Northern Thailand 2017 - Chiang Mai Part 1

Back in August there was an SQ Travel Fair in Jakarta. I went with my mom in hopes of finding tickets for Kiki's term break. Nothing was suitable for us at the fair, but I found out that Malaysian Airlines was having an online sale at the same time. Inspired by a few friends' previous trips, I chose Chiang Mai as our holiday destination. This time, it was Miss Kiki and I, my mom, and her sister (my aunt) in our little group.

We took Malaysian Airlines from Jakarta to KL, and then KL to Bangkok. The Jakarta - Bangkok round trip tickets with MH were 2 million IDR only. Not bad, I think, since it already included 30 kgs of checked in luggage as well as meals. 

It was a smooth flight with nice weather from Jakarta to KL. Our lunch option on the flight were Fish with rice or Chicken with noodle. Our touchdown at the KLIA was the worst I've experienced! It was a very hard landing it felt like someone had punched me in the gut. During taxiing the plane also went really fast.

We had a couple hours of transit time in KLIA. Upon arrival, I checked our departure gate number at the information desk and we went there to wait. We waited and waited, and it was past our boarding time. I got anxious because we had another plane to catch in Bangkok. It turned out that the departure gate was either moved, or I was not given the correct one. We were the last ones to board the plane. I was just glad we didn't miss it for stupid reasons.

The flight to Bangkok was also pretty smooth, except for another rough landing. Definitely better than the first flight. Our early dinner meal option? That's right, Fish with rice or Chicken with noodle. Ha! I might as well mention here, the meal option for our flight back from Bangkok to KL and from KL to Jakarta were precisely that. Again. 

At the Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport, we had less than 2 hours to go through immigration, get our luggages, go to the domestic departure area, drop off the luggages at the check-in counter, and board the plane. It was very do-able and we even had time to get 3 SIM cards for our phones. The SIM cards were purchased at a vending machine. It was quite easy, they had the 7-day tourist plan that's perfect for us. We scanned our passport, swiped our credit cards, and the machine spat out the card.

From Bangkok to Chiang Mai, we flew with Thai Smile. Thai Smile is a subsidiary of Thai Airways, the budget version so to speak. The tickets were under 400 thousand IDR each, 20 kgs of luggage and light meal included. The meal was so cute, it came in a little paper bag. It was a mini tuna sub in a paper box with a bottle of water. Other complimentary drinks were also served. Considering the price, this was really good! And please allow me to say that the landing was waaaaaay better than the two fore mentioned flights.

We arrived in the itty bitty Chiang Mai airport a little past 9 o'clock in the evening. Finding taxi was not difficult and they had a flat rate for taxi from the airport to the city centre. No haggling like one would expect in Bangkok.

The city itself is very small but more modern than I had imagined. The roads are wide and smooth, street lights were sufficient. It took us about 15 minutes to get to our hotel.

The H Hotel Phrasing was brand new, located not too far from the Sunday Night Walking Street (Market). If you look at its location on Google maps street view, it was still in the construction process.

It was a small boutique hotel with NO ELEVATOR (!) but the attendant girl was very strong. She helped carry my mom's heavy luggage all the way up to our room on the top floor. 

View from our hotel room

Right next to the hotel there was a restaurant called Hanging Feet Garden. It's located on the second floor of the building and customers can sit at the perimeter of the restaurant with their feet hanging down. To me, it was scary. I don't like heights after all.

They barely spoke English at the restaurant but whatever we ordered was good. We ate there several times during our stay.

The next morning, we were picked up by our tour guide I had booked from home through referrals. Our guide's name is Jack, and you can contact him directly via Whatsapp at +66899533434 if you want to book a tour. Jack was very kind and patient with us. He spoke decent English and that made our communication easy. With the price that he offered for car rental, we got a Lexus van. Pretty good!

Since we didn't have any decent coffee at the hotel, we first set out to find coffee to satisfy our morning caffeine deficit. I hadn't done any research on local specialty coffee in Chiang Mai, and we were short on time. We settled for Starbucks. At least the building is nice.

Our first destination on the itinerary was Doi Suthep Wat, the most famous temple in Chiang Mai located on a hill. Our car took us to the drop off point and we took a cable car to go up. Alternatively, if you wish you can go up the stairs. I was told there are 365 stairs from that point to the temple.

Cable car ride

These bells are sold at the temple and they are hung everywhere. Their chimes are believed to carry the prayers to the heaven.

When we reached the view point, it was cloudy but bright. we were not really able to see anything down below.

This is a Buddhist creature called Mom (read: Mohm)

There was a carving on display that told a story of how the temple location was chosen. A small pagoda was mounted on a white elephant's back and the elephant was then released. The elephant walked and walked and people followed it. The place where the elephant finally stopped and rested was declared as the temple location.

Going down, we took the stairs instead of the cable car :D

To be continued to Part 2...