The weather varies very little and continues to be sunny and warm, usually reaching 30C most days. Everyday have made full use of the local outdoor swimming pool which also has an excellent restaurant serving good Thai and English food at a very reasonable cost. Whilst in Chang Mai have managed to find a reasonable optician where I have been able to replace both pairs of specs (one pair lost while trekking in Nepal) at a fifth of the cost in England and this included a free eye test.
Staying in Andreen and Martin's condominium has provided me with a good base for Thailand and also boasts a bistro on the ground floor with free internet access. Our respective stays in Thailand overlapped by a few days , this enabled my hosts to show me significant places in the city, including the night market and good eating places, for example the Gekko Bar, run by an ebullient American, and some riverside restaurants. Having a base in Thailand that is situated in the north of the country whilst staying here makes a lot of difference enabling me to relax between travelling to other places such as Chang Rai, Laos or Cambodia. Northern Thailand is also cooler than the more popular southern part of the country and slightly less 'touristy'. Whilst in Chang Mai I managed to acquire a ticket for a piano concert which was part of the Chang Mai Music Festival. Met a number of ex-pat Brits who gave me some useful ideas for places to visit in Laos. The concert was a showcase for 3 music students from Korea, all of whom played to a very high standard in a concert of music from the Romantic era ie Grieg, Tchiakovsky and my favourite composer, Chopin.
Trekking in Thailand tends to be for shorter periods than Nepal so a 3 day trek to the hill tribal areas in the mainly jungle area typical of Northern Thailand was a great experience, but with less trekking than I have been used to.Experienced my first elephant ride , swim in a pool by a waterfall and finally a bamboo raft ride through rapids as well as trekking, all in the space of 3 days. The first night was in a hill tribe village of the Karen people, where we were made to feel very welcome. The villagers lit a bonfire and gave an impromptu rendering of their traditional songs, and we were expected to reciprocate with some of our own (I sang 'Amazing Grace' jointly with a Canadian fellow nurse). The second night was in the jungle in huts at the side of the waterfall, falling asleep to the sound of the fall.
Finally before leaving Chang Mai for a visit to Chang Rai I visited the flower festival which took place around the old town moat, the parade taking most of the morning to complete! A really spectacularly colourful occasion where I was able to take lots of photo's.
Staying in Andreen and Martin's condominium has provided me with a good base for Thailand and also boasts a bistro on the ground floor with free internet access. Our respective stays in Thailand overlapped by a few days , this enabled my hosts to show me significant places in the city, including the night market and good eating places, for example the Gekko Bar, run by an ebullient American, and some riverside restaurants. Having a base in Thailand that is situated in the north of the country whilst staying here makes a lot of difference enabling me to relax between travelling to other places such as Chang Rai, Laos or Cambodia. Northern Thailand is also cooler than the more popular southern part of the country and slightly less 'touristy'. Whilst in Chang Mai I managed to acquire a ticket for a piano concert which was part of the Chang Mai Music Festival. Met a number of ex-pat Brits who gave me some useful ideas for places to visit in Laos. The concert was a showcase for 3 music students from Korea, all of whom played to a very high standard in a concert of music from the Romantic era ie Grieg, Tchiakovsky and my favourite composer, Chopin.
Trekking in Thailand tends to be for shorter periods than Nepal so a 3 day trek to the hill tribal areas in the mainly jungle area typical of Northern Thailand was a great experience, but with less trekking than I have been used to.Experienced my first elephant ride , swim in a pool by a waterfall and finally a bamboo raft ride through rapids as well as trekking, all in the space of 3 days. The first night was in a hill tribe village of the Karen people, where we were made to feel very welcome. The villagers lit a bonfire and gave an impromptu rendering of their traditional songs, and we were expected to reciprocate with some of our own (I sang 'Amazing Grace' jointly with a Canadian fellow nurse). The second night was in the jungle in huts at the side of the waterfall, falling asleep to the sound of the fall.
Finally before leaving Chang Mai for a visit to Chang Rai I visited the flower festival which took place around the old town moat, the parade taking most of the morning to complete! A really spectacularly colourful occasion where I was able to take lots of photo's.
Photo 1 Tuk-tuk 'float' at flower festival
Photo 2. Start of parade , somewhat disappointing!
Photo 3 Waterfall close by Karen village. We slept in huts at the side of the fallsPhoto 4. Chang Masi flower festival, leading float.
Photo 5. Sue at waterfall pool, cooling off.
Photo 6. Karen House (slept here) , hilltribe village.
Photo 7. Sue and fellow trekker feeding elephant.
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