Buffetting : Chiang Mai Trip Day 1 and 2

So I'm finally done with reports, done worrying the fact that T might just be losing the passion, and partially done with packing for the upcoming semester.

Geez its going to be so busy until September ends, so this might prolly be the last post in September for me.

Wake me up when September ends.

So after the last day of the Conference, which was actually half a day; talking about how we can co-exist with elephants, the party of 4(me, Gummi bear, Bimbo and FabP) planned to go for our next stop, our hotel.

Before we managed to scratch our heads over the transport, a few of the NICEST CMU vet students offered us the ride to our hotel, Tapae Place Hotel.

We were truly grateful, and they'd also offered to be our host for the next 4 days of our stay when they are off schooling hours. SERIOUSLY. Where can you get such lovely people right? Totally loved them, and still stayed connected.

So they dropped us in the hotel about 4pm, and we've decided to meet them up again for dinner at about 7pm at the Arcade Bus Station because we had 2 friends from Bangkok were taking their night bus back there. Had Thai McD of samurai pork burger; but I'd prefer the beef in Malaysia though.

The dinner was awesome because we get to interact with the Thai friends a lot; those who actually had been really close to us throughout the whole conference. We talked about everything under the sun; how to count in Thai, the fares of song thaew from one place to another, how to bargain, the 7-11s in Thailand, where to head to for night life and so much more.

One interesting topic was about the 7-11 stamps. Apparently 7-11s in Thailand offers redemption just like Watsons and Guardian in Malaysia, and those stamps are imprinted with various cultures of Thailand. Collect certain number of stamps, and redeem something. One of them even wanted to collect 1000 of them to collect a set of furniture for the dormitory!

Our night didn't end there. After they've dropped us back in our hotel, we've decided to sneak out for a stroll in the Night Bazaar. Even though the place actually ran up till 12am, the stalls were all shutting down at 11pm-ish. Gummi bear and I brisked around while the girls brush up their bargain skills on the first day of shopping. Not much on the first day, though I managed to snap a few glimpse of shawl samples for my sister to pick.

Our first night ended with a call up to Flying Squirrel for our zipline across the tropical rain forest experience in Chiang Mai.

Oh I almost missed out on our hotel. Tapae place is definitely one of the hotels you might want to consider staying in Chiang Mai. The facilities are considered complete for a RM30/night/person bargain. Hot water, functional air-conditioner, TV, complimentary mineral water daily, and most importantly: Wifi at top-speed.

It's not the best, but it was good enough for our budget, and I'm definitely staying here again if I'm traveling here. Unless T is willing to let me slip into the dorm.

The 2nd day of our trip was headed to the zipline course, somewhere in somewhere. I forgot the place we went, but it was a great place definitely. I'm sure the link I posted had introduction somewhere.

The point was not the place, but the activity there. 

Let the pictures speak for themselves:

yes, a flying gorilla across the forest. yay me.

for a person with hardcore size like me, better be safe than sorry.

YOLO flying bear.

Flying Siamese twin

They even had floating bicycle. I totally freaked out.

The super nice but teasy Noey and Adrien from France. Super rich dude.

1000 baht for the experience and a decent buffet lunch, I'd say it was worth the price. I guess the competition in Chiang Mai made they hospitality top quality. 

In the afternoon of the 2nd day, after saying good bye to Adrien we've decided to continue our day for a trip to Bhu Ping Palace and Doi Suthep temple.

We took a song thaew to Chiang Mai Zoo, while there are services of song thaew sending us up to the palace and temple for fee of 140 baht through and back in front of the Chiang Mai Zoo. It's quite a good deal because those places are like 15 to 20 kilometers uphill. Driving ourselves or riding bikes might not be the best idea.

Bhu Ping Palace is the place where Her Royal Highness Queen of Thai visits during the winter to interact with the people around Chiang Mai, while it is opened for display to the public on other seasons. We hit a dud not knowing the palace was under construction, hence took a stroll around the area for some great scenery instead.

gummi bear and his new toy

bimbo as fabulous as always

FabP being her unusual self throughout, in an extremely fun way

My personal favorite spot of the palace:

The water reservoir. These in Chiang Mai are odorless, and beautiful. Puts Malaysia's at a shame I would add.

manage to snap an artificial rainbow

another snippet of the garden past the reservoir

And the Siamese twins being siamese.

And us boys being boys. 

Our next stop after we hit the quota time for Bhu Ping Palace for an hour at 4.00pm, was the Doi Suthep temple. The temple is well known due to the fact that it was the first temple, founded by the first monk in Chiang Mai who walked all the way up to the mountain(Doi). The CMU students actually have to climb the mountain on their first year, a competition between faculties to foster the bond between the students in faculty. Some pretty awesome shit right?

some of our friends are in this video too!

So while I wanted to climb the fleet of stairs up to the temple,the other 3 decided to buy the elevator ticket instead. I'm only a gorilla, I have to follow the majority.

and up we go

The people in Thailand really love their current king, because of the good deeds he did for the people and the country, hence his image almost in every critical places.

To me, a temple is a place where I can foster and develop my mental to study the scriptures better, as well as a place to pay my respect to the teachings I believe. Whether if its "holy" to a certain extent, well, I would say a place I seek refuge.

The observatory of the temple also serves as a great spot for a wholesome view of the Chiang Mai city, including the airport itself.

well, that dude must have a weird sense for angle.

I have no idea why the blur face in this take.

Our day ended with the traveling down from Doi Suthep directly to the Warorot Market for 30baht/person; where we found some, but not much food today. Hence, we went on back to the night bazaar again for food, and we got it this time:

Their durian santan nasi pulut was HEAVENLY~~~ Had to have this over and over

The rest were regulars like tom yam guung, beef noodles, phad thai and the yadaas. Good food comes on the last 2 days.

Our night ended with a booking for Chiang Rai trip, which I will post tomorrow.

Geez, 1 post for 2 days is pretty long. I think this wouldn't be the last post of September after all.

On the side note, I've kinda talked to someone very close about T, and pretty relieved I did because its so hard to contain it to myself all the time. At least it was someone close to me and someone was really understanding. 

T, well, is busy with finals soon while I will busy for Dogathon. Leo horoscope says September ain't exactly the good month for love and relationship to flourish, which I began to detect and know. T being out of reach and less proactive while I watch my phone on alert mode all the time; not a good chemistry.

That's why I've decided to focus more on the semester's commencement and Dogathon, hopefully when October 6th ends we both have more time for each other.