Month: <span>January 2010</span>

Date: Dec 15th, 2009

After I got back from my tour, I rested for a bit as I had hardly slept the night before. But I knew I couldn’t waste time sleeping as I planned to leave Chiang Mai tomorrow evening & still had lots more to see. As I laid in bed, I thought to myself how tiring going by overnight buses would be the next few days. I decided since I had to head to Phuket the next day, then to Krabi and then back to Bangkok — I’d go back to consider flying.

I went out to a net cafe and tried for a ticket at all the budget carriers from Chiang Mai to Phuket and from Phuket/Krabi back to Bangkok. While I got the latter on Nok Air (1950 baht/Rs. 2,725), all the budget carriers were full for the Chiang Mai to Phuket route for the next few days. So I thought I’d stick to taking the overnight bus one last time when heading to Phuket.

I was feeling quite hungry after the mediocre lunch at the Elephant camp. So while walking on Loi Kroh road, I saw some tempting barbeques at the Ramming Lodge restaurant…

Food at the Ramming Lodge, Chiang Mai — Left: Reasonably priced BBQs; Right: I really wanted to try these coconut dumplings

… and promptly sat down, ordered the sea food barbeque, fries (which I couldn’t finish) and a Singha. Dinner cost me 320 baht/Rs.447 (including tip).

After that, I walked down Loi Kroh road to head for the Night Market.

Foot massage chairs, Chiang Mai — Foot massage chairs on Loi Kroh Road

Changklan Road, Chiang Mai — Changklan Road: You can find a Burger King, Mc Ds and a Starbucks here… in case you want your fix of American junk

I crossed Changklan Road and stopped by a few stalls selling the usual stuff (souvenirs, fake goods, bags, T-shirts etc.) I picked up a funky ‘Chiang Mai’ t-shirt for 180 baht/Rs. 250 (bargained down from 250 baht/Rs. 350). They had quite a few cool designs incorporating the elements Chiang Mai is famous for — including the pandas at Chiang Mai Zoo.

I walked around the area and saw a sign board pointing to the Night Bazaar.

Anusarn market, Chiang Mai — The road that leads up to Anusarn market

I walked into Anusarn market which is essentially a part of the extended Night Bazaar area. Anusarn is predominantly a food court with options ranging from Indian to (real) Chinese among other cuisines.

Curry Pot Indian restaurant, Chiang Mai — I was tempted to go in because it said ‘fusion’… but I was already full

I mostly took HD videos of the Night Bazaar so I’ll try and extract the stills and put them up temporarily.

Bulb-heads, Chiang Mai Night Bazaar — I like to call this photo: ‘Bulb-heads’

The Night Bazaar is essentially an open flea market selling everything from handicrafts to funky gear, bags, souvenirs, cool T-shirts, 500 baht Rolexs and more.

Chiang Mai Night market — Chang had sponsored an open concert… and no one bothered to see the guy

And as you step out, there are more stalls selling more of the same. I picked some more T-shirts (I believe 3 but none costing more than 150 baht/Rs. 200 each).

Leaving the Night Bazaar, I walked around the area some more, saw where the Japanese and Koreans hung out, checked out some cool bars with live guitar shows and decided I had walked enough and… then walked back to my room.

But as I walked back, I realized how I much I liked Chiang Mai. When I researched on Chiang Mai, most of the websites I visited only showcased the temples and kept talking about it being a historic city and I assumed it was going to be like that. Old and decrepit buildings, undeveloped roads, unorganized traffic, etc. — and man, was I wrong! Chiang Mai has everything you need — but in small doses.

It is a bit laid back. But I guess that’s why I liked it.

Other posts in this series:

Getting ready for my trip

The day I left for Thailand

Day 1 – Suvarnabhumi, Pantip Plaza, Fotofile & MBK

Day 2 – Bridge over the River Kwai and Tiger Temple (Wat Pa Luangta Bua) in Kanchanaburi

Taking the bus to Chiang Mai from Bangkok

Day 3 – Maesa elephant camp, ‘long-neck’ tribe village near Chiang Mai

Day 4 – Doi Suthep, Chiang Mai… and back in town

Day 5 – Leaving Chiang Mai for Phuket

Day 5 (Part 2) – One night in Phuket

Day 6 – Leaving Phuket for Ao Nang by bus (via Phang Nga)

Day 7 – Touring Koh Phi Phi (Maya Bay, Monkey Island & Bamboo Island)

Day 7 (Part 2) – Exploring Railay, Krabi

Day 8 – Flying from Phuket to Bangkok

Day 8 (Part 2) – Chatuchak Weekend Market, Bangkok

Day 9 – MBK, Siam Paragon… and ‘little Arabia’?

Day 10 – Grand Palace and the Emerald Buddha

Day 10 – Wat Pho (the Temple of the Reclining Buddha) and finally leaving Thailand

Figures, lessons learned, and things I couldn’t do

Date: Dec 15th, 2009

After I checked in, I really didn’t have much time to sleep as it was already past 6am and my tour van would pick me up by 8am. So I went downstairs for breakfast with my laptop in tow.

The lobby of Rux Thai Guesthouse, where they have a restaurant

The breakfast isn’t included in the room fare but my pancakes with ant-tipped honey and coffee cost me 100 baht (Rs. 130, including tip). The van picked me up at 8am and went around collecting all the other tourists from nearby hotels.

I’m not usually the ‘package tour’ kinda guy because the ‘sights’ sometimes offered really don’t interest me and they often include places where you are expected to spend money (souvenir shops, handicraft shops, casinos etc.). But whatever, our first stop was the Maesa Elephant Camp, 20kms from Chiang Mai city.

You can read about the place on their website but we were there for a slew of activities, first of which was the elephant show. Basically, the elephants perform a variety show for us. From greeting us, kicking around footballs, lugging around wood, to painting (which you can buy) and other things that are intended to entice a chuckle from the audience. Amusing, if you are a kid — or one whose easily amused.

I know, I know — they’re elephants and it’s not easy to train any animal to do things like that but you can get a drift how the show is by the several videos visitors have put up on YouTube.

When I started shooting, the autofocus just froze on the camera (“Oh crap” moment #3). This put me off-mood immediately. Mostly because I had my friend, Jyothy Karat‘s 70-200 f2.8 lens mounted on and I thought it was the lens’ fault. It was upsetting because me and Jyothy’s lenses are like a bad omen. I’ve always had bad luck with them. Anyway, I switched off the camera and after a while, it was fine. I did manage to take a few photos of the show but I accidentally deleted them upon return. The only photo I have is this:

An elephant at the Maesa elephant camp — Seriously, this is all I have from the show

So instead, you can check out photos from the camp other people took!

By 11am, it was over and we moved on to our next activity — an ox cart ride! Yup, an Indian flew to a different country to take an ox ride! Needless to say, the back-breaking ride was a complete waste of time for me. Even the woman from Montreal who sat next to me found it terribly annoying.

Ox cart ride at Maesa Elephant Camp — It was hot, sunny and very bumpy

Some paddy field near Maesa elephant camp — The ride lasted nearly 10 minutes near some village

When we finally got off the ride, it was at some village where stalls were set up with items on sale by the villagers there. I walked with the lady from Montreal, Christine her name was, through the stall as we waited for our next activity.

Which was another ride but fortunately, this was on elephant. Me & Christine got into ours and felt this was way better. Weirdly, as we talked more, me and Christine shared common interests. She, like me, was travelling alone, has her own blog (it’s in French) and is recording a lot of footage from her travels to put up online one day.

The fairly long elephant ride was actually enjoyable. Especially when it went into the river. I’ll post the HD video of it later.

Elephant ride at the Maesa Elephant Camp — The ride takes you all round the camp and follows a nice path

By 12:30pm we were back to where we started the ox ride. I insisted on tipping the mahout since Christine paid for the bamboo shoots the elephant was fed (you’ll see it in the upcoming video).

We then had lunch at the camp restaurant. It was a buffet lunch consisting of food that tasted more like the Indo-Chinese food you get here. Mediocre except for the fried chicken.

Taiwanese girl, Maesa elephant camp — An adorable Taiwanese girl who was part of our tour group

After the mediocre lunch, next up on the itinerary was bamboo rafting on the river surrounding the camp.

Bamboo rafting at Maesa elephant camp — Yes, we were all given traditional farmer hats and no, we couldn’t keep them

It started off well… until we got stuck near some shallow rocks.

Our bamboo raft stuck — Our bamboo raft got stuck …

Bamboo rafting at Maesa — … but nothing that a bump from another raft couldn’t fix…

Bamboo raft stuck at Maesa elephant camp — … and we were soon back on our way

The ride was smooth and quite relaxing…

The views when taking the bamboo raft in Maesa elephant camp — The view from the bamboo raft

… but after half-an-hour or so, it got quite boring and with the hot sun, me & Christine were kinda itching for it to get over so we could get back to our air-conditioned van.

(I have HD videos of the rafting and I will put them up later… once I figure out how to edit video properly)

We eventually did get back to our van. Next stop, a village inhabited by the people of the Kayan tribe (Wikipedia link). The ‘long-neck’ tribe gained mainstream attention after National Geographic did a documentary on them (or at least, that’s how I got to know of their existence). Originally from Myanmar, fearing the military conflicts in Burma, a lot of Kayans fled to neighbouring Thailand where many of them sought refuge — as tourist attractions.

A Karen girl with her child in Chiang Mai outskirts — A Kayan girl with her child

Karen girl handicraft, Chiang Mai — Most of them make a living off of handicrafts

Young Karen girl selling handicrafts — But you tend to wonder if they were actually happy being there

Again, just like the Tiger Temple at Kanchanburi, the settlement of the Kayan tribe in North Thailand by the Thai government has also drawn controversy. Accusations have been made against these ‘human zoos’ because the ‘village’ actually looked like a bunch of huts/stalls manned by a young girl selling all sorts of souvenirs. Some items made by them, others surely mass-produced. There was even an entrance fee (which I didn’t have to pay).

Kayan village, Chiang Mai — Christine pumped a few hundred Thai baht into the village economy out of sympathy

Freedom aside, I just hope the income the ‘long-neck’ people earn from tourists really do end up in their pockets and not in the hands of the Thai tourism department.

After I took a few videos (which by now, you know you won’t see for a while) we left the ‘village’. I thought the tour was over as I really wanted to get back to Chiang Mai city — but there was one more stop.

At some orchid farm. Not really interested in knowing much about the place while the talk was being given by our guide, I simple walked around and played with the 50mm lens.

A goldfish in Chiang Mai Orchid farm — They had a small aquarium at the farm

Orange flower at Mae Sa Orchid farm, Chiang Mai — I love how these slightly out-of-focus shots turned out

Mae Sa orchid farm flowers — Left: f2, 1/250, ISO100; Right: f2.8, 1/400, ISO100 — both taken using 50mm

Mae Sa Orchid Farm, Chiang Mai — Taken exactly at 4:00pm (I checked the camera info)

Orchid farm, Chiang Mai — Yes, her again

Dog in a sweater at Orchid farm, Chiang Mai — I don’t know why this dog was given a sweater in Chiang Mai’s heat

After this, we were finally done. The tour van dropped us back at our respective hotels and Christine and I exchanged business cards so we’d keep in touch with each others escapades.