We’d heard a lot of positive things about this city (Thailand’s second) and it lived up to its expectations.
The old city is surrounded by a moat full of fountains. Ayutthay and Sukhothai are also surrounded by moats but both of those are dry, and, within you find only temple ruins. ChiangMai’s old city is full of temples very much in use, some temple ruins, and most importantly full of activity. Once off the busy road it is fun to walk around and get semi-lost in the little streets and alleys of the inner old city. Eventually you hit the surrounding road again.
We decided to stay west of the city, close to a couple of big hospitals and the university, a newer part of town. We could walk (30mins) or drive to the old city, but mostly we stayed in our area. For us Chiangmai was the place to take a break again from moving all the time.I like Chiangmai. Definitely a place I could spend some time.
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
On the way into Chiangmai we stopped at a garage that was once affiliated with Land Rover. At least it had lots of Land Rover decals, but does not look like it has sold a Land Rover in many years. Sterlin’s right rear brake had been squeaking for about a week when lightly breaking. The squeak was driving Stephen mad. There was still some life left in the pads, but we thought it better to have a mechanic take a quick look. And in classic Thai tradition, everyone was very helpful. The plan was to be back the next day.
We headed into the city to find a place to stay. It took us a while to find somewhere that had free rooms and where we would like to stay. In the end we headed away from the crowded and busy Old City towards the “hipper” university district in search of a place to lay our heads. Turns out we liked this district with its international pubs and restaurants better than the Old City. Not that I am saying we are hip or anything. We had Lanna cuisine for dinner.
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Stephen was up early and back to the Land Rover garage. It took five hours and a little grinding of the rear rotors, but brakes no longer squeak. Yihaaaa.
In the afternoon we went to the old city and some English bookstores. We were on a mission to find the Lonely Planet guide to China. We were successful.
We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the little Streets and Sois of the Old City. We had Western cuisine for dinner.
Thursday, January 16, 2014
We woke late to see an email from Ed inviting us for coffee at 9am. We had to hassle, but we made it across town to Ed’s place for his famous coffee. And we got to see his wonderful inner city apartment which he has nicely remodeled. It is nice to talk to an ex-pat who actually enjoys and lives the Thai life to the full. Amongst other languages he speaks rather fluent Thai.
Caroline’s hair color badly needed some touching up and she found a gorgeous and high quality hair salon ‘New York, New York Studio’ close to our hotel. Stephen futzed with Sterlin and experimented on how to get four 20L Jerry Cans into Sterlin safely. So far we have not needed to use the Jerry Cans, but if we do, then they will be too heavy to stay on the roof rack and unfortunately will need to be mounted (securely) inside Sterlin. A solution was found.
A very relaxing day. Dinner cuisine was Mediterranean.
Friday, January 17, 2014
We drove into the Old City in search of a particular dentist that Ed had recommended. We are going to brave having our teeth cleaned in Thailand, as it has been 8 months since we left San Francisco and the luxury of our wonderful SF dentist. Appointment made for next week.
Across the road from the dentist we found a travel agent that could get us Myanmar visas. We handed over our passports which they courier to Bangkok, someone goes to the embassy and then couriers the passports back all for a very reasonable fee.
Dinner cuisine was Japanese.
