[chiang mai] day 1: doi suthep, khantoke dinner & anusan night market

27 march 2015 (Friday)

our flight was scheduled to depart on 0655 hrs. we've already checked in (web check in) and just have to drop our luggage and get our passports checked. but still, we wanted to be at the airport early. so, miss a, yati and i was there around 0400 hrs. my brother in law drove us there while fiza was dropped by her sister. we had breakfast at mcD. our flight departed on schedule. the journey took almost three hours. we did order in flight menu but i couldn't finish mine since i was still full from the breakfast i took before.

breakfast at 'tiffany'

a MUST 'in flight' photo

Alhamdulillah, we arrived as scheduled. once we were done with immigration and got our luggage, we walked out and our guide/transportation are already waiting. this is my second time i got my name on a board. the first time was in siem reap, hehe.. we were welcomed with sweet smelling flower garlands and got our photos with the beautiful girl that gave us the garlands taken. our guide name this time around is john. for me and miss a we already got kevin (ho chi minh city), sam (siem reap) and john (chiang mai).

chiang mai international airport

we went straight to the hotel just to drop our bags since it's still to early to check in. we were joined by another two person that book the same tour as ours but it was already their third day there. there was supposed to be another family that should join us but they missed their flight and they joined us later that evening

source: Tourism Thailand

our first destination that day was the doi suthep temple. this temple was build on top of the mountain and the view from above was very spectacular. we went up by cable car and got down by stairs. this temple was famous for the gold pagoda and it's also believed that the pagoda contained the relics of Buddha. many Buddhists came here to pray for good fortune and blessed life.

entrance to the temple

surrounded by a lot of different Buddha statues

the famous golden pagoda

panoramic view from atop

total stairs = 309

after the temple visit,we went back to chiang mai city to have our lunch. done with lunch, we checked in at the hotel and rest for about three hours before continuing our adventure to experience 'khantoke' dinner.  that's mean eating our dinner while enjoying the traditional performances. this time we were joined by the family that missed the flight earlier. the family stayed at a different hotel. we really enjoyed the dinner and the performances. i'm planning on compiling the traditional performances took by miss a later, so i could share it here. for the time being, please enjoy the photos first.

leaving the hotel

sibungpunna khuntoke (there are several different places you could chose from to have the khantoke dinner. ours was here)

traditional drummers

one of the traditional dances

dinner

different traditional cloth for different tribes

all the pretty dancers

we went back to our hotel to do some 'window shopping' at the night market. the anusan night market was right behind our hotel. but honestly, the prices at the anusan night market is pretty expensive compared to the sunday night market or the market at the golden triangle. so, it's much better for you to buy the souvenirs there. our final destination for the day is the traditional thai massage which costs only around RM30/hour. the boss had to call for reinforcement since the four of us was there. that's was the end of our first day. on with the second day soon, insyaAllah...


window shopping time

variety of souvenirs

cute baby shoes

wow!

wow again!

waiting for the 'reinforcement' at the massage parlour which is in front of our hotel

ps: again, we bought the local simcard from 7E. it cost only RM24 and contained 1GB of data and face call/sms to the same network and valid for seven days. but the internet setting for android is a little bit complicated. you need to set the ip address, the vpn and all. as for ios, u just need to switch off and on again.