Date: Dec 17th, 2009
Woke up around 8am and the first thing I had to do was return the rented Honda Click. I then took a taxi to the Pantip Plaza in Chiang Mai to see if they had any decent reasonably priced tripods.
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I got to Pantip Plaza but it hadn’t opened yet (main doors open at 10am) so I hopped on over to the other side of the road to some temple I thought I’d spend some time clicking.
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I headed back to Pantip and walked into the local Big Camera outlet. The had a few Manfrottos and the cheap light weight tripods, like the one I was carrying — until it got smashed into pieces — but nothing in between.
The Pantip Plaza in Chiang Mai isn’t very big and the stores didn’t have anything I particularly felt like spending money on. I had already spent enough on camera equipment, so I really couldn’t afford the high-end tripods everyone recommended for the 7D and the 70-200mm Sigma.
I checked out a few other stores there but ended up not buying anything. Saw a video game store thinking I’d find good deals on PS3 games but the selection was poor and it mostly stocked pirated CDs (much like the rest of Thailand).
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A video store there did have something that caught my eye — a 23-DVD Studio Ghibli collection for 2300 baht! I would have picked it up but I figured I’d do all such shopping when I got back to Bangkok.
I left Pantip and headed back to my hotel room, checked out and took a taxi to Chiang Mai International Airport as my Thai Airways flight was scheduled for 12:45pm.
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The ride took no less than 20 minutes from Loi Kroh road.
I checked in my baggage, got my window seat, boarding pass (twice! The first one got stuck in a machine near the gate) and waited upstairs.
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I wasn’t too happy about having spent Rs. 8k on a last minute flight booking, but I guess I was lucky to have gotten a seat. The window seat I got was right in front — and the flight was full!
Since it was Thai Airways, we at least got a meal.
It was cold chicken patty with cold salad and cold juice. Seriously, it was like they served it right out of the refrigerator. The cake was nice, despite being cold too.
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(Part 2 of Day 5 coming soon!)
Other posts in this series:
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 3 (Part 2) – Chiang Mai Night Market
Day 4 – Doi Suthep, Chiang Mai… and back in town
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
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umapoems
08/10/2010well written post and beautiful pictures!
http://www.indiblogger.in/indipost.php?post=34845
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