P&A GoGoGo: chiang mai

Chiang Mai#13 Night Safari

"Welcome to the Chiang Mai Night Safari****" says Linda, the cute elephant at the entrance . . . While we imagine her saying that, her trunk was swinging non-stop from left to right! Ha Ha . . so well trained . .

Got ourselves a tour from a booth at the night market to the night safari, costs 650 baht per person. It includes the transport and the entrance fee, and we only reach the safari around 6.45pm. It is recommended (if going in a group) that you go by yourself instead of a tour, taking your own transport i.e. tuk-tuk/ songthaew [about 20min drive from town] and buy the ticket at the entrance which only cost 500baht.

This way, you can go to the park earlier, say reach around 5pm to do the walking trail where you can see animals at your own pace and take photographs of the animals [especially the white tigers =) ]. Then at 7pm, you can hop on the tram for night safari trail.

Part of the walking trail, we get to see a lot of interesting animals. The natural environment here is pretty good. For instance, we saw many deer on the way to the entrance of the park. Just lying and walking around. And visitors can get close to them. Then at the entrance, a cute jumbo was waiting for us there! Even this pair of black swan is having a good time around the tourists.

the Lemur family

On the tram, here we go~~

Feeding the giraffes! It was pretty exciting to go on this tram ride. Because we get to feed the giraffe and zebras and deer and wild boars too~!! Zebras are quite shy though =) It was our first time getting so close to the zebras. Such lovely experience. Remember to buy the feeding food at 20baht per bucket.

Group picture with pretty dancer

Soooo fierce . . .
He looks like staring on us...

Fire show

After the tram rides, there are dance performance, fire show and also the laser fountain show. The laser show is a little boring though. For the park ratings overall, personally we thought the Singapore's night safari is much more excited and up to standard. Their animal show is really nice too. But Chiang Mai's safari win on the variety of animals and the enclosures.

A picture with the white tiger cub . . . SO CUTE~ costs 250baht for this picture =) we get to touch the baby tiger for maybe 5 seconds? haha . . but well worth for a memory. . .

To end our 5days 4 nights trip in Chiang Mai, what not better to do than a MASSAGE session !

So all, the farewell trip for Peter and his colleagues.. to continue P&A journey in

Australia, the land down under =))))

Chiang Mai#12 Chinatown

If you needed to stock the Thai snacks like pocky chocolate sticks, potato chips, crispy seaweed and instant noodles [tom yum noodles, yums!], this is the place to be --> Chiang Mai's Chinatown****

Look at US! This is what we meant by WHOLESALE~! There are a lot of wholesalers here in Chinatown for groceries, toys and food. The price u get here is a little cheaper than stocking yr food at 7-11 stores for sure [only if you buy in bulk]. But just make sure u know the price around, or else end up being charged for what tourists are suppose to pay~!

The market selling fresh fruits, desserts, snacks and some 'unknown' food...

The cheapest lunch of the trip -->> 7-11's instant noodle + reheated sausages + slurpees + herbal drink = cheap & NICE

Flower street
majority of flowers selling here are main for praying purposes

Chiang Mai#9 Golden Triangle & Donsao, Laos

We actually thought that we could go to the poppy plantation area in Golden Triangle**** (since we saw Chiang Mai postcards showing the poppy flowers) but the places is strictly not for tourists, probably because the plants are too valuable.

So here we are at the Golden Triangle --> the meeting point of the three countries, Thailand, Myanmar and Laos. There is also another island called "no-man island" in the middle of this triangle (because no one live there) where you can only see it during dry season, we are lucky enough… however, it's just a land with some grass. This island was once the trading place of opium for "businessmen" from the 3 countries and they use gold as trading currency.

The photo below shows the boat trail we're going to take:

Khong River means Mekong River which is the 10th longest river in the world and 7th longest in Asia whereby it's connected from China to this golden triangle and further down to Vietnam & Cambodia.

The sun is so hot in this season (aug) although its beginning of the raining season. Locals say the weather here can reach 10°c in winter and you'll get to see cherry blossoms in Chiang Mai too. One thing for sure, we are sweating like showering now =P

We pass by the casino of Myanmar, Thailand has no casino since gambling is illegal, so Thais can just cross the border to Myanmar or Laos for gambling.

Casino Kings Roman, Laos

We were allowed to enter Donsao, Laos*** without visa for an hour, costs us 300baht per pax to enter. Well, considered we have already been to LAOS but of course we were not allowed to go further than this area.

The whisky and scorpion wine is popular in Laos, it looks weird but local says it is revitalizing, especially for man.

Actually it is just a small market place, so we just stroll around, took some photos, drink coconut (refreshing, at the right time!) and breath in some Laos air =)

Little ducky has his lunch!

Laos's immigration department? No, because he don't handle passport but only collecting money from the tour guide.

When we are leaving, we saw some poor kids begging for $$ from a woman. Actually it is advisable not to give money to the poor kids since it will not help them, but only encouraging them to be beggars.

Well that's the end of the boat ride in Golden Triangle.. Don't have too high expectations on this though since it was not like experiencing the opium plantation or trading places. And after some search through net, there are two Opium museum in Donsao where you could learn about but we were not brought there.

After visiting Myanmar and Laos by "window watching", we had our buffet lunch (included in the tour package) at a restaurant back at Mae Sai area.

The Myanmar rice is so yellowish, tastes great when accompanied with some spicy sauce. P&A shall one day go to Myanmar to savor this Myanmar rice again. . .

Queen of Nagas seized by American Army at Mekhong River, Laos Military Base on June 27, 1973 with length of 7.80 meters.

Chiang Mai#7 Walking Street (Sunday Market)

All piggies on the tuk-tuk to Chiangmai Walking Street***** This market opens from 4.30pm till 11pm, on Sundays only =) be sure to visit it cause it's the biggest in Chiangmai. It was about 5min ride to the market from our hotel and costs 20baht per person.

Food haven~~ just the right place to fill our stomachs with Thai food. We have waited long enough to finally come across this little food court along the walking street inside the temple area. Even in the rain, we savour the delicious pad thai, chicken wing, mango sticky rice, ant omelette, thai sausages and much more in our rain coats! FUN~~ and YUMS~~

The market offers a variety of goods... including home decor items, souvenirs, clothing, handicrafts, all at cheaper prices than Bangkok. Many products are handmade by the locals, so it is very unique and cannot be found elsewhere. P: "We must go to Chiangmai next time to stock items for the new house!!"