Chiangmai 4D/3N with a big group - Day 3 & 4

Date of Travel: 10-13 May 2014

Waterfall at Doi Inthanon National Park

Day 3

We decided to enjoy nature today, and headed to Doi Inthanon National Park. It is the highest mountain in all of Thailand, 8415 feet above sea level. Entrance fees were THB100/person and THB30/car. Our first stop was this lovely waterfall. The kids went down to the water to play, refreshing cool air.

Chiangmai 4D/3N with a big group - Day 2

Date of Travel: 10-13 May 2014

Making T-Shirts at Borsang umbrella making factory

Day 2

Today is a very relaxing shopping day. We did not want to drive too far out of town, and we do not support riding nor watching animals do silly tricks. So we visited the Samkampaeng area, which is known for their Home Industries. First stop was Borsang paper umbrella making factory. We made history today. We are the first and only group to stay here for 3 hours, when most stay 30 minutes at most. What did we do here??? We made T-Shirts.

Chiangmai 4D/3N with a big group - Day 1

Date of Travel: 10-13 May 2014

At Doi Suthep Temple, Chiangmai

12 adults and 4 children flew to Chiangmai for a fun-filled holiday. AirAsia had a promotion which included the Royal Princess Chiangmai hotel, airfare + 3 nights hotel at RM635 per person. We started out with just 4 persons, and our group size grew really fast. We needed the help of a tour guide to help us move around more easily, and I selected Sutthi Hampitak +66899534407 thihampitak@yahoo.com. He charged us THB15,000 for 3 days in 2 x 12-seater vans, based on my itinerary.



Day 1
Arrived Chiangmai at 8:40am. Sutthi came with 2 x 12-seater vans, and boy were they comfortable. I asked him to bring us to a local market first, then up to Doi Suthep temple. You can climb 309 steps to the top, or pay THB50 for a tram car ride, to and fro. Everyone was already tired from waking up at 4am that morning, so we had a relaxing lunch and back to the hotel. Some of us chose to sleep, others went for a massage at Let's Relax just across the road from our hotel. For dinner, I had reserved a table at a very popular French restaurant in Chiangmai called Chez Marco 15/7 Loi Kroh Road, +6653207032. After dinner, all 16 of us squeezed into a truck to Wualai Road night market, a.k.a. Saturday Night Market.

"Papa, why is it so smelly in here?"

"Papa, why is it still smelly outside?"

Riding the tram to the top of Doi Suthep

Phuket - Top 10 Things To Do

Date of travel: 3-6 Aug 2012

Like most people, I have been to Phuket several times before. All of those times, I stayed in Patong beach, did all the touristy stuff, and came home with hoards of elephant keychains and cute purses. That was over 7 years ago, when the Internet wasn't so full with reviews and blogs. If you have been to Phuket before, and can safely say you have "been-there-done-that" for most things, then perhaps it's time to venture into the finer sides of Phuket.

1. Rent a car

The rented Honda Jazz for THB1000/day

 
It is essential to get a car. You don't want to waste time haggling with taxis, tuk-tuks, songthaews and what not. With a good map, you can easily go anywhere - after all, it's just an island and you can't get lost. Since 2005, I have been renting from this company called Phuket Car Rent - http://phuketcarrent.com/. The cost for a Honda Jazz this time around was THB1000/day including insurance. Ms. Lee has been the person I dealt with for the past 7 years.

Review: Metadee Resort Phuket

Date of stay: 3-6 Aug 2012

Metadee Resort in a single word - Phenomenal.


There are 3 obvious room choices: Deluxe Pool View, Deluxe Pool Access and Pool Villas. The first 2 are basically double-storey blocks, where the ground floor gets direct access to the pool. The contents of both rooms are identical. The Pool Villas however, are located across from the Deluxe rooms, and is on a building of its own. To get to your rooms, the hotel uses golf buggies to send you to your rooms, or you may choose to take a nice stroll through their gardens.

Notice the room number, door, and ceiling are all made from wood

Deluxe Pool View Room - Looks identical to Deluxe Pool Access Room

Chiangmai 2011 Part 3 - Focus on Playing

Date of Travel: 15-18 Jan 2011

Chiangmai has its usual fare of temples and animals like any other Thai city. But due to the hilly nature of the area, it has a variety of Xtreme sports you could try out. Things like Bungy Jump, Off Road Buggy Tours, Off Road Motorcycles, Xorb Ball, Drifter Go Karts, Paintball, etc. I found 2 activities that I truly enjoyed in this area.

1. Zipline

Zipline involves swinging from one tree to another whilst harnessed to a rope joining the 2 trees. In Chiangmai, this is taken to a whole different level, where you will be zipping around for 2 hours, some as far as 300m even. There are 2 main companies to choose from, which are Flight Of The Gibbon and Jungle Flight. Both of these companies have excellent reviews and is up to you to decide which to follow. I originally booked with Flight Of The Gibbon through the tour desk in my hotel. But due to a huge mess-up by the tour desk regarding prices, I ended up with Jungle Flight instead.

Chiangmai 2011 Part 2 - Focus on Eating

Date of Travel: 15-18 Jan 2011

Crabmeat popiah - one of the highlights of our street food experience

Like any other city in Thailand, you are never short of places to eat in Chiangmai. Every street corner will have a stall/restaurant of some kind. You will be spoilt for choices here, especially for international cuisine due to the high number of expats in the area. In fact, Chiangmai is better than Bangkok for example, due to the smaller city area and concentration of these restaurants in the city. Street food is street food. Just pick out whatever you think looks interesting and try it.

Chiangmai 2011 Part 1 - Focus on Pampering

Date of travel: 15-18 Jan 2011

Chiangmai is a beautiful hilly city north of Bangkok. Its unique feature is a moat surrounding the old city, and newer areas developing just outside the moat. It isn't just all about temples, elephants and tribal villages as you may have heard. Crazydigest takes on a very different aspect of the city in this 3-part series appreciation of Chiangmai.

1. Do your hair

Chiangmai has quite a number of top-notch hairstylists, mostly frequented by the high number of expatriates in the area. One such place is called Absolute Hair Studio. They claim to be the first and only L’Oréal Professional Le Club hair salon in northern Thailand. They are so famous in online reviews and forums, that people from all over the world will make a stop at this place just to get a haircut done by a L’Oréal Professional stylist. If you are lucky enough, you will get Ong to do your hair, and he did an absolutely perfect job for my hair.

How Long is a Giraffe's tongue?

- by angie -


This is me feeding giraffes at Bangkok's Safari World. I admit, I'm a meanie, i purposely made the giraffe reach for the banana, just to see how long their tongues are. Muahahaha!