Day 201 (Wed 24 Jan) - Chiang Mai
Today we went on a little tour of the area around Chiang Mai.
Set off at 8am in a bus where we met a Swedish couple Marco and Ulrika. Good fun!
Went to see some beautiful waterfalls up in the hills. Our driver had to switch the air con off as the bus was struggling to make it up the hill and he needed every ounce of power to make it.
After the waterfalls we popped into a local hilltribe (Karen) village. A very small village full of villagers trying to sell their handicrafts, although none of them were pushy.
Had a nice lunch and then wandered off to a second waterfall. The waterfall was some way off and above us, cascading down a sheer wall. However the absolutely beautiful gardens made a perfect foreground. Pottered round the gardens, admiring the many and varied flowers.
We then travelled further up into the hills to the King and Queen's Pagodas celebrating their birthdays. They are absolutely stunning and set in landscaped gardens overlooking a deep valley. Although the King's pagoda is slightly larger, the Queen's pagoda cost more to build, incorporating, as it does, various exotic materials including Italian marble.
From the pagodas we donned appropriate high altitude gear and headed for the highest point in Thailand. It was a terrible struggle but we made it. Unfortunately, the top of the mountain is thick with trees so very difficult to get a good view of the surrounding lands.
Headed back to Chiang Mai where we had a little rest from our labours. Feeling suitably refreshed we headed out to Ratana's kitchen for a drink. From there we headed off to the bustling Night Bazaar in search of various pressies, pausing only to pick up Sarbs Boddie, now complete with loads of badges.
The Night Bazaar although really busy is one of the few markets where you can really enjoy pottering round; no hassle from the stall holders and a real party feel to the whole place. Even Sarb, who normally tires within 10minutes of shopping, was quite happy tooling around.
Headed back to Ratana's for dinner.
Set off at 8am in a bus where we met a Swedish couple Marco and Ulrika. Good fun!
Went to see some beautiful waterfalls up in the hills. Our driver had to switch the air con off as the bus was struggling to make it up the hill and he needed every ounce of power to make it.
After the waterfalls we popped into a local hilltribe (Karen) village. A very small village full of villagers trying to sell their handicrafts, although none of them were pushy.
Had a nice lunch and then wandered off to a second waterfall. The waterfall was some way off and above us, cascading down a sheer wall. However the absolutely beautiful gardens made a perfect foreground. Pottered round the gardens, admiring the many and varied flowers.
We then travelled further up into the hills to the King and Queen's Pagodas celebrating their birthdays. They are absolutely stunning and set in landscaped gardens overlooking a deep valley. Although the King's pagoda is slightly larger, the Queen's pagoda cost more to build, incorporating, as it does, various exotic materials including Italian marble.
From the pagodas we donned appropriate high altitude gear and headed for the highest point in Thailand. It was a terrible struggle but we made it. Unfortunately, the top of the mountain is thick with trees so very difficult to get a good view of the surrounding lands.
Headed back to Chiang Mai where we had a little rest from our labours. Feeling suitably refreshed we headed out to Ratana's kitchen for a drink. From there we headed off to the bustling Night Bazaar in search of various pressies, pausing only to pick up Sarbs Boddie, now complete with loads of badges.
The Night Bazaar although really busy is one of the few markets where you can really enjoy pottering round; no hassle from the stall holders and a real party feel to the whole place. Even Sarb, who normally tires within 10minutes of shopping, was quite happy tooling around.
Headed back to Ratana's for dinner.
posted by Jo and Sarb at
1/24/2007 03:44:00 am
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home