So last Thursday, we caught a red-eye flight to Chiang Mai... had to wake up as early as 3am to catch the 6:55am flight. Parked our car at Putrajaya Sentral (cost about RM4 per day if you park here - cheaper compared to parking in KLIA/KLIA2 or taking the taxi)... and took ERL transit (about RM6 per head) to KLIA2... yeap, that's right! We do budget travelling ;) And thanks to my Maybank American Express platinum card, we got free breakfast at KLIA2 Plaza Premium Lounge! yeehaa! :))
Had kuay teow soup for breakfast at KLIA2 Plaza Premium Lounge.
Alhamdulillah... alas perut di pagi hari ;)
Anyway, I love Chiang Mai! There are lots of places to go but since we spent just 4 days there, we were not able to cover all.
Arrived Chiang Mai early in the morning. Took airport taxi to our hotel , Mercure Hotel. The taxi fare cost us 160 Thai Baht (around RM16).
Arrived Chiang Mai early in the morning. Took airport taxi to our hotel , Mercure Hotel. The taxi fare cost us 160 Thai Baht (around RM16).
Our taxi receipt - Thai Bhat 160 from airport to our hotel, Mercure Hotel
After leaving our luggage at the hotel, off we went to explore the city and getting immersed in their local culture ;)
The weather is nice! Not so hot and definitely not cold. Had so much fun exploring Chiang Mai City on foot ;) First, we headed towards the old town of Chiang Mai ;)
The weather is nice! Not so hot and definitely not cold. Had so much fun exploring Chiang Mai City on foot ;) First, we headed towards the old town of Chiang Mai ;)
The first thing that caught my attention during the long walk was this small mosque..
Masjid An Nur ;) Wahhh... I like! Which means the Moslem community here are strong... alhamdulillah ;)
The Chang Phuak Gate of Chiang Mai - part of the ancient city wall of Chiang Mai ancient city.
The famous 3 kings monument - located in the center of Chiang Mai, in the area where palaces used to stand. The sculpture of the three kings is a symbol of Chiang Mai.
Saw a few wats along the way. It was a good walk... Kasi exercise sket on the good weather! We finally reached here...
Masjid Hidayatul Islam Banhaw. Quite big. It's like their Islamic Centre. Alhamdulillah... obviously there are lots of moslem here in Chiang Mai ;) Since it wasn't Zuhur prayer time yet, we decided to cari makan... So hungry after doing lotsa walking just now -.-
This place is also known as 'Halal Street' as there are a few halal located restaurants along this street.
And we randomly chose to eat here...
I was hungry... So I chose to eat rice and curry. The makcik who served me can actually speak little Kelantanese malay. When I told her 'Please put some curry sauce' into my plate ( I wasn't sure how much malay vocab she has... huhu), the makcik gave me a weird look and say 'kuah?' lol! Lawak la pulak rasa masa tu.... Omputih la sangat kan... Hahaha!
Mr Hubby on the other hand, chose to eat this...
Not sure what the name of this noodle but he said it tasted weird -.- (thanks gos I chose to eat nasi! Huhu!)
We also ordered this popia - quite nice la ;)
Some jajans sold at the restaurant. Didn't buy any of those though...
Then, sambung lagi jalan2. I wanted to buy thai silk (need to find material for this raya fast!! My tailor is closing order soon :P). So off we go to Warorot Market.
Warorot Market is an indoor market place - like pasar-baru in Bandung. It's where the locals shop. So harapnya dapat la harga murah kan.. Huhu.
So we decided to back to our hotel to check-in and freshen-up a bit...
By then my legs dah merayu2 keletihan... So we decided to try the public transport.
Songthaeaw - a modified pick-up truck with a roof and two rows of seats at the back is a common public transport here in Chiang Mai.
A cool vehicle that we depended a lot throughout our stay in Chiang Mai ;))
Mercure Hotel was okay. Our room was also okay - quite spacious for the 2 of us and we got a big kingsize bed - awesome!
After Zuhur prayer, we continued our adventure to explore the city of Chiang Mai. First and foremost - jom cari thai silk lagi.. hehe! :D
From Mercure hotel we got into a red songthaeaw to Warorot market and later changed into white songthaeaw to go to Borsang. Apparently, the colour of the songthaeaw represents the area where it goes. Certain colours for certain area and our hotel gave us a map that taught us about it.
The white songthaeaw that we hopped in ;))
The first thai silk factory that we went was this place...
This place is was so quiet and we were the only visitors who came -.-
The silk cocoons
Lotsa choice... But the price was a bit pricey. Well... Let's not decide to buy first... Kita survey dulu tempat lain.... Huhu.
On our way out from the factory, we saw some activities going on...
Saw this special man drawing...
And this lady was dyeing a thai silk.
Later, we hopped on a tuk-tuk, another common mode of transportation around here.
The tuk-tuk driver brought us to a more famous thai silk factory... Bigger one and more happening! Lotsa tourists here.
We were welcomed by the staff and explained on the process of making thai silks.
The silk worm... eeuu...
Silk cocoons
The process of separating the completed cocoons from the mulberry bush and soak them in a vat of boiling water to separate the silk thread from the caterpillar inside the cocoon.
Silk dyes - all natural
The process of weaving thai silks...
Then I entered their show room. And Oh-Em-Gee.. My eyes started to shine! :D
I saw lovely, lovely colourful silks!! Love them loads!!! But their price was even more pricey than the previous factory... So yeah, I guess I kinda expected that. It's a tourist centre - of course they sell it at a high price -.-
So hahaha... Of course we didn't buy any :P Yeap... Hubby said let's survey more! :P
Kecewa tau... huhu :P
Next, our tuk-tuk driver dropped us here...
An umbrella factory
Chiang Mai’s famous umbrella and fan making. Hand-painted fans, umbrellas and other decorative items are made of “Sa” paper, with many designs and colors.
The process of making an umbrealla
Later, we hoped into another white songthaeaw to the city again...
Wat Bupparam - located some 500 meters east of Tha Phae Gate. It was built around 15th century, and houses beautiful statues and ornamentation including three major Buddha images, one in painted wood, one covered in gold leaf, and one of a green gemstone. The gardens surrounding the main building are crowded with flowers and statues, including some recently added statues of a few famous Disney characters (which I thought was funny :P).
We were at the Tha Phae Road when we found this shop...
Praewphun Thaisilk shop.
Variety of choices and reasonable price... I like!!!
Borong sepasang dulu kasi puas hati! :D
This silk is a combination of a few colours - green, red and purple I think! It's a unique colour. Hubby chose this for me ;)
Then we walked along the night market. It was still early as most of the sellers were busy assembling and getting their booth ready.
Sempat cekau one of these bags ;)
We had made an appoinment here at 7pm on our first day in Cheang Mai:
We tried the thai massage at Let's Relax Phuket and we loved it. So we were here to try the Let's Relax Chiang Mai's branch ;))
Let's Relax Chiang Mai branch is located near the night market. It's their first Let's Relax branch ever.
And we LOVE it as well!! It was an awesome experience!
They served us this after our 2 hours massage:
Sticky rice aka pulut and manggo with jasmine tea.... nice!
View of night market from Let's Relax visitors' lounge.
After the 2 hours massage, sambung lagi jalan at the night market...
Somehow, these 'owls' reminded me of my bff, Ijah ❤️
Will update more on my Chiang Mai visit later. Been very busy lately. The photos uploaded in this post are all from my iphone album... we did bring our DSLR camera... but yours truly are so lazy to upload pics from the camera :P
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