Chiang Mai

We flew from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, which was roughly a 1 hour flight into Northern Thailand where we met Nat’s cousin, Lee at the airport.  Lee was kind enough to put all of us up in his hotel, The Winner Inn Hotel www.winnerinnchiangmai.com during our two day stay.  Before going to the hotel, we stopped at one of Chiang Mai’s favorite spot’s for lunch Mei Jiang for Hong Kong style food.  It was tremendous of course, the flat noodles with beef and broccoli, black pepper chicken and fried rice were my favorites.  After we stuffed ourselves, we went to check in at Winner Inn, but we didn’t stay because we wanted to get up to the Mai Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep Rajvoravihara Temple (that’s a mouth full)!  The famous Chiang Mai Temple sets up in the mountains, so their we’re plenty of switchbacks on our way up.  Susan began getting car sick, so we switched seats so she could have a clear view of the windshield, followed by Thomas not doing so well, but they were troopers and made it up there okay.  The Temple is 300 stairs straight up, so we took the trolley.  Once up there, it was an absolutely amazing sight.  We had to remove our shoes before entering.  There were Monks all around, people lighting candles and in-scents, walking around the temple and saying prayers to Buddha, it was definitely a culture shock, but a marvel to witness.  Everyone had to try their hand at hitting the gong for good luck, Mark didn’t know his strength so it was really loud, once he struck it, you’ll know the picture when you see it.  I really hope the pictures of the temple capture what we were seeing.  We made our way back to the hotel to relax and freshen up before dinner.  We met Lee and his sister-in-law at a closed gate community restaurant called Banwangtan,  it was beautiful.  It was outdoor seating, which sat next to a river, complete with a piano player and a young lady that had a voice that you could listen to all day long, she was extremely talented.  Nat even got up and sang a love song to his lady.  The food, wine and making new friends was awesome.  We decided to swing by the night market to do a little shopping before closing out the night, what a perfect way to end our first partial day in Chiang Mai.

Chiang Mai Food and Drinks