Like to share my favourite accommodations in Chiang Mai:
1. Night Bazaar Inn
Tel: 053-818096
Class: Business hotel
Cost: 700-800Baht
Review: Good location (near the Night Bazaar). Comfortable clean rooms with decent toilet & shower room. Satellite TV, fridge. Friendly staff.
2. Nice Apartment
Tel: 053-210552, 053-218290
Class: Guesthouse/apartment
Cost: 200-350Baht for air-con. The longer u stay, the cheaper it gets.
Review: My fav for budget stays. With this price, you get a clean air-con room with toilet & hot shower, fridge and satellite TV! Value for money. Good location too! Near Thapae gate. Only 1 complaint: the toilet/shower is a bit small and rundown.
Tips for transport:
1. Airport transfers
If like me, you're a budget traveller, then cheapest way is to take the public bus # 13. Goes to the city and it's 15 baht. Do ask 1st before u board, as the routes may change.
U can also take the red songthaews. Need to bargain though. On average, a trip to the city is 50baht.
2. Trips within the city
I usually take the red songthaews. Used to be 10baht minimum for tourists and even Bangkokians (Chiangmai locals pay less than 10!). While I was there last month, I had to pay 15baht minimum! Kill man set fire! (Chinese proverb) That's a 50% inflation! Red songthaews are like a bus and taxi combo. U can get on one at anywhere if the driver is going your way. He usually has other passengers though. And sometimes, a 10min trip may turn into 30min!
Wednesday, 6 December 2006
Tuesday, 5 December 2006
Flowers & Orchids of Royal Flora
This is my most flowery post. All u bees out there come and get all these nectar! :)
Ok, this last photo is not a flower. This expo was not just about horticulture. It was also about agriculture technology and even biofuels! Lots to see and learn here. At times, I felt like I was back in school on a field trip to the Science Centre or Botanic Gardens.
Monday, 4 December 2006
Royal Flora Photos
L: Bus that I took. U can see Black Canyon Cafe in the background. U can either board the bus here, or outside Central Airport Plaza. R: The giant umbrella at the entrance to Royal Flora.
L: Tram. R: Paddy field
L: Chang! R: Tea?
L: Not cabbages and condoms. Cabbages and chilli! R: Runway to the pavilion 
L:Christmas log! Nope. Belgium garden. R:Lovely Bhutan.
L:Holland, duh. R:Royal Pavilion
L: Royal Pavilion, inside. R: The Super Sandwich technology of cloud seeding, invented by the King. (See if u can spot the typo)
L: Tram. R: Paddy field
L: Chang! R: Tea?
L: Not cabbages and condoms. Cabbages and chilli! R: Runway to the pavilion
L:Christmas log! Nope. Belgium garden. R:Lovely Bhutan.
L:Holland, duh. R:Royal Pavilion
L: Royal Pavilion, inside. R: The Super Sandwich technology of cloud seeding, invented by the King. (See if u can spot the typo)
Blogger bug? Not! It was my fault!
Just managed to fix the problem I mentioned yesterday.
Here's how: by clearing my browser's cache.
I can post pics now! I must have surfed onto some website that messed up my blogger. My fault! :P
Here's how: by clearing my browser's cache.
I can post pics now! I must have surfed onto some website that messed up my blogger. My fault! :P
Sunday, 3 December 2006
Royal Flora Ratchaphreuk 2006
Day 4
Time to see the Royal Flora expo. Woke up in the morning to see the overcast sky. Bummer. I've already bought the ticket in advance (it's double the price if u buy at the expo site) so didn't want to change my plans. The guesthouse staff told me these words that immediately brightened my day: "Maybe it's good luck!". That was so Thai and brought back memories 2 years ago when I 1st heard those words. And it was so true. It was good luck because I got to walk around the gardens comfortably without getting cooked by the sun. Well, at least for 2 hrs, then the sun came out and it was hot! Lucky me.
There were many ways to go to the expo, other than taxi:
1. By red songthaew (20B). Can get 1 from the Central Airport Plaza, I think.
2. By calling a private transport. Saw a number at some hotel with the flyer.
3. Public Bus #13 & 11. Both will pass by the Black Canyon Cafe at Thapae Gate.
I chose the 3rd as I wanted to try out the public bus system. It was quite new, probably only a few months old. The most popular transport in CM is still the songthaew. But I enjoyed the bus. It had air-con, and u can have a good view of the street. It's hard to see anything when inside a songthaew. Though you'll spend a longer time on the bus as it goes on its long and winding route around CM.
Finally reached the expo site and boy was I impressed. Very grand and you're welcomed along the road leading up to the site by big banners on the lamp posts. Feels like you're going into a big theme park like Disneyland.
The place is HUGE. Toured the entire grounds on foot, starting at 11am and finished at about 5pm. It was really tiring, and I skipped quite a number of areas. U can take a tram ride, but I didn't have time for that. Anyway, you'll have to get off the tram anyway if u want to see the gardens.
Here's a quick review of the zones:
1. Corporate Garden.
My 1st stop. Lots of greenery, ponds, waterfalls, flowers in these gardens. All beautifully done up.
2. Orchid Pavilion
Lots of them! Small ones, big ones, even smelly ones! Orchid landscaping too!
3. International Garden
Honestly, I was a little disappointed. Lots of concrete in most of these gardens. Belgium was unique. Japan was my fav.
4. Royal Pavilion
The pavilion was beautiful. Loved the architecture. And u can see nearly the entire expo site from here. Give a miss to the food hall next to the pavilion though. Operated by THAI (Airways). I felt like I was eating airline food at restaurant prices. It IS a good idea to bring your own food and picnic. Lots of nice scenic spots for u to picnic.
5. Thai Tropical Garden (final stop)
My favs were the air-con greenhouses. Cooling, and lots of flowers too!
My back was killing me by this time. Hopped onto a red songthaew going to the Central Airport Plaza as I didn't want to look for the public bus. Good thing they've excellent massage in CM.
PS: Hmmm... some problems with Blogger this weekend. Can't post my photos! I'll upload them once the problem is fixed.
Time to see the Royal Flora expo. Woke up in the morning to see the overcast sky. Bummer. I've already bought the ticket in advance (it's double the price if u buy at the expo site) so didn't want to change my plans. The guesthouse staff told me these words that immediately brightened my day: "Maybe it's good luck!". That was so Thai and brought back memories 2 years ago when I 1st heard those words. And it was so true. It was good luck because I got to walk around the gardens comfortably without getting cooked by the sun. Well, at least for 2 hrs, then the sun came out and it was hot! Lucky me.
There were many ways to go to the expo, other than taxi:
1. By red songthaew (20B). Can get 1 from the Central Airport Plaza, I think.
2. By calling a private transport. Saw a number at some hotel with the flyer.
3. Public Bus #13 & 11. Both will pass by the Black Canyon Cafe at Thapae Gate.
I chose the 3rd as I wanted to try out the public bus system. It was quite new, probably only a few months old. The most popular transport in CM is still the songthaew. But I enjoyed the bus. It had air-con, and u can have a good view of the street. It's hard to see anything when inside a songthaew. Though you'll spend a longer time on the bus as it goes on its long and winding route around CM.
Finally reached the expo site and boy was I impressed. Very grand and you're welcomed along the road leading up to the site by big banners on the lamp posts. Feels like you're going into a big theme park like Disneyland.
The place is HUGE. Toured the entire grounds on foot, starting at 11am and finished at about 5pm. It was really tiring, and I skipped quite a number of areas. U can take a tram ride, but I didn't have time for that. Anyway, you'll have to get off the tram anyway if u want to see the gardens.
Here's a quick review of the zones:
1. Corporate Garden.
My 1st stop. Lots of greenery, ponds, waterfalls, flowers in these gardens. All beautifully done up.
2. Orchid Pavilion
Lots of them! Small ones, big ones, even smelly ones! Orchid landscaping too!
3. International Garden
Honestly, I was a little disappointed. Lots of concrete in most of these gardens. Belgium was unique. Japan was my fav.
4. Royal Pavilion
The pavilion was beautiful. Loved the architecture. And u can see nearly the entire expo site from here. Give a miss to the food hall next to the pavilion though. Operated by THAI (Airways). I felt like I was eating airline food at restaurant prices. It IS a good idea to bring your own food and picnic. Lots of nice scenic spots for u to picnic.
5. Thai Tropical Garden (final stop)
My favs were the air-con greenhouses. Cooling, and lots of flowers too!
My back was killing me by this time. Hopped onto a red songthaew going to the Central Airport Plaza as I didn't want to look for the public bus. Good thing they've excellent massage in CM.
PS: Hmmm... some problems with Blogger this weekend. Can't post my photos! I'll upload them once the problem is fixed.
Saturday, 2 December 2006
Friday, 1 December 2006
Chiang Mai (continued)
Sunday is Loy Krathong day(1st full moon of Nov). So every year a mini Krathong parade is held on this night. This is a preview to the Giant Krathong parade that will be held on the next day. So, you'll see a smaller scale of the brightly decorated trucks, floats and participants in costumes. Even so, they still draw a big crowd, especially near Thapae Gate. And as promised, here're the babes on the "krathongs".
This guy here is a chronic fire breather. He'll walk/dance a few steps, then spit his mouthful of oil, gasoline, whatever into the flame he's holding. (That's why I could catch this big fire!) And he had to do this for the whole length of the parade.
Other than launching krathongs on the river, u can also launch kom fy (hot air balloons). This is alot of fun, especially when u launch one with your friends. Holding the kom fy up together, waiting for the balloon to fill up with hot air, and then release and see the kom fy rise up into the sky. Every loy krathong, the night sky is lit up full of these kom fy and it's really a wonderful sight.
Accidents do occur, and quite frequently too. I was watching the Miss Yee Peng beauty contest. This kom fy came flying in at a very low altitude and landed right in front of the audience, and caught fire! Lucky the security personnel was well prepared and put it out quickly.
Oh, talking about beauties, here're some of my favs:
By the way, u can click on the photos for a bigger view.
This guy here is a chronic fire breather. He'll walk/dance a few steps, then spit his mouthful of oil, gasoline, whatever into the flame he's holding. (That's why I could catch this big fire!) And he had to do this for the whole length of the parade.
Other than launching krathongs on the river, u can also launch kom fy (hot air balloons). This is alot of fun, especially when u launch one with your friends. Holding the kom fy up together, waiting for the balloon to fill up with hot air, and then release and see the kom fy rise up into the sky. Every loy krathong, the night sky is lit up full of these kom fy and it's really a wonderful sight.
Accidents do occur, and quite frequently too. I was watching the Miss Yee Peng beauty contest. This kom fy came flying in at a very low altitude and landed right in front of the audience, and caught fire! Lucky the security personnel was well prepared and put it out quickly.Oh, talking about beauties, here're some of my favs:
By the way, u can click on the photos for a bigger view.
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