DAY 1     ..:.     DAY 2     ..:.     DAY 3

It took me awhile to post up these pics coz I was too bz traveling around msia for work. The trip was suppose to be during Songkran last April but we had to postponed it due to work commitments. An additional rm50 was forked out per sector per person. So we had wasted another rm200 by the date change. :( :( It was also rainy season, and the weather forecast predicted scattered thunderstorms all the 4 days we were gonna be there...... hmmmmm ....

Woke up around 615am to catch the AirAsia flight that morning. Airasia flies to Chiang Mai daily. Dennis was kind enough to offer us a lift to the new Low Cost Carrier Terminal(LCCT) near KLIA. Its slightly further than KLIA. Thank You Bro.. :)
 

Mike awaiting patiently for his turn

And off we go to Chiang Mai. 2.45 hrs later. We arrived. Thailand is behind Malaysia. So we kinda saved time...

We stayed at Montri Hotel. 750Baht Nett. Situated beside the east gate of Chiang Mai old city. We checked-in. Had lunch and walked near our hotel a bit.

The eastern / tha phae gate.

The plaque says... This gate, located on the eastern wall of the city dates back to the year 1296 when king Mangrai founded chiang mai. It was originally known as Chiang Ruak Gate after the nearly village of Chiang Ruak. The present Tha Phar Gate was rebuilt in 1985-1986 on the bases of historical and archaeological evidence including a photograph of one of the city gates taken in 1898.

The Golden Door of the temple

The doors were huge.

We took the last snapshot and roam around the city.
 

If I remembered it correctly, this temple was beside a Buddhist school for the monks.

A couple of snapshots were taken with the bells

The Stupa shone brightly tho raindrops were starting to fall. Think this is one of Mike's cutest pic along the trip. ha ha

LCCT was a mess. It was practically a bus terminal. Makes u think that its unworthy to fly using AirAsia anymore. Sigh.

Finally we got checked-in

Situated to the north of Thailand. Chiang Mai was beautiful, an array of hills and mountains filled up its skyline.

The gate didn't stretched far. The old city of chiang mai was built surrounded by these walls and there exist 5 gates. One on the North, East and West. 2 to the south. There is also a moat surrounding the city. Though the walls are mostly destroyed, the gates were rebuilt.

The actual door to the gate.

We took a stroll to Wat Dokkham, one of the local temples. The term Wat basically means temple.

Michael

It made good background

Arrived at another temple .... and another... and another. This one above is made from wood entirely.

Built during 1296-1297, Wat Chiang Mun was the 1st royal temple built in the vicinity of chiang mai ancient city. In it is the white quartz Buddha image and also the stone Buddha statue
 

Skies were turning gray.. so we had to made it quick

The dragons were made of colorful glass. In the temple lies the Buddha statues.

All the shots turned out great despite the lack of time.

It was definitely gonna pour any time, and yet we were posing here and there... ha ha ha...

The rain started to fall on the amazing looking temple. I grabbed my mini-sized umbrella ( yea.. the rm50 ESPIRIT girly looking one) ... ha ha... and transformed it into a giant shield against the raindrops... within 15 minutes, we were backed at the hotel. A bit wet. It then poured....

 

 

The rain stopped around 8 or so ( I think). We took a tut tut to the night bazaar. Hmmm.. was pretty much a disappointment.  Was too tourist oriented. The funny think was that the sellers were not too eager to sell things to us. Didn't bother to bargain and draw us in buying their products

We walked to the street market and there the vendors were a bit more enthusiastic. It kinda reminded me of Petaling Street. There wasnt anything local or special to buy. Just the same old things. T-shirts, silvers, etc.

We walked and walked. Finally hours later we had some ROTI PISANG & ROTI TELUR. Oh, finding food for me (a muslim) is kind hard in Thailand, They mostly have pork.. which is a big NO NO... and I try to avoid unslaughtered chicken whenever I can.

We then went to restaurant and I had my 1st Pad Thai(vegetarian kueh teow).... love it I do... and yup, the coconut drink was yummy too...

We walked a bit more and then headed to the hotel. Hence finished our 1st day in Chiang Mai. Didnt do much but was able to walked around Chiang Mai Ancient City area and understand our demographics of the place. :) ..
 

DAY 1     ..:.     DAY 2     ..:.     DAY 3