Traveller Jon

CM Blue House, Chiang Mai 2nd February to 6th February

I had looked this place up on Travelfish before heading out, and it looked like a nice one to stay at, a little expensive for the area at 400 baht per night I had thought, however on seeing the room and the very central, yet secluded location I forgot all about the price.

The room itself was very large with a double bed, fan and small but usable en-suite bathroom, and best of all the room was the first on the site, which meant I was able to come and go as I wished without disturbing the other residents.

CM Blue House has a restaurant that operates on a limited hours basis, but that does not affect the quality of the food on offer from breakfasts with some twists on the staples to an interesting array of lunch options.

The owners Tim & Tony are great guys and are really knowledgeable on the local area and on the various things to do in the surrounding region. Another good point was there being an honour system in operation with regards to a very well stocked fridge of drinks from water right through to beer. Just remember to write what you take in the book for your room.

Location wise it can be found on a soi on the eastern side the old town of Chiang Mai and is about 10 – 20 minutes walk from a lot of the big attractions in town and the main eating area’s too.

Pai. Chilled.

After much waiting due to a combination of the Flower Festival and repeated “15minutes” – Thailand seriously works on its own definition of time – we eventually left Chiang Mai for Pai, a town up in the mountains that is a good place to base for treks and chill out for a while.

Minibuses really do suck by the way. Cramped and hot is the politest way I can describe the journey in one of these, although as an alternative to the non-air con local buses with non-existent suspension, I can see some merit in using them in particular area’s. Still don’t like them though.

Pai itself is a very small town, about 20 minutes walk across, so it is possible to get a feel for town in no time at all. It has a serious amount of bungalow operations, many by its small river which you can float down on tubes should the whim take you, as well as innumerable guest-houses dotted around town. There are plenty of bars, however they never all get busy, its more of a case that one does and when that closes people occasionally move on, or due to it being damn cold at night here, they go and find a bonfire to huddle round. Playing with fire is great when its cold.

To be continued…

New Siam 1, Bangkok 26th January to 1st February

I’ll be reviewing my guest-houses from now on in the format shown below.  Also shall post these on Travelfish and other sites.

Stayed 6 nights here. Paid 340 baht for a double fan room with shared facilities.  For the price its pretty good, not much noise and facilities are cleaned at least twice a day what I saw.

The restaurant there is not that amazing but that’s not down to the food, more the staff there who can be a little off when it gets busy, or even just plain forgetful. The food itself is a good introduction to Thai food for those who do not wish to start straight on the street food. Menu also has a nice array of western food, which I found out is actually made at one of New Siam I’s sister properties, but that doesn’t really matter as they are very close by.

Location is on a sub-soi off Soi Rambuttri which is much more genteelthan the nearby Khao San Road, although its still a bit of a zoo at times. Going the other way from Soi Rambuttri brings you onto Th Pra Athit which is good as it has a riverboat pier on it and once on the river you can get to the main sites quite easily indeed, and even the sky-train should malls or the bigger markets be your destinations.

All in all I do recommend the New Siam 1 to people who want to stay somewhere quiet in the city, and yet still easily get to all big musts in Bangkok.

Chilled (to the bone) in Pai

Make a note folks, Im as cold here at night as I was at lunch time in the UK during january…

Flower Power

Packed. Check.

Checked out of guest-house. Check.

Met with the others and breakfasted. Check.

Stuck in Chiang Mai due to Flower Festival Parade. Check.

Kick-boxer XXXVIII: Beer & Boxing

I have been in Chiang Mai for a few days now a highlight of which was a visit Doi Suthep which is a stunning Wat at the top of a mountain overlooking the city, the approach to which is a flight of 300 steps flanked by Naga (who once shaded the Buddha), at once very impressive and totally evocative of the style of the Angkor complex in Cambodia. The views from the Wat show Chiang Mai off really well, and the old city shows up nicely from a couple of thousand feet.

It hasn’t all been day time action, I have had some fun evenings since getting here and meeting a few more people from the Thailand/Laos/Cambodia/Vietnam 2010 Facebook group has really helped. I have now met 8 people from the group and enjoyed several good nights over the past 2 weeks with them. On wednesday night I met up with Luke, who has been travelling through Asia for a good long while; on thursday Anna, Luke, Mat and I met for dinner and visited the Night Bazaar – it is more fun with people, afterwards 3 of us ventured out into Chiang Mai’s night life and got roaring drunk in some pretty good bars on a sub soi near my guest-house including Roots & Heaven Beach. Good music, good company and cold drinks – perfect.

However of all the nights we have enjoyed last night has to be the best one so far. We watched 9 matches of Muay Thai at Kawali Stadium, after enjoying some good cheap thai food near the stadium.

The fighters were not just Thai – we were treated to fighters from England, Spain, Chile & Austria, with the Chilean giving us the best fight of the night, despite losing due to injuries to his wrist and leg. However the Spaniard on the other hand just proved to be a sore loser who just bled over everyone from a gash on his forehead. Including me.

The fights themselves lasted between 3 and 6 rounds however why some were suddenly called when it looked it like things actually hadn’t happened I do not know, I suppose having an idea of the rules of professional Muay Thai would have helped, but honestly it didn’t really ruin the fun of being in an arena, ringside too, watching people try to kick the crap out of each other.

Devotional Architecture the Second

Wat Phra Singh, one of the major examples of Lanna influence over architecture in this region, from the lions at the gate, to the fine work on the temple itself from the roof to the floor. Wat Phra Singh really is one of the most beautiful Wat I have ever seen.

A note on Lanna – former kingdom in this area that had expanded into/from the Burma region and carried with it its own style, which was adapted into the buildings found in this part of Thailand, and still is even after centuries of Thai rule. Giving the north of the country, a very different, yet familiar feel to it.

Monks walking, monks riding pillion, monks lounging, monks at prayer. Monks everywhere

Markets & Museum

I said previously that I would probably visit Night Bazaar, and since this place is so walk-able and very easy to get there I did so while fitting in a few drinks along the way. The bazaar itself – and I am pretty loathe to say this – is very unremarkable, it is very much the country cousin to Suan Lum in Bangkok, despite its long history suggesting otherwise, hundreds of years of being at the crossroads of trade and politics between huge regional powers, and the bazaar is reduced to selling the ubiquitous “ethnic” handicrafts, label knock-offs and usual tourist market pap. Even for people watching it falls down for me – the generic tourist really gets pulled in, and watching old western couples have fits while bargaining over a £2 object isn’t as fun as it once was.

Hopefully the “Sunday Walking Street” market on Th Ratchadamnoen will be better. This is, as I understand it, primarily an arts and crafts market, but includes more local colour I hope so, otherwise my new found enjoyment of market shopping will soon vanish, and I’ll be jaded about yet another aspect of everyday life which just isn’t what this trip is about for me at all.

This morning after a great breakfast at my guest-house, CM Blue House, I set out to visit the Chiang Mai Arts & Cultural Centre, which is housed is a wonderful example of colonial architecture, what I think was basically once the seat of the provincial governor. The building is full of shaded courtyards along the style found throughout Asia, anywhere a westerner was the architect. I saw similar examples throughout Bangkok, however they were very rarely in such good condition as this building.

The museum inside has a small number of displays, but the information presented in them is very comprehensive, and covers the history of the region – both political and cultural; goes into some depth about the local minorities; and even explains the devotional architecture of the area. Very much worth the small 90bht cover.

Most walk-able city on Earth?

Chiang Mai. One of those cities you HAVE to arrive by train in, as it shows off its location to the best, ESPECIALLY when arriving as the sun rises over the nearby peaks. Its a stunning view to be awake for, and lucky I had a window berth, however my camera does not like the idea of murky window’s being in the way, so folks you’ll have to come to the region to see it for yourselves!

As for Chiang Mai itself, it seems very compact, and compared to Bangkok, very quiet as far as traffic goes, which makes walking around it a joy, and I do like to walk around places don’t I? Oh and as Lucy mentioned on Facebook the other day “Monk, Monk, Monk, Monk…”, but what do you expect in a small city with nearly as many Wat (including Wat U Mong!) as Bangkok?

Off to the Night Bazaar tonight – or maybe I’ll stroll down Moon Muang and find a bar to chill out in, either way I am looking forward to my time here in the North – including some treks, maybe massage classes. Honestly I am not really sure, don’t even know how long I’ll remain here, either way there is a huge amount for me to do should I stay a good while.

Somewhere under the sea, or how I left Bangkok…

There I was, all checked out and starting a stupidly long wait before I needed to be at Hualamphong Train Station in Bangkok, when it occurred to me: Why not get a mouse for the net-book, which might solve the super-sensitive cursor issue? So off I head to the local pier to get a boat down to Saphan Thaksin, and low and behold I’m accosted by Jay and Silen – oh wait I mean Adam.

Apparently Adam being VERY hungover on Sunday had scrubbed their plans (made after advice from me) and remembering what I had said to them about tuk-tuk drivers, closed temples and the like, they too had decided to get a boat and go to the mall (imagine a typical US teen saying it!), before attempting Wat Pho again.

After wandering for a while through various malls and and only encountering hordes of screaming fan-girls (Apparently Thailand has boy-bands – that look suspiciously like The Beatles), we grabbed lunch and more importantly, beer for Jay, then went to Siam Ocean World to play tourist.

This place lays claim to being South East Asia’s BIGGEST indoor aquarium, and we could quite believe it, for an indoor centre there is so much going on and included in the 950bht price, from feeding’s, behind the scene’s and glass bottom boat tours, diving opportunities and beyond; However the star of the place has to be the chance to have “Doctor Fish” nibble at our feet – again included in the 950bht ticket (separately its 400bht) – which was really something different.

Rest of the afternoon was spent at Wat Pho seeing the Reclining Buddha again:

then having a quick large Chang before I had to shoot off and find a meter taxi (difficult, but doable in Bangkok, even in a traveller neighbourhood) to take me over to Hualamphong station. Taxi driver, when I got one was obsessed with sex and money, so no change there really regardless of wherever I go, unless I tend to attract the money loving nymphomaniac ones and the rest are all Bobby De Niro?

Hualamphong is a station in the classic Victorian style – large train shed with platforms, conductors, helpful station staff, plenty of places to grab supplies and so on. Easy enough to find your train too, and once on-board its a MASSIVE improvement to previous sleepers I’d been on, especially those in India. After a slight delay, we departed the station for our journey into the darkening Thai countryside…