Jess & Jude's Adventures in Thailand 2004

Sunday Afternoon 13 June
Sunday Markets near Tapae Gate

After finishing on the internet Jess and I got a tuk tuk up to Tapae Gate where we had heard there was a great Sunday market. Well that was an understatement this market was huge. Ratchadameon Road is closed to traffic and the market stretches the full length including quite a number of side streets.

Jess and I spent 4 hours here looking at all the wonderful crafts. This market is completly different from the night market. There are a lot more local Thai handicrafts and it is more orientated to the Thai locals rather than the tourists. We saw many Thai families out for an evening stroll.

At the far end of Ratchadameon Road, Thai children were performing different Thai traditional dances. Jess and I sat in the middle of the street and watched the performances.

The atmosphere at this market was fantastic. It is held every Sunday from about 2pm til late into the night. If you are visiting Chiangmai, make sure it includes a Sunday.

We eventually gave up and crossed over the road and through Tapae Gate. Only to find another large market spread over the square near the gate. Our feet had had enough, we called into the JJ Cafe for coffee and cake. Too full, too tired to walk the 2 blocks home, we got a tuk tuk back to the hotel. It was only 8.30am but our day had been very full and enjoyable.

Monday 14 June

Well here I am again in my usual spot at Starbucks. It's 7.30am and Jess is still asleep. It's a lot busier on the streets this morning, all the Thais are off to school and work. It's raining this morning, we were so lucky that we took the tour yesterday.

Back at the hotel I finally dragged Jess out of bed at 9am. We walked down to the Cafe De Siam for breakfast and dropped off our laundry on the way.

After breakfast we caught a songthaew to Wororot Markets again. It's very hot and sticky today and the smells of the fish market are very strong. We walked past a vendor selling live frogs, definitely not to Jess' taste! I found a great pair of shoes for 199bt and we bought a bit of jewellery. By 12.30pm we were too hot and sweaty so returned to the hotel for a shower and change.

Afterwards we made our way to Den Duang for lunch and internet. I had a lovely Tom Yam Gai washed down with an icy cold Singha. After we caught up on our emails we walked across the road for another glorious foot massage. It really is a truly wonderful experience.

Spent the afternoon in the hotel watching TV. We went out at about 8pm for a light dinner at JJ Cafe and a short walk around the markets. Jess went up to the hotel room and I went to watch some Muay Thai Boxing. The is a show each night just near the hotel. I watched a couple of bouts while partaking of a singha beer. The put on some incredible moves. Headed up to bed at 11pm.

Tuesday 15 June

Raining again this morning. I bought the Nancy Chandler map of Chiangmai last night. It has some really good info on what do you in Chiangmai. It's 7.30am and I am sitting in Starbucks, map in one hand and Cafe Latte in other trying to decide what to do today.

Woke Jess at 8.30am and we went to the JJ Cafe for breakfast. We then caught a songthaew to a large shopping Centre called Kad Suan Kaew, north west of the city wall. It has several levels of shops including a cinema and ice skating. Jess and I spent several hours wandering around in the air con.

We caught a songthaew back to the hotel at 6pm. We wanted to dress up a little tonight and go somewhere nice for dinner. We decided on the Riverside Restaurant and caught a tuk tuk outside our hotel (40bt). The restaurant was busy, full of Thais and westerners. We had a great table on the deck overlooking the Mae Ping River with the lovely lanterns reflecting on the water. The service and food was excellent. There was a live band playing great 60's music. After dinner we caught a tuk tuk back to the night market. We decided to check out the free caberet dance and muay Thai boxing show. We only stayed a short while, watched one bout of boxing then off to bed.

Wednesday 16 June
Doi Sutep & Chiangmai Zoo

We both slept in this morning didn't get up til 9am. Over to JJ Cafe for breakfast then off to Wororot Market to buy some silk for Mum. Jess bought another pair of jeans (199bt) and a T-shirt (79bt). We were back at the hotel by noon and started packing our bags for tomorrow. We had lunch at Starbucks then negotiated a songthaew to take us up to Doi Sutep (350bt return). Probably too much but I couldn't be bother looking for anything cheaper.

It was nice to get out of the city and up to the coolness of Doi Sutep mountain. It took us about 20 minutes to reach Wat Prathat Doi Sutep. The roak snaked its way up the mountain passing waterfalls and glimpses of the panoramic views of the city below. Our driver dropped us at the bottom of the temple and agreed to meet us in one hour. The 300 steps up to the temple were daunting but the air was fresh and cool.

Once at the top we had to pay 30bt each entry for foriegners only. We walked around the grounds of the temple first and admired the many bells and small intricately carved Wats.

The scenic view of Chiangmai was fantastic although the rain clouds blocked some of the view. Luckily the rain held off and the clouds moved on.

We had to remove our shoes before entering inside the temple. The enormous gold Chedi dominated the skyline as we entered. Surrounding the chedi were many gold buddhas. The sun was out and all the gold was sparkling.

On each cornet of the Chedi there was a large golden umbrella. It is a wonderful place to see and definitely not to be missed if visiting Chiangmai.

The hour was up very quickly and we made our way back down the steps. A lot easier going down! We met our driver and asked him to take us to the Chiangmai Zoo which we had passed on the way up.

He left us at the gate, he didn't want to wait for us. It cost 30bt entry and then we had to hire another songthaew to take us around the zoo (50bt). We only had a short time before the zoo closed at 6pm so we asked the driver to take us to specific exhibits. The zoo is enormous and covers several acres. It is very hilly and the exhibits are widely spread. Our first stop was the Giant Pandas. Bugger, another entry fee (100bt). We stayed for quite awhile watching the two pandas playing.

On from here to see monkeys, rhinos and flamingos. We drove past many other animals and caught glimpses of black bears, giraffes and giant mawcaws. Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to see everything but what we did see was great.

Our songthaew driver agreed to drop us back at our hotel for 40bt more. We got back at 6pm, had a shower, changed and packed the last of our gear in readiness for our early start tomorrow.

We had dinner at a German restaurant then finished the night by catching up with emails and updating this journal.

We have had a wonderful time here and I hope to return to this wonderful city again.