Arrived in Chiang Mai at 11:30am on 23rd Dec 2006, planning to leave on 30th Dec 2006.
There are 3 of us, and we have no booking on any rooms and trips… God bless us… hehehee
In the airport, we took a taxi to town, about 15 mins. And we donno where we go, jus made a stop at a street with the most back packer / guest house. Lucky us got a double room after 10 mins walk, adding an extra bed made it worth 700b per nite. Dropped our luggage, we went out for a city walk until evening. Along the way, we saw temples, eat some junk food, saw temples, eat junk food, saw temples, eat junk food, and visited the musuem (i think).
At nite, we went to a saturday nite market, it is really a busy market where it covers 4 streets which crosses each other. The most happy thing to me were : 1. EAT EAT EAT, i tried ONE small worm…. err… and jump up & down for few seconds after swallow; 2. I saw ppl flying up the fire light "孔明灯". 3. There are a lot of things to buy and the price is reasonable, u can bargain but not up to 20% normally.
Day 2, 24th Dec2006, CHRISTMAS EVE, after getting some winter clothing in morning market, we went up to the Royal Flora Exhibition. As you would understand from the name, it is all about flower, Flower, FLOWER.. it took us more than 6 hours to finish the garden walk. But it is quite nice, as there are also bug’s world, international flower exhibition with international decoration (e.g. tradisional house, garden).
At nite, I went for a foot massage + a body oil massage, it is marvelous!!! I’ll miss it.. And then went for a drink in the bar to celebrate CHRISTMAS, however the bar only have 2 tables of ppl, one of the table is US. hahahaa… very the "happening"
Day 3, 25th Dec 2006, we joined a day trip to the highest point in Chiang Mai - Doi Inthanon 2,576 meter above sea level. Then to the King’s & Queen’s Pagoda, then to the biggest waterfall. To my surprise, inside the king and queen pagoda, it is the Buddha statue !!
At nite, we went to another nite market AGAIN. This one is for the tourist, and so…. certain price need to be bargain up to 50%. I like the previous one better though.
Day 4, 26th Dec 2006, we took a day trip to see 5 villages (hill tribes), which are Akha, Karen, Lisu, Lahu and Paduang (Long Neck). The most attractive will be the "Long Neck village". As the name describe, some of the women there have very long neck. They place some blonde ring on thier neck and force them grow longer. It means beautiful to them.
Then we went elephant riding, white water rafting and bamboo rafting. The elephant riding is fun, where one of my friend has to sit on the neck of the elephant…. ouch… his balls :p It is really amazing that the elephant know when to walk, when to stop, and with its weight and size, they walked up a very small path on the hill.Water rafting is a grade 2 rafting, nice, ez, not exciting enuff. But just nice for me. Bamboo rafting made us laugh non stop, bcoz 5 of us plus the guide went on the bamboo raft, and he told 2 of us (myself) go sit at the back. So we did sit at the back. When the bamboo is moving off the shore, the back of the bamboo is drowning.. and me and my friend found our self half way sit in the water… then we call for help. Another raft quickly came and safe us…. well… without the paddle / bamboo stick which help the raft move. Finally, 2 of us help "paddling" by using our hands.. and the "safer" go down to the 18′ water and push the raft. Poor him..
That’s end our 4 days trip, and now i’m looking forward to extend my trip to 1st Jan 2007. Hehehee…. God bless me.
Chiang Rai - Day 5, 27th Dec 2006
We took a 3 hour bus to Chiang Rai. At the bus station, we took a public van to the street which stated in Lonely Planet has some accomodations, cost us 60B, which jus 1 KM away. Lucky us, got an "ok" room on our 2nd stop - the Pan’s House. The room is big with attached bath room, but it looks like it has not been used for months. Dust are every where, drain in bathroom is stucked, ants are on the floor and the bed…. the blanket & towels looks like full of dust… well at least we have a shelter.
We spent our nite walking in the nite market. They are mostly selling souvenirs, hand made crafts and some of them waring the traditional hill tribe costume. The nite got really cold at about 4am. I have to wake up and put on my socks, more jackets and pull up the blanket that i was trying to avoid earlier… no choice 
Chiang Rai - Day 6, 28th Dec 2006
We booked a taxi, sharing with a german handsome guy, hehee… The taxi took us to the Monkey Cave, Chiang Saen, the Golden Triagle, Opium Musuem and Mae Sai (Thai Burmese border). I happened to bum into a Chinese tour, where the guide well explained some of the legend in Golden Triangle and the stories of the opium founder.
Day 7, 29th Dec 2006
We rented a bike, and cycled to the river side. Nothing much. Then we head back to bus station and back to Chiang Mai.
Day 8, 30th Dec 2006
We queued 30 mins to get a bus ticket, took 4 hours to reach Pai. Great… we are going to sleep on street as all guest houses are full. With our 5 - 7 kgs bags, we walked street to street, and then up the hill.. and there was a mini truck stopped and give us a lift. "She said" every where else is full, and she will "safe" us first. She will give us her room, she will stay in a tent tonite. We asked "how much" she never tell. Up to now (01/01/2007 6:10pm) I still donno coz not paid by myself.
Then we quickly dump our luggage in a room, and follow a car to the town to look for tour.
The nite in the bamboo house is really cold, only 18 degree in the morning. I believe it is much lower when it was about 5am. The shower room is a classic, coz the door cannot be closed tightly, the toilet cannot flush well… so I did not take my chance to shower… no thank you.
Day 9, 31 Dec 2006
This day, I went to Cave Lod, as you can imagine…. all the stalagmites, stalactites and limestones. Then Coffin Cave, to my surprise, the coffin more look like a boat and the guide donno how to explain in Thai. I found out when I got down and talked to another guide…. being laugh like hell… Then went to the water fall… much disappointed than the one in Chiang Mai. After that, the taxi brought me to the Chinese Yunnan Village where I’m really happy there… heheee… I played with the traditional swing, scream like hell… tasted and bought some local tea, speaking madarine in Thailand make me fell so good. Then we head on to an old temple, and then the Canyon… well, may be i missed something… the Canyon is really disappointing. Last stop at the hot spring, we have to pay 400B for entrance and 50B for shower…. so, no way i’m going to do that coz i have to catch my bus in 1 hour. I took some photos in the hot spring pool outside, saw some ppl cooking eggs there.
Morning View on my way to Cave Lod
I Played the swing in Yunnanese (Chinese) Village
finally, i finished my taxi tour, and head to the river side myself… took some pictures on the river side challade and bamboo bridge. And got on my bus at 4pm to Chiang Mai.
I got a stunting nite view in Chiang Mai, bcoz it is the New Year EVE !!! yeay !!! The sky is full of fire lamps, the street full of people, cars, tuk tuk, food… ohhhh….. I love it. But …. soon i found that I have no place to stay….. luckily, i got a hotel room nearby, and took a REAL GOOD hot bath tub shower here. And then switch on the TV and found that Bangkok has a series of bomb and celebration cancelled in Bangkok and Chiang Mai. Even thoug, when i got down to street again at 10pm. People are still pouring in from every where. No count down at the old town gate, but fire works are still on. Very Very Beautiful.
