Thailand: Where The Fun Is!

The first morning we visited some street markets. So much food and clothing, you wonder how it can all sell. In the afternoon we went to the famous Khao San road.and got a nice foot massage. We also got our train tickets to Chiang Mai at the main train station. Next, we visited a monastery close to our hotel. Right behind the temple is a village of wood homes for the monks.

From the international Bangkok airport or the Don Mueng airport to Khao San road, it is a one hour taxi ride or so. The fare is 150 to 250 bahts (meter) depending on traffic, to which you add the express way /highway toll of 50 to 70 bahts. Do not let them sell you a fixed rate taxi ride of 500-1000 bahts inside the airport. As a general rule, when you take a taxi, ask them if they do meter before getting in the taxi. Some taxis refuse to use the meter and they will charge you a lot more.

Back in our preferred Soi Samsen 4 neighbourhood. Guesthouses around here are too expensive though.This little restaurant at a corner of Samsen 4 is very good. The owners are super nice too. It is always a pleasure to have a meal there. They open early for breakfast.

We decided to stay at KS Guesthouse, close by, just across the bridge. For 450 bahts, we are in this nice air conditioned quadruple room with a large balcony overlooking the canal. We would recommend this room to travelers. KS guesthouse is 5 minutes by foot from Khao San road.

Made it to Chiang Mai as scheduled anyway.Chiang Mai, the place to be? It is a beautiful city but it depends on what you are looking for. They are luring in young crowds with all kinds of expensive package adventure trek tours (bungy jump, zip lines, quads, rafting, climbing, mountain biking etc.) and bars/restaurants. We feel that this place is way tourist-oriented for us although this is the low season. We will be looking for a more authentic Thai experience.

Pai is a cute little town in the North West of Thailand, not far from Myanmar. The influence here is Burmese and hill tribe people. The crowd here is similar to Chiang Mai: mostly 20-something backpackers, almost nobody our age again! They are offered a ton of expeditions and treks, again. Pai is a great place to ride bikes. Our first night here was not a success. We took two rooms at Mr. Jan's guesthouse, 4 dollars each. If you are allergic to mold, do not even attempt. So, the next morning we moved to another guesthouse nearby, the Tayai. For 7 dollars per room, we now had a nice place to stay. This is what we like: a simple local market. Food is great and it is clean, unlike some of the main street restaurants...Side streets do not have sidewalks and it feels unsafe with all the scooters and cars going by. It is safer to ride bicycles.

Next we went to the Reclining Buddha at the temple of wat Pho. We left for Chiang Mai that day. They have a decent food court at the train station in Bangkok. Monks have their own separate waiting area.The night train set up was comfortable and clean. The air conditioning was too cold though.

The MBK is a huge mall by the skytrain. There you can find all sorts of cheaper items like regular clothing, Thai arts etc. It is more crowded and not as well vented. Paragon mall is across from MBK. The store are all high end, with Chanel, Hermes, Vuitton etc.

Almost everything at the night bazaar is made in China and it's expensive. Next we visited the The North gate of the old ramparts. Old Chiang Mai inside the ramparts used to be the royal "playgrounds". Nowadays it is the touristy hub.Next was Wat Jetlin. We found this wat very surprising. The kids played the gongs for half an hour. Doi Suthep is a temple at the top of a mountain.