Thailand - Bangkok & Chiang Mai

Planning the trip to Thailand after reading through a lot of blogs and reviews, I must say, I had my apprehensions and, in my head, ran a high expectation in comparison to our Japan trip, a few months ago.

We took an afternoon flight from Melbourne, and I must say, it was the longest direct flight. The same flight on our way back was a breeze as we flew back at night, sleeping through the long way.

We landed in Bangkok - Suvarnabhumi Airport at 8PM and took the Sim card, previously booked through Klook. We grabbed our travel into the city and headed straight to the hotel. Bangkok is a 24 hrs city; I would say the same for Asia & Middle East. It’s never too late for a drink and dinner.

Sharing the next 3 days schedule:

Day 1 - Dinner and walking through the Sukhumvit city streets too shocked with the music, crowd, tourist, stuffs being sold on the street.

Day 2 - Morning: Cab to Grand Palace & Emerald Buddha (500 TBH entry per person) Food in the cafe outside the palace, an amazing foot massage right there at Wat Pho Massage Tha Tien, desserts at Heychom Thai Dessert Bar, shop on knick-knacks and back to the hotel. If you visit any day other than Saturday, try the food at the 6th.

Evening: Chatuchak weekend market. Take the MRT (underground Sukhumvit) to reach there     quickly, its 7 stations away. If you want the skyline view, head to the overhead BTS railway Asok and go 13 stations directly outside the market. There are 1500 shops, a lot of food stalls and an experience to bring back. 4 hours is an impossible time to cover the maze, you can never finish looking at everything as I said it is a maze and tiring day at the end. We headed straight back to the hotel as we grabbed food there and called it a night.

Day 3 - Morning - As we stayed in the Grande Centre Point Ploenchit, we were central to everything. We had our breakfast at the Breakfast Story and walked 12 minutes to the Saphan Wittayu Pier. we were heading to the Wat Arun after changing 3 long boats costing (6 TBH per person per boat ride) The entry for Wat Arun is 200 TBH per person.  Beware to check if most of the temples are closed. We did get to see most of it after climbing the steep stairs, but the view around was amazing. Once done, we did a Tuk Tuk ride of 9mins paying 250 TBH to the temple of The Reclining Buddha. It was 200 TBH per person. 

In the scorching summer of 35 degrees Celsius, we took a Grab to the ICONSIAM, did not shop but grabbed a beer to cool down. In the evening, we chilled around the Sukhumvit area, caught some Live Jazz with beer & dinner.

Day 4 - The last day in Bangkok was for the Souvenirs and Shopping. Since we booked our stay centrally, we could just hop & skip to the Terminal21 & Grand Central Mall. Looked around the stored, picked up some souvenirs, ate some mango on sticky rice, got a worldly massage at pitipata.official.

We had more than 10 well researched massage and I think, this is the best place to indulge. We walked into the Robinson mall, some of the official Thai elephant dress stores - Samadha Clothing stores. They have the original Elephant print, trousers, dresses, artifacts. You will be spared from the haggling and bargaining here.

Around 2PM, we checked out for the airport to our next destination - Chiang Mai.

Chiang Mai - 1.34 hrs flight from BKK to CNX. I got a ticket as cheap as AUD$70 return.

Chiang Mai is a different world, serene, calm, peaceful and relaxed. It is All things Jazzy in Chiang Mai. Jazz came to Thailand during the 1940 through their saxophone-playing monarch. King Bhumibol Adulyadej. The king gave a great push and built a culture of music across the country. Live music is a thing in Thailand and Chiang Mai can make you jazz hop.

We had no agenda in Chiang Mai other than chilling and walking and absorbing the Thai culture and daily life. We gave a skip to the touristy things – The night safari, Elephant sanctuary, plantations & rice terraces. We have done those somewhere or the other.

Day1 – Reached around 6PM and grabbed a taxi to hotel in 15mins. Freshened up and walked into the town. There are food fairs, craft fairs, markets happening everyday in Chiang Mai till 10PM. We walked, had a few Mango smoothies, ice-cream and hung around for the vibe. We had dinner at a tiny Khao Soi, listen to some live music, got a foot massage done and retired early.

Day2 – We explored the Old city. We walked 3.5kms to the old city through the fort, canal and gorgeous temples.

Few of the walk throughs are – Saun Dok Gate (the fort), Wat Phra Singh, Wat Chedi Luang, Wat Inthakhin Sadue Muang, Wat Phantao, the 3-king monument, Wat Mahawan, Wat Chiang Man, Wat Lok Moli, Wat Upakhut, Wat Rajamontean, Chiang Mai gate and so many more.

Tired enough with all the walking, we decided to have quiet evening. We got a massage at Lila Massage and headed back to the hotel. After an hour till the sun cooled down, we headed off to the beautiful & boutique Nimman area, there was live music and jazz everywhere, so we grabbed a beer and hopped bars till we were hungry. The One Nimman has a fair, food and basking every evening. It is a great place to start. Next is the The camellia cafe & music bar,The East Bar live music, and Aura Nimman 

We were 6 Cocktails and 2 Khao Soi Curry happy to go back to our hotel and crash!!

Day 3 – We did more massages, ate more northern food and did some of the exclusive Chiang Mai things. I finally decided that Chiang Mai needs a non-touristy exclusive write up. Hence, we packed our bags, headed to Bangkok on Day 4.

We are 2 days in Bangkok and no planned agenda. We will do an amazing dinner at “JHOL” the Michelin-starred restaurant Coastal Indian Cuisine. It is a coast-to-coast Indian food experience and an expressive of the diverse food culture in comparison to the butt ugly curries that we get in so called Indian restaurants.