Friday, 13th January, 2017

Well, as promised, here I am again. And, as mentioned, today we had a half day tour to a temple (of course!) called Doi Suthep, doi meaning mountain and Suthep meaning, er, hang on a minute…… no, it basically means Mt. Suthep. The actual temple is called Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, but it is generally called Doi Suthep by everyone.

We were eventually picked up quite late, largely because we were sharing a Toyota minibus and our rather out-of-the-way hotel meant we were the last ones. Still, our fellow passengers were very friendly and international (French, American, living in Cambodia, Singaporean and a Danish couple on a gap year) and we were soon winding our way up the mountain at some speed. The temple is alleged to have been founded in the 14th century when a monk gave a relic of the Buddha’s shoulder bone to a local king who put it on a white elephant (no, not that sort) who was released into the jungle. The albino pachyderm then marched up the mountain, trumpeted 3 times – and dropped down dead. Definitely time to build a temple, thinks the king!

It is impressively high up with a great view of Chiang Mai. The road was built in 1935 only, so it must have been an act of great faith to have made your way there in the past, especially as once you get there, you have the joy of 306 steps up the staircase. The good news for us oldies is that there is now a funicular railway!

On arrival at the top, we were taken by Peter (Western name, other name too difficult for us, it seems) past some stunning flowers about which I became very excited, until I discovered they were fake – though very good ones! Excellent views of CM. It was then off to the main attraction. I will let the photos do the talking…..

A LOT of gold! And Buddhas! Val managed to get blessed with a substantial shower of holy water, which looked quite refreshing. I have to admit, putting aside the spectacular expenditure on gold and other decorations that could arguably have been better spent on things like education or health care and also downplaying my rather atheistic tendencies these days, it is well worth a visit. And there were some rather nice bits around the main area as well, that felt suitably quiet and monkish….

Note the white elephant in the photos above (and the turquoise one too!). It was now time to walk down the 306 steps, though not without a few more snaps. I hope you enjoy the one of ‘Mom’…….. !

This was not the end of our tour as we were also to visit a Hmong tribe village – and see the local produce, of course. The goods on offer were a vast improvement on what was on offer in CM proper and we were only sorry we did not have more room in our suitcases. Some great hats! And fabrics and the tribal dress.

And out the back of the village, which is part of the Royal Project, started by the late King to get the tribes people off growing opium and into something a bit more healthy, there is a nice little garden. There was an impressively big lemon on show and I do like the photo of the girl trying out the tribal outfit for a selfie.

Sadly I could not get a photo to do justice to the bamboo stand, which was a good 200 feet high.

It was back into the van for the exciting trip down the hill again and back from what had been a very good day. The sun had even shone!

More soon, but we are off to Mandalay early tomorrow, so I will have to find time to put it together. Hope you are enjoying the blog.

12th January, 2017

The title tells you much and explains why I have been somewhat tardy in posting another blog (you will note that I am posting this on Sunday, 15/1). Now, where did I leave you last? Ah yes, last, rainy, Wednesday. Well, we decided that we really must get out on Thursday, which was overcast, but, as it turned out, dry (probably because I carried an umbrella around with me). So we took the 1000am shuttle into town and walked through part of the old city we had not seen before. We also managed to book a couple of tours for Friday and Saturday at a MUCH cheaper rate than the hotel.

We meandered with a purpose as we had set our sights on some 10 pin bowling which, we were assured, was available at a shopping mall just outside the northwest corner of the old city. As we entered from the east, it was a good walk, but we were up for it and there is always a temple or two to keep you amused and spiritually up to speed on the way.

I hope you like the photo of the dragon! We trudged on (luckily, the temperature in Chiang Mai is like a nice summer’s day in England at this time of year) and made our way up to 4th floor of the mall (Thais seem to love malls) and good news, there was a bowling alley and it was open. At £5 total for 3 games each we laid into it and played 6 each with Val coming up tops 4-2, though I can lay claim to the highest score of 148, which I thought was pretty good considering the ball felt somewhat elliptical! It was then time for ‘home’, so a quick negotiation with a tuk-tuk driver and off into the traffic we went. I enjoyed the advertisement in his vehicle (below) and, as you will see from the photos, you are never far from home!

Nice photo of Val, too.

Ok, I am going to post this and then start the next one. Back soon……

Hi there, Val here.

I thought the title of this blog was a joke but it was not, even though Banana was laughing when briefing us before we started our tour of the National Park.  He was such a funny guy.  However, I couldn’t bring myself to address him as such. It just didn’t seem right.

It is  Sunday today as I write this,  sitting on the balcony of our room on a beautiful sunny day, overloking the pool.  Our time is coming to an end in Chiangmai and we fly frightfully early tomorrow for Mandalay via Bangkok.

In retrospect, we needn’t have spent two weeks here. Three or four days would have sufficed but it gave us a chance to unwind and chill out.  Chiangmai as a city is quite different to Bangkok in that it doesn’t have skyscrapers, the volume of people and vehicles, the noise and the hustle and bustle. We explored Chiangmai old city on foot and I thought there was a calmness about the place. Of course the country is in mourning for a year for their King, Bhumipol, who died last October. Quite a lot of Thais wear black as a way of demonstrating their sorrow.  Also, a lot of public buildings and temples have garlands of black and white fabric to show they too are in mourning.

Moving on, this city has thousands of food stalls and restaurants. The stalls in particular can be found almost anywhere whether they be in purpose-built areas or it is just empty space. It also has several long street markets displaying a whole variety of goods from wood carvings, shoes, toys, ethnic scarves/shawls and fabric, silver jewellery, food, bags and so on. There was also a stall selling coloured contact lenses!

Pollution is big bad business here, usually carbon emissions from their multiple passenger taxis and tuk-tuks. Loads of people wear masks to prevent breathing in the fumes. We had an unfortunate experience riding in a taxi which sounded as though it was on its last legs spewing out the most noxious fumes.  Its driver was equally ancient.

In terms of its people, you couldn’t ask for a friendlier lot.  English doesn’t appear to be spoken much and even where you would expect the opposite like hotels, restaurants and tourist spots, you would be hard put to find good, if not fluent, speakers. They are generally friendly and happy to help you. AND they are always smiling which lights up their beautiful faces.  I love looking at the little ones -they are so gorgeous!

You have seen the photos of our hotel. It is tranquil and in lovely surroundings.  The staff are fantastic and nothing is too much trouble for them. I wanted a knife to cut up a mango I had bought and as they were not allowed to give guests knives, they took it away and brought it back skinned and sliced.

We did two tours, one half-day long and the other a whole day.  John will no doubt be covering these.  As like all Asians, the Thais love taking photos at every opportunity and selfies at that. It was so interesting observing them arranging themselves (hair, clothes, face and facial expression) before taking the shot.

John and I will remember Chiangmai as a happy place with very nice people and great food. We may not be back but would highly recommend it to anyone who is thinking of heading this way.

 

Hi,its me again!  I could get very used to this chilling and doing nothing holiday lark where you just indulge yourself. Since we discovered the cheaper  Massage Spa, we’ve already been three times for two-hour sessions.  Mimi, one of the masseuse, is so warm in her welcome that you almost believe you are their dearest and most valued customer. Mimi has done me twice.  She is this very tiny thing but packs great power in her limbs.  Yes, I do mean limbs as she uses all of them when massaging. There are moments when you want to laugh because  you being tickled by the strokes or when you want to scream because the tiny hands are digging deep into your muscles.

We had a two-hour session yesterday afternoon.  I had a Thai massage followed by a massage using coconut milk oil (??).  John wanted a repeat of the body scrub followed by a hot oil massage. I may be exceptional in that I can fall into some sort of sleep whilst being pulled or pushed and being pummelled.  I asked Mimi if she could use her knee againt my backbone and puĺl my shoulders back.  Something must have got lost in the translation because she not only did it once but three in quick succession followed by pushing her feet against my back and stretching both my arms behind me!! I must say it has certainly reduced my back and neck aches.  John too feels it has helped him with similar back problems to mine.  The only concern I’ve had is that they did not take your medical history nor asked if you had particular physical difficulties.  It was nevertheless an unforgetable experience.  Hmmm, I  wonder if we can enjoy this again in Burma and Vietnam…will keep you posted.

11th January, 2017

Well apologies as it has been some time since I last posted and you may well be wondering what has happened to us. Fear not, I am not lost in the market, down with a tummy bug or unable to function due to an over abundance of spa treatments. It is just rather too easy simply to chill out and completely relax, which is no bad thing.

We have not been completely slacking and Sunday saw us head into the old city for the famous Walking Street market. This only happens on Sunday evenings (though there is another one on Saturday in a different street outside the city) and they effectively close off the main street and a number of side streets to traffic and hundreds of stalls appear with yet more goods and food for sale. I thought it was better than the Night Market in quality and we were tempted by a few items, but had to resist due to luggage restrictions. It starts at about 4pm with the stallholders setting up all the way down The street which is about a kilometre long with stalls on each side and even a double row down the middle. We arrived about 4.30pm and it was already crowded as we made our way all the way down to the far end and back again. Naturally enough, we spotted Val’s new watch at a lower price than we paid – and to think that the lady who sold it to us honestly looked as though we were taking her livelihood away! By the time we got back to our starting point it was getting very busy indeed and this was only 6pm.

There some wonderful sights to see not least the myriad temples en route, bathed in glorious late-afternoon sunshine. As you will see from the following snaps, you can get the whole family on a motorbike and even cats love them! The array of colour on parade, is, as ever, stunning. In case you are wondering, those flower-like things are carved from soap.

We then then dashed off for a bite to eat in a lovely restaurant called ‘Cooking Love’ – excellent food in a nicely downmarket decor. Highly recommended! And only 500 baht (about £12.50) for 3 dishes and a large beer. Note that it would have been the equivalent of £10 last year! Thank you Brexit! I apologise for taking photos of the meal and please do not imagine that the portions are rather small, it is just that we kept forgetting to take a photo, so had already helped ourselves to some. A note regarding the wonderful fried bananas – we initially asked for a helping each, but our waiter looked so surprised we asked if that might be too much, with which he concurred. I think you will agree, looking at the photo (and this time we’d taken the photo first), he was right! Please also excuse the cheesy photos of us. A nice one of Val, but apparently, that is what I look like……..

We headed back to the end of the street where the market is and it was almost standing room only. Reports are that you can barely move above a shuffle assuming you can move at all, so we were glad we went early. It is wonderfully vibrant with lights and music and smells and street performers, so do go if you can. Getting across the busy road was not as bad as it seemed as there were some wonderfully energetic policemen blowing their whistles and letting us across every now and then. Val went a bit before me, hence her on the other side from me – in the pink! There was a stage just outside the city gate with various musicians performing. All excellent!

We decided to explore a bit locally to the hotel on Monday and ended up in the local shopping mall. A few snacks to tide us over from the supermarket and then back for our respective visits to the gym and swimming pool before another excellent massage and a meal, in a local restaurant. The latter was ok, if not exactly a world beater – and I can hardly complain as I decided to try the pork burger. All part of my continuing research into ‘burgers of the world’. Well, someone has to do it!

Tuesday was very rainy and today, Wednesday is also not looking brilliant, but we don’t mind. We did venture out to the mall again for supper – Val for something local plus a fresh coconut and I was lucky enough to find a Pizza Hut! Now, I know what you are saying, but 3 months of Asian cuisine is a long time for my taste buds!

Other than that, we are into some fiercely fought battles  of Yahtzee with the current state of play being Val with a bit of a lead after 348 games of 177 and me trailing at 167. It could be worse and indeed it was with Val asserting a lead of 18 games, but I have just come back with 8 games in a row, so am right back in contention. Only one game of Scrabble where I prevailed and have opened up a 15-3 lead. I will keep you posted – I am sure you are all enthralled!

Ok, time to publish! Enjoy!

8rh January, 2017

Bit of a rush today first thing. Val did not get a very good night’s sleep (and nor did I), which meant we nearly overslept breakfast and just made it as most of it was being carried away. Rather a strange ensemble of bits and pieces as a result but enough to sustain us through the day.

Our next appointment was the laundryman (as I said, living the dream!), whom we had discovered a short walk from the hotel and about a quarter of the price. That sorted it was time for our treat. In our evening perambulation of the evening before, we had not only discovered the laundry, but also a spa. So it was now time for 2 hours of bliss. Val had her feet massaged for an hour followed by an aroma oil massage for another hour and I had a body scrub and the same massage. I suspect I must have lost a pound just from the scrub! Fantastic! I can’t honestly say if my body is now in any better shape, but for two hours I was in heaven. No photos, though!

The sun came out today, so the camera did as well and here are a few photos of the hotel and its grounds. It is built in the local Lanna style of architecture of old and is beautifully done with lovely little touches and is wonderfully maintained. We reckon though that there is someone on permanent leaf-sweeping duties, especially in the swimming pool. The orchids are annoyingly good. I will have to up my game!

We decided to try the famous Chiang Mai Night Market, so booked the hotel shuttle and made our way down to the area just outside the old city. The Night Market is a particular feature of Chiang Mai and is much frequented by the myriad tourists passing through. I should add that most tourists seem to spend about 3 days in CM, so our two weeks came as a bit of a surprise to the delightful hotel staff. First though, a few nighttime shots of the hotel….

The Night Market is an extravaganza of stalls and eateries where haggling is par for the course. The Thais really are a nation of stall holders, though sadly most of what they are selling that we saw was much of a muchness. Lots of scarves, wood carvings, football shirts, summer dresses, soap carving and belts and silk boxer shorts. We did like some of the carved wood panels, but a little impractical to get into our luggage. Val did buy a nice necklace and a retro-looking watch at what has to be admitted were bargain prices (after some fierce haggling, of course).

We ate in a food court that had a remarkable array of styles of cuisine from French crepes to burgers and “Cowboy’s Satay”. I tried the latter, but sad to say it was passable at best. Val had some pad thai which was also a bit average, followed up with pandan and red bean pancakes. Best though was her fresh coconut, which they manage to extract from the husk in one white blob, coconut milk and all.

A few photos to give you the feel of the evening, though I really have not been able to capture the sheer scale of the market or, really, markets, as there are a number on and around the site.

Ok, that’s all, folks. More soon.

Well here we are,  the sixth day into our 3-month break – time flies when you’re doing nothing.   Hope I’m not not tempting  fate when I say so far so good in terms of my Parkinson’s.  It behaved on the flight and except for some tiny glitches, has conducted itself very properly so far.

I thought it was about time I said something in our blog, so here goes..?.

Firstly you’re wondering about the title of this entry – my immediate family know what it means and it is now a standing joke.   When we were all on holiday in Cornwall a few years ago, I asked the hotel to give me noodles for breakfast as I was bored stiff with English  cooked breakfast.   So what I did get was noodles and that’s it, nothing else but just plain noodles.  Now come on, any chef worth his salt knows that noodles come with something – greens, meat, eggs, etc or would have at least asked the question if I wanted anything to go with it.  Anyway, to my delight, this hotel, Khum Phaya, serves Asian breakfast alongside a Western one  one and I am in seventh heaven.  You can have a very tasty noodle soup freshly made or a hot buffet of steamed rice, fried rice, fried noodles and a selection of meat and vegetable dishes. They also do congee!  So am eating embarrassingly huge breakfasts and skipping lunch.  For dinner, we’ve been eating in the hotel’s restaurant and the food ( both Asian and Western selections) is very palatable.

Other than what John has said, we’ve  not done very much but we’re keeping fit – John is swimmimg lengths (brrr! ) and I go to the gym.  Yesterday we enjoyed a complimentary massage, courtesy of the hotel.  I fell asleep during the administrations  whilst John moaned as he had asked for a deep massage and he was geting it albeit a bit painful!.  We are going to another spa today just round the corner from the hotel and MUCH cheaper!  I’m going for an hour’ s foot massage followed by an hour of Aroma oil massage  and John for an hour’s body scrub and an oil massage like mine. Two hours of bliss!  At 7.00pm we’re heading for the Night Market which is supposed to have a huge variety of  street food, tons of Thai art and craft products and a innumerable other things of interest.  More to follow…..

6th January, 2017

Happy Epiphany! It seems a long way from Christmas here, though it is sadly not blazing hot and sunny. Indeed, yesterday we even had a little rain! Still, it didn’t put us off and we jumped excitedly (alright, lumberingly) into the hotel shuttle at 1000 for our first visit to the old city of Chiang Mai. Our hotel is a little way outside so 20 minutes later we were dropped off and proceeded (in a westerly direction) towards the parallelogram that is the old city. There is still a moat with water in it (and fountains) and some of the old gates still remain after a fashion, but the biggest difference to new CM was less traffic.

The city is largely made up by a grid of streets with a temple (or wat) about every 500 yards. We decided to try a few of them mentioned in TripAdvisor. First up we passed a rather nice little one, Wat Inthakhin, a couple of pictures of which are in the photos below.

We did try to get into the art gallery but it was being done up for renovations, but there are always interesting sights in this part of the world to keep you amused and amazed.

We finally made to Wat Phra Singh and whilst the interior was not the finest, we did have to take our hats off to the ability locally to make the MOST lifelike wax models of past monks, in front of which we stood for some time just checking that were not actually real monks just sitting ridiculously still! See for yourself…..

We then attempted to walk to the second big temple, Wat Cheri Luang, missed the turning and ended up some way away. Luckily taxis are really cheap here if somewhat more open air than back home. The downside is that you are very much up front and personal to all the fumes going – and there are quite a lot! The temple though is certainly impressive, though I do sometimes wonder what the Lord Buddha would have made of it all what with all the gold leaf. Note the safe in front of the statue just inside the entrance. Before we went inside, I made a quick detour to a shrine that houses the city pillar, a shrine so important that women are not allowed inside – their rules not mine! Val NOT impressed!

Now those of you who might be familiar with this temple are probably expecting some stunning photos of the unfinished mausoleum of some 700 years standing, which, apparently, is just behind the temple displayed above. Sadly, we somehow missed it. Poor research, largely. Sorry. Mind you, knowing just how many more temples we are going to see on our travels,I am pretty sure you won’t mind.

We got possibly the oldest taxi in CM to get us back to the hotel, one which would certainly not pass an emissions test and probably not any other test either. The pollution is not good!

More soon (blog, not pollution- though…….).

Thursday, 5th January, 2017 – Chiangmai Mai

Yes, Mr Benn’s Blog is back!! And yes, Benn Tours has another ‘trip of a lifetime’ all planned and may I say how delighted I am that you could join us even if in spirit only. I will try as ever to entertain and educate and, I hope, whet your appetite to travel to some of the spots we will be visiting over the next few months.

First stop is Chiang Mai in Thailand. This year the packing went well, Val did not panic and we were all thoroughly relaxed and professional in the build-up to the trip. So I suppose it should not have come as much of a surprise that the taxi we booked to take us to the airport failed to show up. They did text us that they were on their way, but when they failed to appear, we rang to be told ‘oh, sorry, we have cancelled it’. I will leave it to your imagination as to my comment to that! So a call to an alternative taxi company was made and all was, eventually, well. In the spirit of my dear departed father, I had, of course, allowed enough time for such an eventuality, so we made it Terminal 5, Heathrow in good time. He always suggested that you should allow enough time to change a wheel on the car, which is quite a good tip. There you are, I told you this would be educational!

We flew to Bangkok with BA without incident, then switched to Bangkok Airways for the onward journey to Chiang Mai. The walk in Bangkok Airport felt long enough that we began to wonder if we were going to walk there instead ! Still, we boarded our next flight and settled down for the quick jump to Chiang Mai – except that they then seemed to take all the luggage off and count it all and then, eventually, put it all back on again. All very odd. We got chatting to a nice lady from Winnipeg in Canada, who was very jolly, though had the rather peculiar habit of putting her hand on my knee and thigh every time she chatted. Now I like people to be more tactile. I really think that the English could improve in this area, but this was quite unnerving. I don’t think there was anything to it (though who could blame her when sat next to a George Clooney lookalike), it was just her manner. We never got her name, but are both sure she must be called Pat…..

We are staying at a boutique hotel outside of the old city in what at first looked a rather inauspicious area, but it has turned out to be really excellent. It is wonderfully peaceful, the people are lovely (we are in the ‘land of smiles’ apparently and they live up to it with knobs on), the food good and the room comfortable. I think we will do very well.

Here are a few pics of our room – more on the rest of the resort in due course. Spot the dusky enchantress on the bed!

Our first full day was one of recovery, though the jet lag seems to have been difficult to shift. We did take the free shuttle to an enormous shopping mall nearby, really to stock up a few essential snacks in case we need a little something in the middle of the night. They even had an M&S there! Not really my cup of tea, but always interesting when you are in another country to see how they shop. Not cheap though at all!

Sleeping proved a bit patchy, though one benefit of this was being able to watch Spurs beat Chelsea live on the TV at 3am. Every cloud…..

I will post this blog and then start the next one shortly. Thanks for getting this far – assuming you have!