Day 3 - Northern Thailand

So back to my travelogue, day 3 in Northern Thailand.

During my stay in Thailand, I am having a rather healthy body clock. Slept around 11PM and woke up 8ish every day. Unlike my days in Malaysia & Hong Kong. I can't sleep last night until 4AM, crazy. That is the problem when you live in big city where the city never sleeps, filled with entertainments.

OK, let's not sway away from the main agenda here. On day 3, woke up at my usual 8ish. Showered and my host decided to bring me to the "Assistant Head of Village" house. In other words if the head of village is President, then this guy would be the VP. Before that, we went for the Thai laksa again as breakfast, then on her motorbike we traveled to our destination.

Arriving at the house, there were many people there already. The guys would be busy making man-made fireworks while the ladies will do preparation for the prayers in celebration of mid-autumn.

Knowing that I am a no-help to them, I just kaypoh kaypoh look see look see only, ample of food and beer throughout. This continues until about 4PM. Then head back home for a shower and quick rest anticipating for the big night.

Waking up, my host already prepared home-cooked stuff for me. While I am doing my dinner, she was busy decorating the exterior of the house with lanterns, it had been a long long time since I seen lanterns hanging around the house - very warm feeling :)

After dinner, dressed up a bit, we proceeded to the temple. I did not take much pictures there as its weird because it seems that I am the only one snapping pictures. Most of the pictures taken was along my journey to the temple. There was a stage where performances will be held. Girls in their traditional costumes from different tribes performed. My host told me some even sing Burmese songs as most of the people in Northern Thailand are Burmese immigrants escaped to Thailand during the tribe-wars in Burma many years ago. Fireworks & chanting can be heard. Many people also bought the big big lantern, where you make a wish, stick it on the lantern and let it rise to the air (this can be seen in Malaysia as well) but I have never seen so many lanterns being released at a go, the sighting was simply amazing but too bad I was too captivated that I did not take a shot of it. As the crowd grew larger, we decided to leave the place as some kids were tagging along with us.

As we were walking along the stretch to the temple, people are enjoying singing, dancing & boozing regardless of age, size, gender or race (it looked a bit like San Pedro celebration in Melaka). I even danced with aunties and strangers, they will buy you beer even if they do not know you, it was really a warm feeling. There is also a corner where girls with fair complexion will dressed up in traditional costumes, they do allow you to dance with them but with a small fee of 10 Baht. Nice! Imagine the Malaysian girls charging RM1 for a dance in the club, it will never happen, Malaysian girls at times act too high class (majority but not all) :P

We ended the night boozing till wee hours at the VP house. He was really happy as this is the first time a man like me from foreign country goes to his house and celebrate with him. Thanks Pip Uun!

To be continue - Day 4.

ps: I spotted a brand new factory outlet at the mall near the place I am staying in Hong Kong, check it out here.

Backpacking Travelogy to Northern Thailand

I had just got back from my trip to the few part of northern Thailand. Will try to share my experience with those interested to visit the place. In fact, it was my second trip there. The very first time was part of the incentive trip with some dealers. Back then, it was pure tour guided trip and visited some major tourist attractions.

This time around, I am doing a backpacking. My destination is actually Doi Tung under the Mae Fah Luang province, about 20km from Mae Sai. The most ideal way to get to the place is of course flying to Chiang Rai which means you either fly direct to Bangkok from KL before taking domestic flight from Bangkok to Chiang Rai.

However, due to budget constraint, I took the direct flight from KL to Chiang Mai instead. Thanks to AirAsia, my one-way ticket to Chiang Mai was about RM150. Getting to LCCT had always been a headache but thanks to the new service by the KLIA transit, I took the option of traveling with KLIA transit train from KL Sentral to Salak Tinggi then commute the free bus ride to LCCT, all in total only cost me about RM12.50 per trip.

Reached Chiang Mai @ noon, 1PM to be exact. From the international airport, I opted for a taxi ride to the Chiang Mai Arcade Bus Station. The fixed rate for my ride to the bus station cost me only about 150Baht. Upon reaching the Arcade Bus Station, I felt like a total stranger as it was crowded only with local, many gave a strange stare but very fortunately I manage to find someone who can speak an "OK" English. She guided me to counter No. 5, I bought the ticket for Chiang Mai en route to Maesai. The ticket cost me 212Baht. To make it easier for me, the ticket teller remarked on my ticket that I will stop at a place called Doi Tung. Since my bus will only be taking off at 3PM, I managed to bump into an internet cafe that serves some really bad food. After that particular session with the cyberworld, I am totally lost touch with it for about a week and I realized I am ok to be apart from Internet actually :)

The bus trip is good though long. It took me 3 hours to reach Doi Tung. Upon reaching there, it was already about 8PM. My host came and pick me up.

I will share more about the rest of my trip tomorrow :)

Stay tune!

PS: Today I also want to wish my very special brother a very happy birthday! Hey Ah Rim, Happy Birthday to you ya!

Blogging From Thailand

Howdy peeps?

My current city now is Chiang Mai, Thailand. Quick update if you don't mind. I am not able to upload any photos as now because I am currently at some restaurant that provides internet service.

I won't be in Chiang Mai for long. Currently I am surfing while waiting for my bus to Chiang Rai, another 3-4 hours of ride. It's been a long day today since 6AM. Thanks to Roy Lim who fetched me all the way to KL Sentral.

From KL Sentral, I took the KLIA transit to Salak Tinggi before commuting via bus to LCCT. I would say the package is worth of it. The whole journey took me slightly less than an hour. Reached LCCT about 8ish. The flight was @ 1020hrs and reached Chiang Mai @ 1230hrs local time.

So, I guess I will be off from the blogosphere and internet world for at least a week because the internet facilities in Thailand are pretty poor.

So I would like to take this opportunity to wish every readers of mine a very happy Mid-Autumn day tomorrow ya! Enjoy the mooncakes, light up more tang-lungs.

And not forgetting too, let's pray for the victims of the earthquake that we Malaysian felt a couple of days ago. The death toll had since increase to an estimated 1,100 deaths. My prayers to them.

Gonna miss you all.

Hugs & Kisses!!!