.. Posted March 23, 2008 Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 Well, so far so good. As you recall, I asked for stuff to do in CM. Some good suggestions there. Thanks guys. Since I'm waiting for Vampirella to finish here 2.5 hour spa treatment, I had a bit of time to post an update, before I join her for a couples massage at the resort we are at. Lovely. Anyway we found a decent guy with a newer Pajero to act as our driver over the past couple of days. Mr Thunwa, number 08-1765-7156 or his home 053-283-395. He charges B1200-1500/day depending upon how far you go, is a nice guy and a safe driver. Recommended. We've hit a couple of orchid farms as Vampirella is into flowers and I find orchids pretty fascinating too. The Sainamphung farm was lovely, no pressure to buy shit, only B40/ea to get in and well presented. Here's Vampy, vogue-ing: We did an elephant ride through the jungle too. Big fun, even tho' Vampy was glua sak noi. I had to rag on her severely because she's so proud of being a roller coaster queen and never afraid to go on those. "But those have safety, I do not think this does" was her (as usual) intelligent retort. I will admit that going up was fine, but going downhill was, erm, a bit exciting for at least the first few minutes. Cost? B1440 for an hour ride and the elephant show, where we got to watch them paint and play football. That was cool, actually. A couple of them could actually paint! Vampirella said: "Jeuan! That elephant can paint better than me!" Me too, but less embarassing cuz at least I'm not a "artsy-fartsy" type like Vampy 55555. Paintings were on sale for B500-B4500 in the gift shop. I'd have bought one as a conversation piece if we could have figured out how to get it home umrumpled (they were out of cardboard shipping tubes ). Again, this place was no pressure to buy anything and same price for all. I forget the name of the place, but it was up past Mae Rim, in (or nearby) a place called Bang Mae Mhae. And of course, no trip to Chiang Mai is complete without a trip to Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep. Of course this one had different fees for Thai and farang (B20 vs B50), but it's small money so I do not really care. TiT. And another case of TiT, there were several ATM machines on the grounds. Not very Buddhist IMHO. But it was still nice to see the wat's grounds (again). Cheers, SD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neo Posted March 23, 2008 Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 Good photos. But 50 bones for a little elephant song and dance, sheesh. It is also that nasty season that is the dirty secret of Northern Thailand, the burning season. The haze makes visibility poor and the air is bad. Right now, the particulate matter in the atmosphere of Chiang Mai is hazardous by international standards, the very worst rating possible on the scale. Would be a decent place to live save for that. Last year they blamed it on the Korean BBQ restaurants. This year? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CTO Posted March 24, 2008 Report Share Posted March 24, 2008 Nice pics, is it too cold to swim ;) I bought 2 of the paintings, I got the abstract one's, they look like Aboriginal Australian paintings, how clean is the air at the moment? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.. Posted March 24, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2008 It is fine to swim, in fact we'll be lazy today and just hang by the pool. Air is OK. Much better than BKK. Tho' we could hardly see the city from Doi Suthep, it is not noticeable at ground level. Neo: Elephant thing was worth every satang. The show was optional, only cost B120/ea. We had to wait for 25 minutes for the elephant ride, so we thought we may as well see the show already in progress. B1200 all in for an hour's trek on an elephant with a mahout was fair in my opinion. OK, Vampy's through with redoing her hair (oops, ya, sorry dear, we *should* have done it doggy style LOL), so off to brekky... Cheers, SD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MooNoi Posted March 24, 2008 Report Share Posted March 24, 2008 An elephant, a tiger and a vampire in the jungle at the same time... fucking scary!! :grin: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neo Posted March 24, 2008 Report Share Posted March 24, 2008 FWIW the air quality index (AQI) is presently many times worse in Chiang Mai compared to Bangkok. Bangkok is well within safe air, Chiang Mai is not. It's real bad all the way all across the North of Thailand now just like every year as the hills and rice stalks burn day after day with new fires set all the time. Chiang Mai currently has the worst air in all of Thailand which is normal during the burning season. If you want to see how bad it gets, see these photos, scary! http://www.nachang.com/dryseason Sorry to hijack the thread a bit, in hindsight probably should have started another thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bust Posted March 25, 2008 Report Share Posted March 25, 2008 Nice handbag...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LookieLookie Posted March 26, 2008 Report Share Posted March 26, 2008 Are you and the girl related you both look similar to each other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sanddawg1 Posted March 26, 2008 Report Share Posted March 26, 2008 SD Although you have her face blocked out Vampy looks cute!!! :thumbup: :thumbup: But what's up with the leather around her wrist; what have you two been up to at night???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh_Hoy Posted March 27, 2008 Report Share Posted March 27, 2008 sounds like you've had an interesting and relaxing mini-holiday. thanks for the report and photos. HH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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