at Chiangmai!
Day 1
We were in Chiangmai (CM) to celebrate my 57th birthday. We touched down at the airport safely after a bumpy ride on the plane.
Realizing that we had only brought about RM1.5k worth of baht with us we had to save money. We rejected the offer of the airport van (300 bt) for a drive to our hotel in town. Finally we found a tuk-tuk who will take us to Holiday Inn for only 150 bt.
Lesson 1 - take the tuk-tuk if you do not have too many bags. We only took one suitcase and 2 backpacks with us. There are also taxis that do not charge a bomb.
We took a walk to the market near the hotel for lunch. We bought some delicious packed salads for only 150 bt at the market and also ate delicious white tomyam. I have not eaten white tomyam for a long long time. Usually the tomyam back home is the red tomyam with the coconut spiciness. For the first time after more than 20 years, I tasted white tomyam. The taste was sourish but just how I like it. Thai food has lots of vegetables, basil leaves and sprouts. Very healthy.
We resolved to come back to the market for lunch again as the tomyam was yummy!
At the hotel, I rested my knees as it was not check in time yet while T walked to the Waroro market to buy black garlic. He came back with more than black garlic, he also brought some dried longan. Dried longan tasted horrid. Like something stale and kept in the store for a long time.
I prefer to soak them in water till they looked like normal longan!
I slept at the lobby from 12 - 2 pm.
The hotel staff was kind to let us check in early. After sleeping till about 4 pm, we took the hotel van (to save costs) to the Wua Lai market. This walking night market is about 1.4 km long. To walk from end to end (slow walk) is about 2 hours or more. You need to rest in between if you have knee problems like me. However by God's grace I was not in pain as much as before. I did not even wear my braces. I enjoyed every stall. Unique and inventive stuff were being sold at this night market.
Wua Lai is only a weekend market thus you need to be in CM on a Sat to experience it.
At WL we ate tungfun, fruit juices (very cheap at 50 bt) and healthy. I decided to stop halfway through as the market was just too long. While I ate spring roll, T continued his adventure.
Many unique things are sold here. A lot of them was handmade stuff and reflected the cottage industry of CM.
I saw a really nice wallet for 170 bt but hesitated to buy as I wanted to bargain to 150 bt. The young lady said she made them herself and refused to reduce further. Regretted not buying it as I could not find a similar wallet. It was beautiful with lots of flowery designs and many pockets for cards (which is important for me as I have over 10 cards that I carry everywhere with me!).
However I prayed for God to help me find it at Ratchadamnoen. God is great and He heard my prayer. Will share later on this.
Halfway walking at the market, the Thai national anthem started playing. Everyone froze. We stood up and listen to the anthem. It was so respectful of the Thais. I was so touched by this.
I waited at a market place where a young man with his set of amplifiers played English and Thai songs all night long. Many foreigners gave him money as they passed by. Save that the sound was too loud for my ear drums, it was a good place for me to rest.
Almost 2 hours passed and I was getting worried. The hotel van will come back at 9 pm. If T was late, we would have to take a tuk-tuk back as we could ill afford it as our funds were limited.
Lesson 2 - when travelling to CM make sure you carry at least 30k bt if you love to shop, shop like me!
T came back in time. He bought a wooden handphone stand cum amplifier. It was handmade but really awesome. I loved it so much so I asked T to go back and buy me another one. That was the mistake. The crowd had swelled so much by then that people jam prevented him from coming back fast enough.
I prayed really hard for T to make it in time with my handphone amplifier! Finally I saw his head bobbing among the crowds. We walked really fast from the middle of the market to the pick-up place. We just made it!
But what a priceless find! I was so fascinated by this wooden amplifier for my handphone. I have tried many times to download a sound booster from playstore but none worked. The sound from my phone was still not up the volume I wanted. This was especially important when I wanted to listen to youtube messages.
Finally when T brought me this amplifier and I put my phone on it I could hear a distinct loudness! It was just simple invention. A handmade amplifier with small holes like netting at the one side of the wooden box that if you insert your handphone the right side up, sounds coming from the phone will be louder than normal. Now I needed this particularly as sometimes (due to some hearing loss) I find it hard to hear my 5 am alarm.
What a wonderful first day!
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