In transit 2/3

The flight from Chiang Mai to Seoul was easy – 4.5 hour flight, we slept 3 hours. We booked a 3 hour transit tour. At the 9 am departure time,they gave us fur lined coats and we walked to the bus. It was 0º C. We are not prepared for this after the heat in Thailand. Other than freezing the tour was OK. As part of the tour we visited a market and got a sampling of Korean food. We decided that we liked Thai food much better. And Thai weather, too.

Last day in Chiang Mai

After breakfast we tackled the chore of packing. Bo had made many purchases and we ended with both suitcases full. We checked out at 11am but our flight was not till 11:55pm. The hotel was nice and gave us a standard room we could use till 6 pm. We heard band noises and were told there was a parade to celebrate the flower festival. We walked across the river and got to the parade. It appeared to be endless. Many bands in colorful uniforms, some floats, and lots of pretty Thai girls. We hired a tuk tuk to take us across town to the Cultural Center, but he could only take us to the edge of the old town because was unable to cross the parade route. We had to walk the rest of the way. We went to a museum of northern Thai history/culture. At least it was cool. Actually, it was quite interesting and well done, with informative descriptions in Thai and English. One of the girl guards also told us how to make sticky rice with mango. We walked back to the hotel, stopping at one last Wat, with Donald Duck right in front. In the hotel, we had an afternoon snack of rambutan, mangosteen, green papaya, jujube, and apple. After relaxing for an hour (2 episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond) we walked to an upscale restaurant on the river called the River Market. When we left, it was raining. We walked to the hotel and asked them to call us a cab. After about 10 minutes they told us the taxi had an accident. (There are few taxis in CM because as we were told, the red truck union won’t allow them.) We nixed the offer of a tuk tuk to the airport as it was still raining, and took a red truck instead. Now waiting for boarding ….

Chiang Mai 2/1

After breakfast we set out to the local zoo. After a red truck ride we arrived, and paid the admission. Our guidebook touted the ZOO as a great and very inexpensive attraction, and it may have been true a few years ago. Now, the entrance fee is 100 baht (not 50 as in the guidebook) and then you have to pay separately if you want to see the pandas (another 150), ride the monorail (150) or ride the tram (100). We were given a map and we started walking. There were either no signs or unintelligible ones. After walking up hills we tired and were ready to leave when a tram driver stopped and invited us aboard. The short ride back to the entrance was a relief. We started walking in a different direction and another tram took pity on us. We finally saw some animals. Hippos, elephants, giraffes, emus, bears, flamingos, birds, and tigers, leopards, and a jaguar. Al fed a piece of meat to a grateful leopard. We then took a red truck to an upscale neighborhood of Nimmanhemin. It’s supposed to be the hippiest part of town. It was quite different from any other place we have been to – more glitzy, cosmopolitan and mostly expat. It was a hot day so we spent the rest of the afternoon by the pool. When it got dark, we decided to visit yet another market that we saw from the red truck the previous night – the Warorot market. It was different from the other markets because it was mostly food – stalls with foods being cooked, fruits and vegetables and also a huge flower market. There were also some clothes, but no touristy trinkets and not that many tourists. We were hungry so we picked a barbecue stall and bought some pork skewers and a piece of grilled chicken. It was delicious. We walked around, bought some fruit (rambutans and mangosteens); Bo bought a pair of very funky plastic shoes; and then we went back for more grilled pork and chicken. By then the market got very crowded so we left. On the way back we stopped at our night market and bought some mango and sticky rice for desert.