Day 13 Back to Bangkok

An early start to catch the flight from Chiang Rai back to Bangkok this morning. We landed at Don Mueang Domestic Airport and here we bid farewell to Babs, Di and Steve. They will continue their holiday in a more relaxed mode visiting Phuket, Koh Lak, Hua Hin and Pattaya. Beaches galore and lots of rest and sunbathing for them.

We navigated the shuttle bus from one airport to the other and then a taxi for the short ride to our hotel - the Mariyan Boutique. The reception area is lovely with free tea, coffee, juice and cookies (24 hours a day) so if Nigel disappears I will know where he has gone.

Our room is lovely too. On the bed are two green tea elephants which we have discovered we can purchase. We may have to buy one!

They are too cute not to.

We have discovered there is yet another night market about 10 mins walk from the hotel so we may have to visit later and sample the food - our last meal in Thailand :-(

We have had such an amazing time and feel we will certainly return to Thailand one day. So goodbye !la-korn   ลาก่อน for now.

Day 12 Chiang Rai

Today we took a full day guided tour. We were collected at 08:30 am and had two other couples on our mini bus. Our Thai guide spoke English. Well I think it was English some of the time but then he spoke it a lot better than I spoke Thai.

First stop was the White Temple. This was the main reason for coming to Chiang Rai and was certainly worth the trip. What a magnificent site. Made from white marble but covered in mirrors which made it sparkle in the sunshine. It was very strange in places as you will see from the photos but still beautiful all the same. It claims to have the worlds most beautiful toilet block (well from the outside anyway). It is photos no. 3, the gold building. It was damaged in a recent earthquake and some of this was visible.

The next stop was the Black House. This is a museum that shows how Thailand used to be many years ago. Quite amazing.

Stop three was at Long Neck Karen which is a settlement of a Burmese tribe. The females have rings put on their necks from childhood which are replaced annually. The story says they did it to stop them being attacked by tigers when the men went hunting. They would also put them on their legs to stop them being raped but I am not sure how that would stop it happening. They were happily weaving scarves.

Stop four was a tea plantation.

Tea as far as the eye could see so probably just enough to keep me going :-)

After a stop at another temple we headed onto the Golden Triangle where Thailand borders with Laos and Burma.

This shows Laos to the top right, Burma to the left and Thailand at the bottom.

Another stop was at the Opium Museum. And a short walk to the few stalls selling their wares.

And so the main part of our holiday comes to an end. Tomorrow the Magnificent Seven, which became the Famous Five will become the three as Nigel and I head back to Bangkok for one night before flying home.

It has been a blast! We have had the most amazing, fun time ever. Thanks Babs, Di, Steve, Daryl and Kerith for making this the best holiday ever. Enjoy the rest of your trip relaxing on the beaches as we head home to a cold and wintry UK.

Day 11 Chiang Rai

We were collected from our hotel by our private bus driver where we bid farewell to two of the Magnificent Seven and became the Famous Five. as Daryl and Kerith are heading home a day earlier than us the decided to stay in Chiang Mai for the remaining days.

We will miss them of course.

The journey took approx 3 hours but apart from some winding roads wasn't too bad. We checked into Grandma Kaew's which is a small but clean and tidy hotel. The owner was very friendly and provided maps on arrival.

We had a walk around the local area and once again it is very different to the other places we have visited. There is a beautiful clock tower.

It seems to be more commercial rather than touristy but we managed to find somewhere for a spot of lunch (not particularly good) and a bar for a beer. I even looked for a table for seven before being corrected. The bar was very quiet but We soon had a competition going.

Nigel and I then went for a walk to find the Rain Tree Tunnel. Thank goodness it was not too far away as is was a bit disappointing. Just a couple of rows of trees. Maybe it gets better in different seasons.

We found another temple.

And a market but this was selling mainly fresh food.

Tonight we will have a walk to and around the night market. I am getting to like these a lot :-)

The night market was a bit disappointing but then I think we haven spoilt in Chiang Mai. We did walk to another that was very much a local market. There were some children dancing.

Tomorrow is our last full day before heading back to Bangkok. :-(

Day 10 Chiang Mai

Today we attended the Thai Cookery School to learn how to cook Thai food. 

We were taken to the market to collect the ingredients for our chosen dishes.

Luckily the instructor knew what to get as there was an array of things we could not recognise. He explained a lot of things about different ingredients.

The kitchen looked just like a Thai version on Masterchef :-)

I chose to make Thai Herbal Soup

Followed by Green Thai Curry and Pad Thai (both with chicken).

Green Thai curry paste made from scratch.

A lot of hard work went into the making of these dishes.

They were all absolutely delicious and we were stuffed full when we had finished.

Tonight we will probably give dinner a miss and just spend the time shopping the night market. I can't wait.

Tomorrow we head off for Chiang Rai our last stop.