Bangkok day 3

Posted on Friday, 09 Jan 2009 by Hattie
Suitably dressed we visit the Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. Andy’s concession is to wear his zip off shorts adding the leg extensions just before we enter the complex. There is a sign at the entrance that shows, in pictogram form, inappropriate modes of dress.

All of which are quite reasonable apart from the ban on three-quarter length shorts – why these are not allowed when knee-length skirts are acceptable is somewhat puzzling. The Temple of the Emerald Buddha and the surrounding buildings are breathtakingly beautiful and alone make the visit to Bangkok worthwhile. The most stunning is the temple itself (Wat Pra Kaew) which houses the revered Emerald Buddha, its exterior gilded and covered in glass mosaics which gleam and sparkle in the bright sunlight. The compact complex of buildings is enclosed by cloisters decorated with 178 mural panels depicting scenes from the Ramakien epic. Six pairs of magnificent demon giants, each of differing design, guard he entrance gates to the temple. Crammed into the confines of this area are several other buildings, stupae, prangs (a tiered cylindrical spire), pavillions and mythical creatures. These include Royal Pantheon, the stunning Pra Viharn Yod decorated with porcelain floral designs and the Pra Sri Ratana Chedi, a bell-shaped pagoda covered in gold mosaic. A real feast for the eyes and senses. Within the same grounds is the Grand Palace, the former royal residence, now used by King Rama IX for ceremonial occasions, his current residence being Chitlada Palace in the north of the city. There are several magnificent building that make up the Grand Palace complex but only the interiors of Throne Hall and Dusit Maha Prasat Hall are open to the public.

After lunch in typical open-air street cafe by the ferry pier we wander along the road that runs between the Grand Palace and the river. All along this stretch there are new and second-hand goods laid out on the pavement for sale. Eventually we happen upon another ferry pier. A number of ferry lines serve the Chao Phraya River providing an efficient water-based transport system on a north-south axis to the western side of the city. We stop for refreshment in a riverside cafe before taking the cross river ferry to visit Wat Arun on the opposite site of the river. The central prang towers above the surrounding area and climbing the almost perpendicular steps up to the third level provides a panoramic view of this mainly low rise city.

Back across the river we catch a ferry up river alighting within walking distance of our hostel. The ferry is packed with people but this is definitely a more pleasant way to get around this part of the city. There is plenty of river traffic and a surprising amount of water weed floating on the surface giving the river a rather rural feel.

In the evening we take a taxi to Pat Pong Road in the heart of Bangkok’s red light district. The area is hardly buzzing and empty pole dancing bars and venues offering sex shows seem to be struggling to attract the punters. Even Khao San Road holds more interest than this!

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Bangkok day 2

Posted on Thursday, 08 Jan 2009 by Hattie
Our plan is to visit the Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha today, two of the most important sights in the city. But on arrival we discover that Andy is not suitably dressed; sleeveless T-shirt and shorts not being acceptable. Instead we decide ride the Sky Train. There are two lines which run through the central part of the city north to south-east. We take a tut-tut to the nearest station at Victory Monument which is some way from where we are staying near the river. The Sky Train runs on an elevated track similar to the Docklands Light Railway in London, but is a considerably smoother ride We buy a ticket to the end of the line at On Nut to the south just for the experience – we aren’t going with any particular destination in mind. From the train we get quite a good view of the more modern side of the city, but we are not prepared for what awaits us at the end of the line – a massive Tesco Superstore much along the same lines as you find in the UK! Back at Victory Monument a taxi back to the hotel confirms our suspicions that the tut-tut we took earlier significantly over-charged. No more tut-tuts for us – the metered taxis are much better value, they are air conditioned and there are no choking exhaust fumes to contend with.

Bangkok is a dirty city – there are cockroaches in the streets and a glimpse of some restaurant kitchens is enough to make you wonder how people survive eating out. Our hostel, though is clean and well presented. The kitchen, interestingly, is in the reception area and is re-assuringly clean and tidy. Breakfast is a self-service affair and it’s a scramble to get a table as there are not enough for the number of guests. And unusually, guests are expected to wash up their own crockery and cutlery when they finish! A novel arrangement – presumably it keeps prices down.

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Bangkok day 1

Posted on Wednesday, 07 Jan 2009 by Hattie
We arrive in Bangkok at 7.15am. The station isn’t busy at this time in the morning and we are quickly out onto the forecourt and in a metered taxi. We have booked a hostel just of Samesen Road in Soi 6 one of the narrow maze of streets that run between the main thoroughfares. First impressions of Bangkok are of an ugly, unappealing city cut by huge concrete flyovers and apart from its myriad wats, little to recommend it architecturally. We arrive too early to check-in so leave our luggage in the hotel and feeling a little jaded (and with a cold taking hold thanks to our Belgian friend) we set off to explore the surrounding area. It turns out that we are within walking distance of the famous Khao San Road which along with the surrounding area is well-known for it’s bars, street food and stalls selling ethnic clothes, T-shirts, jewellery and the like, all designed to attract the backpacker crowd. At this time in the morning the stallholders are in the process of setting up all the way along the pavement on one side of Samesen Road and along Khao San Road We head for the Grand Palace, but a friendly Thai explains that it is closed this morning for a Thai celebration and isn’t open to 2pm. But do we know that for 20 Baht we can get a yellow tut-tut to take us on a two-hour tour of the temples courtesy of a special promotion? Is this some sort of scam, we belatedly ask ourselves after we’re comfortably ensconced in the tut-tut?

First stop is the big Buddha, a huge gilt standing statue which towers over the surrounding wat. Our driver assures us the the 20 Baht fare (40p) is correct. At the next wat a very helpful Thai tells us that the government is running a week-long promotion to boost tourist income in the wake of the recent closure of Bangkok airport. Flights into the capital are down from 800 a day to 300 and in an attempt to encourage tourists to spend more the government is givng petrol vouchers to tut-tut drivers when they take their passengers to duty-free shops around the city. So as part of our tour we visit two jewellers, two tailors and a duty-free handicraft centre, where we try to feign a modicum of interest but leave as soon as we can! We see a surprising amount of the city during our tour, skirting around the Dusit Zoo, the Chitralada Palace and the Royal Turf Club and passing in front of the Anantasamakhom Palace which is vaguely reminicent of the White House, as well as a number of wats. The wide boulevards around the Democracy Monument are quite pleasant and the wats are beautiful examples of Lanna architecture, but in the main this is not the most attractive of cities.

Back in Khao San Road in the evening things have really livened up; bars are pumping out loud thumping bass and drums (I hesitate to call it music – that’s my age showing) and everywhere is buzzing. Several Hmong in their very distinctive box hats decorated with shells and silver studs and chains are mingle with other hawkers as they attempt to bracelets, wooden frogs (which make a noise uncannily like croaking when stroked with a small stick) and other items to the assorted crowd who sit in the bars or promenade the streets. We take a seat, order some cocktails and get talking to a couple from Bristol who are coming to the end of a two-week holiday in Thailand.

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Thailand day 11 – Chiang Mai

Posted on Tuesday, 06 Jan 2009 by Hattie

We are catching the overnight sleeper to Bangkok this evening so our last day is taken up with with packing up our belongings, checking out and a few other chores.  We re-visit the immigration office to extend our visa before we leave as we want to avoid having to do it in Bangkok.  We arrive just before lunch and manage to submit our application complete with photocopied passport (there  is a little cafe round the back that does photocopying for 8 Baht (38p) ) and photos before the office closes for lunch.  An announcement proclaims that the office will be closed until one o’clock and we settle down for an hour’s wait.  Happily it turns out the office is continuing to process submitted applications and within 15 minutes we have our passports returned stamped for a further seven days.  After lunch we make our last trip to what has become our second home here – the internet cafe.  One of our tenants back in London has given notice to leave and we are trying to organise an agent to take on the re-letting.  Fortunately we had built up a good relationship with an agent before we left on our trip and now that the holiday is over, an email has arrived to confirm that everything is hand and two viewings have already been set up.

We are sad to leave Gap’s House;  we have enjoyed the spacious rooms (we were in a different room last night on our return from our trek) with armchairs and a good selection of furniture.  It’s been  a joy to sit in the midst of the gloriously jungly garden eating the best breakfast (an opinion not shared by Andy) in south-east Asia (fresh toast and marmalade, eggs and pineapple) with low-level  jazz playing in the background and sunlight filtering through the foliage.  For these pleasures, it’s possible to overlook the minor downsides:  temperamental showers, the paper-thin walls and a high concentration of mosquitoes.  A little oasis in the middle of the city.

The overnight sleepers in Thailand don’t have 4-berth compartments so we have had to settle for berths in an open carriage.  At the start of the journey the carriage looks much like any normal seated carriage with pairs of facing  bench seats and a central aisle.  Despite our initial concerns, there is ample luggage storage and our rucksacks are safely stowed under the seats.  Around 9pm the carriage attendant appears to set up the sleeping arrangements.  The bench seats open out to make a wide bottom berth whilst the upper berth folds down revealing the padded bed mats, clean linen and pillows for both berths.  A curtain drawn across the berth completes the arrangement and provides an element of privacy.  We have been allocated berths in the middle of a large and gregarious party of mostly middle-aged Dutch tourists and we are bracing ourselves for a noisy night.  But everyone is quietly tucked -in by about 10.30pm – we’ve been in noisier 4-berth sleeper compartments!

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Thailand day 10 – Trekking

Posted on Monday, 05 Jan 2009 by Hattie

The second day of our trek starts with an early breakfast of  toast, eggs and fruit eaten outside at a long bench table.  Someone has re-lit the remnants of last night’s fire and we huddle around it in an attempt to keep warm.   The boys’ damp swimmers from yesterday are propped above the fire in the hope that they might dry before we leave.  Breakfast is accompanied by tea and coffee kept hot on the ashes of the fire – and surprisingly – Tesco jam – is there no limit to their dominance of the grocery sector????  After packing up our few belongings we depart the village unmarked by the villagers.  This is clearly a common experience and despite their seeming remoteness a group of westerners holds little novelty for them.  Today’s trek is downhill most of the way and much less strenuous although the steep descents still take their toll on the old joints (and the young one’s if their protestations of tiredness when we reach the lunch pick-point are anything to go by).   The Americans as ever are setting the pace, whilst we are trailing at the back wondering why they are so eager to rush through this beautiful scenery.  Our walk is through forested hillsides which change in character as we descend.  Sometimes dense with tall trees, sometimes more sparsely covered with low growing bushy vegetation.  Everywhere deep channels suggest the torrents that must cut through these hillsides in the rainy season, washing away most of the paths and presumably making much of our trek impassable.

Our first stop is another waterfall.  As with the one yesterday, this is only a fraction of what must be  a spectacular cascade in the rainy season and much of the rocky river bed is exposed.  The water is even colder here, but Andy and two of the Americans take a brief dip.  Andy is negotiating the dry rocks around the falls when he loses his grip  and takes a nasty tumble smacking his ribs in the process.   We can only hope that he has done nothing serious and that it is only a case of severe bruising, but the remainder of the descent is painful and arduous.

The day’s trekking ends at the ‘jungle’ 7 Eleven;  as small cabin selling soft drinks and a few sweets and snacks.  This little cabin on the edge of a Shan village with it’s tongue-in-cheek name reflects the ubiquitous presence of 7 Eleven’s in Thailand.  You are never very far from a 7 Eleven here – and if Chiang Mai is representative – there is one every few 100 yards or so, sometimes on either side of the street.  We rest here for 10 minutes before walking a few yards to where a pick-up truck, this time without seats in the back, is waiting to take us to lunch.  Thankfully, the restaurant is not too far way and the bumpy discomfort is short-lived.  Soon we are soon tucking into a basic Pad Thai and a fruit dessert.

After lunch another short ride takes us to the bamboo rafting point.  The rafts are about 30 foot long and made of bamboo poles held together by strips of old rubber tyres.  We share our raft with the Belgian ladies and the boatman who is going to pole us through the gentle rapids.  As we clamber aboard and sit down on the raft it sinks slightly below the water – just as well we brought some dry clothes with us!  The boatman turns out to be very skilled as he manoeuvres the unwieldy raft around boulders, logs and rapids without incident.  The river is untouched and very picturesque with over-hanging jungle and the occasional glimpse of the paddy fields and eventually the buildings of the village at the end of our ride.  At the end of the journey the rafts are dismantled into their component parts and trucked back upstream where it is a simple job to re-assemble them ready for their next outing.

Thanks partly to the Americans pushing the pace and, we suspect, a curtailment of the original itinerary, we are back in Chiang Mai by around 4.30pm still wondering why they didn’t want to savour the experience in a more leisurely manner.

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Thailand day 9 – Trekking

Posted on Sunday, 04 Jan 2009 by Hattie

We are picked up at about 9.15am by a covered pick-up truck for the start of our two-day trek into the hills north-west of Chiang Mai.  There are seven of us on the trip – three young Americans from Kentucky and two Flemish-speaking Belgian women, one of whom, it turns out, has a very bad cold. The pick-up truck is fitted out with facing bench seats which are not as uncomfortable as they look and we settle down for a 45-minute drive to a village market north of Chiang Mai.  It is here that our  Thai guide, Boom, stocks up on provisions for the trip whilst we wander round for 20 minutes or so.

Next stop is at an elephant camp.  Already the itinerary has been altered and the activities planned for tomorrow are on today’s agenda.  We clamber from a wooden mounting pier onto a rather uncomfortable howdah whilst our mahout sits astride the elephant’s neck.  For 20 Baht we’ve bought a bag of elephant ‘feed’ consisting of bananas and sugar cane.  As our elephant lumbers off towards the jungle we discover that it is more concerned with what’s in the bag than taking us for a ride;  every few steps it’s trunk rises over it’s head in search of a banana or three. Occasionally, great gusts of exhaled air hit our faces or snot is flung on our clothes.   If food isn’t forthcoming our elephant stops a while to gather some jungle foliage instead.  Our ride lasts for about an hour mostly through the jungle and then down a riverbank and into a small river before returning to the elephant camp.  Along the route there are several huts raised to elephant height, selling bags of bananas and sugar cane giving us several opportunity to replenish our supplies.

After a short drive in the pick-up truck we reach the start of the trek which leads us to a secluded waterfall where we stop for a lunch of fried rice out of a plastic bag.  Take-away food is quite commonly sold  in plastic bags by street vendors and our guide has most likely purchased our lunch during the market stop.  The water is quite cold but this doesn’t stop the men, and one of the Belgian women, from taking a dip by the cascading water.  From this point the trek is a steep uphill climb for about an hour-and-an-half, which starts to sort out the men from the boys.  The Americans are streaking ahead whilst the rest of us are taking things at a more measured pace with the Belgians starting to lag some way behind.  Around 4pm we reach the Karen Hill tribe village where we are  staying the night.

The village is a loose grouping of wooden and bamboo one-room houses on stilts with corrugated or thatched roofs. There are no surfaced roads and one gets the impression that in the rainy season they turn into rushing torrents.   Black pigs, hens, chicks, dogs and a few cows are wander untethered every where.  In this society the women seem to call the shots, certainly as far as marriage is concerned – it is the women who asks for the man’s hand in marriage and the newly-weds live with the bride’s parents until they can afford to build their own house.  All, that is, apart from the youngest child in the family who must live with their parents even after marriage in order to care for them in their old age.  In return they inherit their parents’ house.  A woman’s marital status is denoted by  what she wears;  unmarried women wear a white dress usually over their normal clothes, whilst married women can wear colourful clothes.  There appears to be no mechanisation in the village although  there are solar panels and TV aerials.  Rice is still split from the husk manually using a very primitive and laborious contraption that pounds the grains prior to winnowing.

Our accommodation is a roughly constructed, single-room bamboo hut on stilts with a corrugated roof and outside toilet.  We are sleeping side-by-side under mosquito nets on mats and thin bed pads.  After a simple dinner of curry, vegetables and rice followed by fruit we are entertained to some enthusiastic if rather ragged singing by the village children around the camp fire.

We are in bed by 9.30am which  is just as well as it is a fitful night’s sleep interrupted by the American’s snoring, cockerel’s crowing, cows moo-ing and the general awakening of the village as the sun rises.

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Thailand day 8 – Chiang Mai

Posted on Saturday, 03 Jan 2009 by Hattie

A slight hitch has occurred in the booking of the boys tickets to Thailand.  I picked up an email this morning to say that the credit card transaction had been declined!  So after a couple of frantic telephone calls to try and sort it out, we realise that because of the time difference we’ll have to  sit tight until around 4pm to get hold of the credit card company and the travel agent.  In the meantime, we can only hope that the tickets will remain available.  We finally get round to booking a two-day trek into the hills to the north and west of Chiang Mai – one of the main reasons for coming here!    The trek includes elephant riding and bamboo rafting as well as an overnight stay in a Karen village.   In the evening we go to the Old Chiang Mai Cultural Centre for a Khantoke dinner and a performance of Thai classical and  Hill Tribe dances.

The pick-up to take us to the Khantoke dinner is late in arriving and we get to the cultural centre just before the performance of Northern Thai classical dance starts in the khuang Hong Kham or outside court.  Everyone else seems to be seated and tucking into their Khantoke dinner as we are led to our ‘seats’ – two back rests on the floor.  A Khantoke is a pedestal tray used as small dining table by the thai-speaking people of the sticky-rice culture.  There are two types of khantoke:  the Yuan khantoke, made of teak wood and predomantly used in Northern Thailand;  and the Lao khantoke made from bamboo strips and rattan woven together, and used by the people of north-east Thailand, Laos and Sibsong Panna in south China.  Some Hill tribe people also adopt the Lao khantokes – so say the notes supplied by the cultural centre which we pick up on the way out!  When our khantoke arrives it is lacquered in a deep red and has several meat dishes in small bowls accompanied by baskets of sticky and a bowl of steamed rice.  But not to worry, providing a vegetarian option poses no problem at all, and very soon I have several of my own bowls of food arranged on the floor in front of me at no extra charge.

The first performance is of Northern Thai classical dances accompanied by a small ensemble comprising a singer, drums and a Thai teak xylophone.  The court has a central performance area around which the audience is seated on the floor.  Beyond the floor seating are several lines of tables down either side, presumably the cheap seats for those who prefer more conventional seating.  We are pleasantly surprised that this is not a venue catering specifically for coach loads of tourists and that it is well patronised by Thais.  Seven short dances are included in the repertoire:  The Fingernail Dance (the dancers wear long cone-shaped caps on their fingers),  the Sword dance (developed from an ancient martial art and danced with 12 swords), The Silk-reeling dance (derived from the village activity of silk production),  The Magic Fowls Dance (part of an ancient tragic opera),  The Candle Dance (similar to the Fingernail Dance but is performed holding candles), The Mahn Mui Chiangta Dance (a mixture of Burmese court dance and Thai dance) and the Rumwong or Circle Dance (this involved inviting members of the audience to participate – including Andy!).  There is some similarity to the Cambodian style of dance – slow, precise and controlled movements with emphasis placed on hand gestures – although there were no overtly elaborate costumes.

It’s not until we leave the court, thinking that it has been a rather brief evening and perhaps a little disappointing for that, we discover that there is a second performance in a roofed amphitheatre   in another part of the centre presenting traditional dances performed by the Lahu, Akha, Lisu, Hmong and Yao Hill tribe peoples.  Some of the dances could hardly be classified as dances, so brief and simple are they, but others are very engaging and even humorous, particularly the Kinggala Dance and The Rice Winnowing Dance..

A fascinating and entertaining evening!

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Thailand day 6 – Chiang Mai

Posted on Thursday, 01 Jan 2009 by Hattie

New Year brings a long weekend holiday and most shops and some bars and restaurants are shut and shuttered until Monday.  It gives the town an eerie, deserted feel.  We book our flights from New Zealand to Singapore leaving on 5th February and arriving on 6th in Auckland. Now all we need to do is arrange our overland travel from here to Bangkok, Koh Samui and onward to Singapore.   Not forgetting the flights for the boys!  We take a tut-tut to the railway station and purchase sleeper tickets for the next leg of our journey  – Chiang Mai to Bangkok.  The earliest available train is on Tuesday 6th, so we are here for a few more days yet.  Booking the rest is tomorrow’s task!  Days here seem to disappear in the blink of an eye.  By the time we get out it is usually almost lunchtime, and then in no time at all it’s dusk is falling and we head back to apply the mozzie repellent.  This is the worse place so far for those little devils – we’ve had more bites here than in the rest of south-east Asia put together.  Fortunately, according to the reports at least, there isn’t any malaria here (but then, there wasn’t supposed to be any dengue fever in China!).  We go down to the night bazaar again with the intention in eating in one of the food court cafes, but they are all so popular there isn’t a seat to be had anywhere.  So we settle for a rather ordinary place catering to tourists.  The night bazaar’s attractions don’t stand revisiting – it’s tawdry ambience, seedy bars and western men in search of Thai girls give it a rather depressing air.  But as Andy points out, this is Thailand.

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Thailand day 5 – Chiang Mai

Posted on Wednesday, 31 Dec 2008 by Hattie

The weather is good and preparations are in hand for tonight’s New Year celebrations.  We take a walk down to the river which runs east of the old town and wander round Warorot Market and across the footbridge to the opposite bank where we stop in one of the old wooden buildings for drink.  Another visit to the internet cafe to continue our search for flights – making travel arrangements is a time-consuming business and we must be fast becoming one of the internet cafe’s best customers!  We have left it too late, of course, to make any special arrangements to celebrate New Year’s eve such as getting a table on the river with a view of the firework display. So we do what the locals do and head for the festivities in the streets around Tha Pae Gate, just a stone’s throw from the hostel.

We amble through the old town to the gate in the north-east; heading for the river Ping to the east about 15 minutes walk away.  On the embankment the area around the Warorot Market is buzzing with activity.  Overflowing sawnthaew,s some with people hanging off the back footplate, fill the street whilst empty ones are lined up waiting to pick up passengers.  The Market consists of a large indoor area as well as several outdoor stalls.  Like so many markets in south-east Asia it is dark, grubby and full of competing, pungent smells.  Fish and meat are displayed on open counters and other food stuffs, many unidentifiable, are piled high on rows of stalls.  There are toys, clothes, candles and incense to be had here too,  Implausibly, in the middle of the market, there is a video karaoke jukebox and a woman is singing the most appalling renditions of Thai pop music to the evident enjoyment of the people around.  Further on  is an old Chinese temple recently rebuilt and boasting colourful three-dimensional dragons encircling supporting pillars as well as lashings of ornate decoration in typically gaudy Chinese style.  This claims to be the oldest temple in Chiang Mai notwithstanding it was rebuilt as recently as 1998!

We stumble upon tonight’s firework display being set up on the river bank and this prompts us to cross the footbridge to investigate possible vantage points on the other side.  There are several riverside restaurants and cafes on the far side and we stop for a drink in one of the old  teak houses which has a verandah over-looking the river.  Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, they are fully booked tonight as are the few others with riverside gardens.  There are more old houses on this short stretch than we have seen in the whole of the old town where architecture is unremarkable and apart from the wats, of little interest.

We spend some time today in the internet cafe researching our onward travel arrangements.  There are no flights between Bangkok and New Zealand until mid February, so we are having to rethink our routing.  The best option now seems to be to go overland to Singapore and pick up a flight from there.  At £441 per person, the flights from Singapore are cheaper than anything we have been quoted from Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur.  Coordinating our travel arrangements with the boys’ trip out here will need some careful planning though.  We get to the point of booking the Singapore/NZ flights only for the transaction to fail.  At which point our enthusiasm flags and New Year celebrations beckon so we decide to try again next year.

The New Year celebrations in Chiang Mai centre round the Tha Pae Gate about two minutes walk from our hostel.  The roads around the immediate vicinity and down from the gate to the river have been closed to traffic, and there is a stage on which young Thai women in mini skirts dance and twirl parasols to pop music.  Later to be followed by further music acts of dubious quality.  There is a handicraft market in full swing and a food court selling a wide selection of Thai snacks and meals.  Everywhere people are excitedly launching paper lanterns for good luck and the sky is full of hundreds  of  lights drifting upwards and into the distance.  For the princely sum of 50 Baht (£1) we light our own lantern with the assistance of some onlooking Thais and watch it float upwards and away.  The streets resound with the crack of hand-held fireworks  letting off  a volley of rockets into the night sky.  There is little sign of over-indulgence; it is mainly foreigners who appear to be drinking, and the  few bars around are hardly crowded.   New Year’s arrival is marked by a brief countdown and a modest firework display in town (we didn’t get to see the display down by the  river) which draws oohs and aahs from the crowd nonetheless.  A enjoyable and memorable, if sober,  New Year and, unlike last year in London, no long walk home afterwards!

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Thailand day 4 – Chiang Mai

Posted on Tuesday, 30 Dec 2008 by Hattie

Another sunny, cloudless day in Chiang Mai.  The travel arrangements are not proving easy to coordinate.  The flights to New Zealand have gone by the time we get to the travel agents again, and apparently there a no flights available until the middle of February.  This seems unlikely and we spend some time in an internet cafe (the guest house internet is too slow to allow any meaningful searching).  Any flights there are, are horrendously expensive.  Oh dear, time to rethink!  Flights for the boys are still looking pricey too, now that we are working to fixed dates.  I think we need to play a waiting game for a while.  We spend an hour or so in the  lovely Buak Haad Park in the north-west corner of the old town.  This small park has a two ponds, both with fountains and full of large, black fish, fat on bags of fish food that are sold by ladies at the entrance.   It’s possible for 10 Baht to rent a rush mat to spread out on the lawn and a few people, Thais mainly, are laid out in the shade.  We forgo the mats and sit on a bench under the trees with an ice cream purchased from a passing ice cream cart. In the evening we walk down Loi Kroh Road which runs east out of the old town to the Night Bazaar.  This is the seedier side of town;  lined with pick-up bars frequented mainly by older foreign men.  Not surprisingly, given Thailand’s reputation, there are numerous foreign men of a certain age to be seen about Chiang Mai with young, attractive Thai women.  The night bazaar is located in a plaza near Le Meridien hotel about 10 or 15 minutes walk from our guest house.  It isn’t as large, nor is the quality of merchandise as good, as the Sunday Street Walking Market and it doesn’t attract such crowds.

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