Short Visit To Chiang Mai

[lungbing]

I have just returned to Khon Kaen after a few days holiday in Chiang Mai with my Thai family and my sister and her husband who were visiting Thailand for the first time.

It's like the curate's egg, good in parts. We had an excellent evening meal in a restaurant that I have forgotten the name of. Our driver took us to it. It is situated in a back street, in a courtyard in front of the building it had a large wooden elephant that moved back on a track to make room for classical dancing to take place. There are a large number of tables outside the large wooden building , the tables being mostly at floor level but there were a few around the edges western style with chairs. There is also a 1930's English car outside in excellent condition. Perhaps a Morris 8? The food there was excellent and I can recommend it, if there's enough description there for you to identify it!

But I cannot recommend the next place we ate at. It was called The Rim Ping Restaurant and is near the river near to The Chiang Mai Postal Museum. It was awful from the time we walked it. There were eight of us but they insisted we sat inside and wouldn't let us eat outside despite there being empty tables by the river. The table was filthy and when the cutlery and plates were put down they were worse. There was a stain inside a drinking glass so that when cold water was put in it went brown like an old cigarette had been left in. Most of our plates had a layer of dust on them. The waitress changed them with a bad grace and then made us wait a quarter of an hour before taking our food order. If she had not already brought the drinks we would have left. Then we waited a full three quarters of an hour for the food to be served, again nearly prompting a walkout. The food was average at best so I suggest you give that one a miss.

The sightseeing was fine, although the hot springs at Sankhampaeng were a blatant double-price ripoff. And does Chiang Mai normally have traffic jams at 3pm? We seemed to find them. The famed night market was a bit repetetive.

The zoo is not worth it. It is far too spread out, poor conditions, many exhibits with no names or explanations or simply empty. And the stuffed panda they charge a fortune to see is a ripoff. It's a real panda? Go on, I don't believe you. It didn't appear to be breathing nevermind moving. As there were too many people the keeper said that only one of the two was on display.

Chiang Mai was OK to visit, briefly, but I wouldn't want to live there. I much prefer Isaan although I suspect I have seen only the touristy Chiang Mai.

Lung Bing

[Harmonica]

I have just returned to Khon Kaen after a few days holiday in Chiang Mai with my Thai family and my sister and her husband who were visiting Thailand for the first time.

It's like the curate's egg,  good in parts.  We had an excellent evening meal in a restaurant  that I have forgotten the name of.  Our driver took us to it.  It is situated in a back street, in a courtyard in front of the building it had a large wooden elephant that moved back on a  track to make room for classical dancing to take place.  There are a large number of tables outside the large wooden building , the tables being mostly at floor level but there were a few around the edges western style with chairs.  There is also a 1930's English car outside in excellent condition.  Perhaps a Morris 8?  The food there was excellent and I can recommend it, if there's enough description there for you to identify it!

But I cannot recommend the next place we ate at.  It was called The Rim Ping Restaurant and is near the river near to The Chiang Mai Postal Museum.  It was awful from the  time we walked it.  There were eight of us but they insisted we sat inside and wouldn't let us eat outside despite there being empty tables by the river.  The table was filthy and when the cutlery and plates were put down they were worse.  There was a stain inside a drinking glass so that when cold water was put in it went brown like an old cigarette had been left in.  Most of our plates had a layer of dust on them.  The waitress changed them with a bad grace and then made us wait a quarter of an hour before taking our food order.  If she had not already brought the drinks we would have left.  Then we waited a full three quarters of an hour for the food to be served, again nearly prompting a walkout.  The food was average at best so I suggest you give that one a miss.

The sightseeing was fine, although the hot springs at Sankhampaeng were  a blatant double-price ripoff.  And does Chiang Mai normally have traffic jams at 3pm?  We seemed to find them.  The famed  night market was a bit repetetive.

The zoo is not worth it.  It is far too spread out, poor conditions,  many exhibits with no names or explanations or simply empty. And the stuffed panda they charge a fortune to see is a ripoff.  It's a real panda?  Go on, I don't believe you.  It didn't appear to be breathing nevermind moving.  As there were too many people the keeper said that only one of the two  was on display.

Chiang Mai was OK to visit, briefly,  but I wouldn't want to live there.  I much prefer Isaan although I suspect I have seen only the touristy Chiang Mai.

Lung Bing

>>>>>Most of our plates had a layer of dust on them.<<<<<<

That is the first course -- dust is available in vast quantities here and its free! Then there's a nice thick layer of soot -- nobody seems to care or to take notice but they all say its Paradise!

[JimGant]

Chiang Mai was OK to visit, briefly, but I wouldn't want to live there.

Then don't......

[jackr]

Always more difficult when travelling with many people and not knowing the better places to go. Come back again by yourself and explore more thoroughly, lungbing; there's some lovely spots. On second thoughts, no, stay in featureless Isaan, it really is &lt;deleted&gt; here!