Day 4

The day started out with checking out of our apartment in Bangkok.  When checking out of a rental like that you pretty much just leave the keys inside and lock the place and send a message saying you have left.  We had arranged with an Uber driver the day before to take us to the airport.  He was there promptly at 6:30am.  When we rode in his car previously we noted the ample luggage space and asked him if he was free for an airport run.  It worked out nicely.  

 Off to Chiang Mai.  Chiang Mai is the largest and most culturally significant city in Northern Thailand.  It is the capital of Chiang Mai Province.  It is 700 km (435mi) north of Bangkok and is situated among the highest mountains in the country.

Chiang Mai means "new city" and was so named because it became the new capital of the Lan Na Kingdom when it was founded in 1296, succeeding Chiang Rai.

It is a major tourist destination for foreigners and Thai's alike.  When you ask a Thai person where they like to go on vacation they typically will list Chiang Mai or Phuket.

Now that we made it through security it was time for some breakfast.  They had a McDonalds.  We paused to take a picture with Ronald.  If you look close you can see that he has his black ribbon on to join in supporting the nation in grieving for the loss of their King.

Meat, rice, soup.  No ginger for me.

 They have special bathrooms.

This one proclaimed it was the Happy Moment bathroom?

 This is the garden area in between the terminals at the airport.  Just beautiful. 

 

 Wahoo, on the plane and ready for our next adventure.  They fed us some sandwiches that looked like they spread some curry sauce or something on it.  I gave mine to Jed.  Good thing we had eaten.  We flew Thai Smile on this leg and Jed's headphones did not last long on his head as they wanted no headphones on during take off or landing.  However, we noticed that they seemed to be ok with the ear buds.  Not sure what was up with that.  I was thankful when we could put them on though because we had some obnoxious Americans behind us that were loud and drunk and I was ready to tune them out for the flight.

We got off the plane and located our luggage and then went outside to figure out how to get to our next place.  We quickly learned that Uber is not a thing up in this neck of the woods but that the taxi prices are reasonable.  We got a ride with Mr. Wee.  He gave us his card just in case we needed a ride at any other point on our stay in Chiang Mai.  He was very friendly and we kept his card just in case.  We did call him once, but he was busy.

We made it to our place.  It was a three floor apartment.  We rented this place on Airbnb (https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/11537993).  Pimarn met us there and showed us how things worked.  She was very friendly and spoke great English.  She inquired about what we would be doing while in Chiang Mai and we told her a few of our ideas.  She has a friend that works with a travel agency and said she might be able to get us a discount on a few of them.  She left us to go make those calls and to leave us to get settled in.  

The main floor was a long narrow room with a couple of tables.  We never really spent much time down there because each of the other floors had it's on little living room too.

Right by the stairs were bikes that you could use.  Pimarn even brought over a fourth bike for us. Then right on the other side of the stairs was a bathroom for this level.

 Up the stairs took us to the first area.  A bedroom, living area, bathroom, and outside was the kitchen area and the washing machine.  The biggest thing we did not like was that the bathroom and the bedrooms were on opposite ends.

This is outside through the door you can see above to the kitchen area and the washing machine.  It was nicely covered so you could leave clothes drying and not worry about them getting wet.  Also the small fridge and microwave were on the inside.  The place was very roomy, clean, and comfortable.  Thảo and Jerame had this level.

Time to go up another level to where Jed and I stayed.

Here we have our little living room area.  Planning for the next couple of days is happening.  To the left is our bedroom and to the right you can see the sink/fridge kitchen area. Then beyond that was the bathroom.

Here at the very bottom of the picture you can see part of the toilet.  You see how everything is open, no shower curtain or anything.  That is how many of the Thai bathrooms are.  Makes it easy to spray it down to clean it!  Our host makes her own soaps and left several for us as a gift on arriving.  She also had them in the bathrooms to use.  You can see some smaller ones there on the window sill. 

Overall very nice place, roomy and comfortable.  Thảo and Jerame did have to contend with the neighbors who apparently would start arguing or just speaking loudly in Thai at night and early hours.

We made our plans and were ready to go.  We decided to go find the restaurant that Elijah had told us about.  Just as we were ready to leave Pimarn showed up to drop off a fourth bike and bring our tickets for the museum and the cultural celebration. She saw we were on our way out and offered to drop us off where we were going.  That was very nice since we were not extremely sure and she knows her way around the city.  We made it and we ate.  More yummy food!

This was a typical norther Thailand dish called Khao Soi.  The name means "cut rice" in Thai. Traditionally, the dough for the rice noodles is spread out on a cloth stretched over boiling water. After steaming the large sheet noodle is then rolled and cut with scissors.

After we were done it was time to burn off some of those calories by walking back to our place and checking out the area while we did.

You can get tailor made suits all over.  

It was so neat to be part of this historical period for the Thai people with the loss of King Bhumibol Adulyadej.  He was a revered leader who helped unify the nation in his 70-year reign.  All around Thailand people dressed in black and white and put up these black and white stands with pictures of the king to show their respect.

We had done a lot of research of each place we went in Thailand so as to not miss anything.  One of the places I found in Chiang Mai that looked really cool was the Art in Paradise 3D Art Museum.  As we were preparing to leave our apartment to head out, the heavens opened and we finally got some of the rain we had been expecting the whole trip.

Art in Paradise Museum http://chiangmai-artinparadise.com/

This was the first one and it took us awhile to learn how "to do it".  You need to stand in the right places, make the right facial expressions, and the camera person has to stand in the right place too.  See up above the picture was taken at too close of an angle.  

Once you learn what angle to take the picture at it really comes alive.  We still didn't have it down perfect by the end but I think we took plenty of pictures!!!

I don't think Thảo is impressed with Jerame's happiness with this one!

This one was pretty cool.  However we had a group of tourist behind us that literally came up and started taking over while we were doing this one.  It is amazing how rude some adults can be.

This is one we played around with for awhile but still couldn't quite get it.  It is suppose to be a mirror image but as you can see with Jed and Jerame it is just eh.

The next one had the guys mesmerized.  They spent quite a bit of time trying to figure it out.  These are the best they could get.  Once again that group came upon us.  We moved on and then went back to this one as to not get trampled.

The one the guys are looking at was super cool.  It changed as you walked by it.

These next ones were really fun.

It was a fun museum and Thảo and I were ready to go before the guys were!  Next it was time to go to the Sunday Night Walking Street, not to be confused with the Night Bazaar.  It took us awhile to get it figured out.  The Walking Street is only on Saturday and Sunday nights, the Night Bazaar is every night.  We decided to hop a ride to the top of Walking Street, and make our way down.

As we were passing by a part Jerame and Thảo noticed a sign for English Classes, and then noticed a sign that had the same sizing and spacing as the LDS Church buildings.  So we went over to check it out and met some more missionaries!  So of course we had to take pictures with them and then get their parents e-mail addresses and send it off to them.

The chapel is right behind us.  It was zone conference that day so there were lots of missionaries around.  They were headed back to their own areas.

Now it was night and we were ready for Walking Street!  I found some "fluff" also known as cotton candy.  However it didn't stay very fluffy due to the humidity.

It was crazy busy, and endless.  Now remember we went during the low season, so we asked why it was so busy.  Well this is when the locals come shop.  Next month they will all stay away because it gets too busy with foreigners.  I think we might have made it close to halfway through before we all decided enough and went in search of a ride home.  The prices were good but after awhile it is the same stuff for the same price.  Because the prices are already really good they do not want to negotiate very much.

The moon is that white splotch and it looked a lot cooler in person.

  

We got some snacks upon starting and then found a place to eat dinner later on.

Squid on a stick is very popular.

 Found a clown too!

After we got back to our apartment it was time to get pampered and there is no better way to do that than go to one of the many massage parlors and treat yourself.  We were finding Chiang Mai to be much more expensive than Bangkok when it came to food, however the massages were the same.

DAY 4 - SUCCESS