เชียงใหม่: ปีใหม่

Posted by sinner

28 Dec 04 - 1 Jan 05
We had such a good time there !

Chiang Mai truly reminded me to my childhood. It was similarly looked a lot like the places that I used to play around, ride bike, and enjoy my early years with my sis and the kids nextdoor. When winter came, the weather in the upcountry’s campus where my mom and dad used to work was really really great.

When I was very little, the earliest memories I can think of are the blossom Bauhinia, the scent of the pink Johnson & Johnson baby lotion, and the view of coconut leaves from faraway.
How sweet it is to experience my nostalgia moment with my love :D

Day 1 : Tuesday - City Tour

With sponsorship from my boyfriend, I flew to Chiang Mai for free woo hoo~We left Bangkok early in the morning, the moon was still visible to see from the plane window. Reached Chiang Mai International Airport around 7.30 am. The weather was pretty chilly. The P’ Nop picked us up and we headed to the house. We stopped a bit at Kard Payorm (Payorm Fresh Market) buying some breakfast.

The houses were lovely, there were 3 buildings in the same plot of land, lot of trees including the Bauhinia ! We could see a bunch of birds (ducks) flew over the house, and observed the bee hive at the fence. This was what I looked for from my holidays away from Bangkok. (I didn’t need tough mountain climbing or anything like that hehe.)

Bee hive

I got a cold, I think I was allergic to dust and dry winds, so the early days at Chaing Mai moved on slightly uncomfortable during bedtimes.

In the afternoon, P’ Nop took us to Sankampaeng so I had a chance to take pictures of these colourful handmade umbrellas. Souvenirs were pretty expensive there.

In the evening, we drove to the so-called trendy (chill-chill) pub & restaurant areas in town to deliver P’ Nop’s handmade Trojan chair. I think many of Chiang Mai dwellers do their livings by making the works of art, which include woodcrafts Ceramic products, handicrafts, silks, integration of contemporary and traditional costumes, paintings, designed & decorated products and many many more. I could also see a wide variety of galleries on Nim-man-he-min street.

susuran

We decided to have dinner at SuSuRan, a Japanese hot pot and grilled restaurant, nice one, we were so full. My boyfriend needed an Air-X since day 1 !
We also met P’ Tae there, she was soooooo funny as usual.


Day 2 : Wednesday - Easy day @ Mae Taeng

We took everything from P' Tor's fridge to make breakfast. Actually there were only cheese, bread and smashed liver but they could surely fill us. I got a lot of free time watching documentary and having a nap before going for lunch. We went to have Tomyum noodle on Nim-man-he-min street and met an old friend of my boo, small world. . .wasn't it.

Then off to P’ Nop’s "unfinished clay house" in Mae Tang (Mae Ngud), we helped him do a little of garden works, that was fun. We also enjoyed the food we bought from Kard Kaew-sa, a very primitive village fresh market. I bought a lotto there for my mom, but we didn’t win anything.
We also dropped by the neighbor's, interestingly, they were cooking in a clay kitchen and asked us to stay for dinner but we need to leave for home.


Day 3 : Thursday - Card players reunion

Well, my boyfriend and a buch of his friends have been very into the card games since their student lives at Chaing Mai University !

It was ok to me though, I didn't feel bored or anything because I grabbed P'Noi's collection of Vagabond manga. I just read it quietly next to him. (sorta gave him moral support haha)

With my support, seemed like he loose the game once.

During the day, we drove in the Chiang Mai Uni for couple of times, as it was a shortcut to other places. I really like it there. Inside, the uni got a reservoir lake situated in front of mountain (Doi Suthep). Students could sit around in their leisure time watching this amazing sight.oh I wish I had that scenery at Samyan during my undergrad period.

Day 4 : Friday - Lampun/ Ban Tawai

After the reunion of the legendary card players (haha), they took me to Lampun.The 7 of us plus a hyperactive toddler riding on a pajero to Wat Pra-tat Ha-ri-bhun-chai (dunno how to spell). Before visiting the sight, we unanimously headed to have bowls of famous pork noodle with Lamyai (Longan).

The ancient Lanna monastery was gorgeous, see the pic above.

Day 5 : Saturday - Picnic @ the lush Orb Khan National Park

All friends gathered today.

It was the first of January, every part of Chiang Mai would be crowded and the traffic to the hot tourist spots would be real jam-packed. So P' Nop suggested us to go to Orb Khan (in Lanna vocab means "between valleys of the river Khan").

Orb Khan wasn't very famous, some of Chiang Mai habitants don't even know where it's at. The place was truly tranquil, lush, and beautiful. We had our lunch here on mats. After a big meal, some of us took naps, played cards and made coffee while the kids enjoyed waterfalls and I was busy taking pictures. I just love shooting people.

It's my last day here, my boyfriend and I had to catch the plane around 9.45 pm, so we stopped at Kard Payorm again, to buy 2 kilos of fresh mush rooms, Nam Prik Noom, and more.
We were afraid that our luggages would be overweight. Fortunately, Chiang Mai Airport didn't check anything (I guess for tourism reason). So we carried many stuffs to Bangkok safely.