chiang mai...

I know I know. Its a lil' too late to blog about this. Sorry been caught up with a few things and never found the time to sit and type this out. Anyways here goes, a post on my trip to Chiang Mai, Thailand. Gonna be a short one cos I can't remember much of the stuff I wanted to rant about. Hehe.

This short trip of 4 nights was actually a freebie from my dad. He won some moolah via a group lottery and decided to give me a treat. How can I say no to that right. ;) The trip was a self organised tour by my dad's Gasing Hill trekking kakis. They have been travelling all around Asia especially with the help of Air Asia. The idea is to buy their own flight tickets but organise ground arrangements via a tour agent. They had a blast in China (Beijing, Guilin and Cheng De) and Hanoi, Vietnam so I thought why not, even if it were with old farts.

The trip started off good with a wonderful lunch buffet nearby the airport. Had 2 helpings of sumptious pork curry noodles and lotsa small helpings of various dishes. Not really authentic Thai but close to it. It should be a sign of good things to come right? WRONG! After that everything went downhill. First we were dumped at the wrong hotel. We were promised 3 stars but we put into a 2 star motel. Next morning there was a riot and we got moved to the agreed hotel, Hotel Surawongse.

Food throughout the whole trip was crap. We never had any real Thai food. Had tom yam twice and both tasted like chilli water. Our roadside stalls make much better tom yams. The regular fare was chinese food. I mean it would be ok if the food was tasty but these were really crappy chinese dishes. Yes the seafood and veggies were fresh, but their cooking skills left much to be desired. On top of that the portions were small and it was the same crap over and over, even if the restaurants were different. Not really a good thing especially after a long day of roaming around.

Then we were taken to so many stupid factory outlets. First it was wood, then silver, then jade, then dried foods, then leather, then silk. OMG. Enuff already. I know la these are what they survive on but c'mon. After the first 2 factories most of us got rather fedup. Getting on and off the damn bus. Arrggh. And most of the items weren't really cheap. We get similar staff back home at a lower price.

Weather in Chiang Mai wasn't that favourable either. Out of the 5 days, 4 were wet. At times so wet roads were flooded and the mountains all fogged up. Plus not to mention the traffic congestion. Sigh. It was the wrong time of the year to head there. Should have gone about 1 month before. At least then we could have enjoyed wonderful sceneries.

Alrighty, think enuff of bitching about the trip. Will continue later on what I enjoyed as well as some pics. Better get back to work. Cheerio. =)