The Chiang Mai Trip, Thailand

Alison had always wanted to pay Chiang Mai a visit and we took the June school holiday opportunity to fly there. Just like Penang, I last visited this mountainous city more than a decade ago. The vast difference is that Penang has changed much but Chiang Mai has not. The temples, elephants, night markets, people and food felt so familiar and I was glad the old city has retained it's rustic charm. You cannot see many high rise buildings. The Thais respect their temples and it's always disrespectful to build infrastructure that rise above any of the 300 over temples in Chiang Mai.  

Wat Chedi Luang

We would visit the more famous temples like Wat Chedi Luang, Wat Phra Singh and Wat Phra That Doi Suthep . My daughter loves the elephants at Maesa Elephant Camp  and we had a whale of a time playing with the baby elephants🐘🐘🐘. There are many online debates on the controversies of riding elephants but personally I feel that it takes tremendous budgets to feed and maintain the huge appetite animals. The money must come from some revenue. 

Family Photo at Maesa Elephant Camp

We also took the opportunity to visit Doi Inthanon National Park. It housed the highest mountain in Thailand (2565m). The temperature at the peak was around 15 degree Celsius when we visited and we had to pinch ourselves to remind ourselves that we were in Thailand, which was always hot and humid. The imposing King and Queen Pagodas that are situated near the summit were sight to behold. Shrouded in mist when we visited there, the area emitted a feeling that we were somewhere in heaven. The equally impressive Wachirathan Waterfall was somewhere we would always remember. We spent sometimes enjoying the spectacular sight and cool breezes created by the water dropping from a height of almost 80 meters.

Many readers would know by now I am a "Temple man". In my itineraries, there would always be the presence of temples. But if you observe carefully enough, there is another destination I often included in my plan. Yes, Zoo is always another regular feature. We visited the Chiang Mai Zoo and enjoyed our day there. The park is massive and Charlotte enjoyed herself a lot feeding sheep, giraffes, emus elephants and deer.

I specially created a 7 mins plus video to summarize our amazing trip in Chiang Mai. Hope you enjoy it and give a thumb up!!!

Below is a brief plan of our 6 days visit. As usual, drop me a mail  if you want a more detailed itinerary. Please give us a Like at our Facebook Page before your request 😉😉😉. Let us know if you are looking for a good local driver. We can recommend the one that we used for our trip.

Day 1
-Arrived at Chiang Mai International Airport
-Checked in U Chiang Mai Hotel
-Night Bazaar

Day 2
-Wat Chedi Luang
-Wat Phra Singh

Day 3
-Maesa Elephant Camp
-Wat Phra That Doi Suthep

Day 4
-Doi Inthanon National Park
-Ping River

Day 5
-Chiang Mai Zoo
-Shopping at Central Plaza

Day 6
-Checked out U Chiang Mai Hotel 
-Return to Singapore

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Travel Photos Series#20-The Marble Temple

One of my favorite photos in Bangkok, Thailand taken few years back. We went to the Marble Temple (known as Wat Benchamabophit) early morning  to avoid the crowd. I was setting up the camera on the tripod to take our family photos when I saw the monk strolling towards the main temple. I managed to snap a few shots of him in motion with the beautiful temple structure in the background.

Many tourists skipped this lesser temple after visiting the more famous temples like Wat Arun, Wat Phra Khew and Wat Pho. I strongly recommend not to do so as you will potentially miss one of the most beautiful temples you have ever laid your eyes upon ;-D.

Photo taken on 3 March 2012.

Related Posts: Bangkok-The Land of Smiles

Bangkok-The Land of Smiles

I have a hate love relationship with Bangkok. I love the yummy food (especially Tom Yum soup!), the relaxing massage (I pampered myself with at least one session everyday) and the exotic Wats. But I also hate the ever hot and unbearable weather, the never ending traffic jams and the many scams set to snare the foolish and unwary.

The Grand Palace

tuk tuk

I remembered my first trip out of Singapore by plane was to Bangkok many years ago. I was fascinated by the sights of Buddhas statues at almost every streets and corners in the city. The devoted Thais are very friendly people although I learnt to beware of those over-friendly ones. Always be on your toes when someone offer to bring you to a "government-approved" gem shop or to see "The Lucky Buddha". Good chance a scam is in store and you will find yourself not so lucky at all!

Travelling in a tuk tuk would always be a thrilling and unforgettable affair for me. The driver would always manage to squeeze and manoeuvre through the harsh traffic jams to reach my destination. For first timer, it is something similar to your maiden ride on a high speed roller coaster except your chance of dropping out from the vehicle is real! The cost of taking tuks tuks has escalated over the years. The Bangkok government has limited their numbers on the road and that has actually benefited the tuk tuk owners. The tuks tuks have become "rare species" for the tourists and expensive to take. I have avoided taking one in my later visits to the city. Taxis and Metro have become my favourite transports since.

Wat Arun

Wat Pho

Stupa at Grand Palace

The Wats have always been the places I never miss every time I visit Bangkok. Their intricate and unique designs and constructions have never fail to amaze me. If you are going there for the first time, remember to plan to visit the Big three Wats. They are Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha) located in the Grand Palace, Wat Pho (Temple of the Reclining Buddha) and Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn). Your later visits shall include the likes of Wat Ben (The Marble Temple), Wat Traimit (Temple of the Golden Buddha) and Loha Prasat. Many visitors comment that a visit to one or two big Wats are good enough as "all Wats are the same". I readily beg to differ. All of them are special in their own way and I am glad I have visited all the above Wats to witness their glamour and uniqueness.

Loha Prasat

The Marble Temple

Wat Traimit

The traditional show at Siam Niramit is certainly worth mentioning. The 80 minutes show with over 100 performers is truly spectacular. In my opinion, it's worth every bahts of the ticket and my knowledge of Thai's culture and history has raised a few bars after watching the show though I found it already much commercialized. Well, which tourists' spots are not?

Fountain at Siam Niramit

Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho

One blog is surely not doing justice to cover my trips and thoughts of Bangkok. There are still the Chao Praya River, Chinatown, Dusit area and many others to be mentioned. I will cover them in my later blogs. I have no plan to stop visiting Bangkok anytime soon and my next visit will be my fourth trip there. Till then, we meet again :-).

Bot at Wat Arun

Family Photo at Marble Temple

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