2008 Review.

Well, so far , 2008 has been an eventful year .

many sad and tragic events happened, like the sichuan earthquake , mumbai attacks..

despite all that there have been joyful events too

for me , 2008 was quite okay ,

not many achievements , but many interesting experiences

i hope 2009 will be a great year

oh gosh this post so lame :D

happy new year everyone!

Chiang Mai

The trip to Chiang Mai (CM) was enjoyable , and this post is waaaay overdue.


Day1

Travelling .
JB > Bangkok > CM

by the time we reached, it was late . Checked into hotel (Dusit Princess)

lobby



Had dinner at the night market , really nice place .
Pineapple rice , green curry , fish cakes , tom yam .

heck , no one took pictures. Gone in 60 seconds.

Day 2

Left hotel early , today's destination : Chiang Rai. Up north from CM.

Along the way, stopped at an orchid and butterfly farm .
here they make real orchids into jewelry . Nothing much to see.

Visited the Maesa elephant camp , its kinda like a school for the elephants.
took an elephant ride . Each of the elephants have their own names , like Mae Moo , Mae Moo 2 (????) , Mae Jumbo , and Mae so- and- so .


LOL .


excuse me...



halfway , one of the maes farted.

bruburururu ~

and another stopped to shit and pee.


after that , there was an elephant show . Similar to the one in Bangkok , this one had a bit more variety but it was not very organized .


shuffle??

then as usual , the elephants paint a picture and they sell it to the crowd .


at the souvenir shop , they sell cards and paper made from processed elephant shit .
lots of fiber , right ?


don't worry , its all disinfected .

Continued journey up north , along the way visited honey centre , and silverware factory .

after that slept in the bus , until we reached this hot spring , apparently the highest in thailand .
(i dunno is it highest as in, in a high place or the spray very high .. )





So they sell eggs there , you can buy a basket of quail or chicken eggs and boil them in an extra hot boiling water pool. Soak your feet barefoot , therefore walk around barefoot .
and i was like ," why are my feet so hot.." when i was standing near the pool.

oww.

on the bus , everyone was busy peeling and eating eggs , and the very concerned bus driver asked the tour guide to pass out plastic bags...

reached Chiang Rai at night , visited Wat Rong Khun, a modern wat (temple) built by an artist.
its inlaid with mirror mosaic ,so it sparkles at night, and its been under construction for 10 years because he keeps demolishing certain parts if he's not satisfied. smart .

Day 3


Hotel in the morning .

Left early for the Golden Triangle region . This area covers 3 countries , Thailand , Myanmar , and Laos .
Infamous for opium production last time . Traveled to the Myanmar border . Tour guide helped us settle this special pass thingy and before long we were walking through the checkpoint , across the bridge flanked by thai and myanmar flags , and past the signboard
[welcome to the Union of Myanmar]

*Dhammayon town .


got into a motor taxi (tuk-tuk ) , and headed to this small temple , built by the opium drug lord , Khun-sa as , uhhh ... pennance for his sins?
as usual there are buddha sculptures but the temple's highlights are these 6 small sculptures .
Wooden buddhas with gold leaf which heads seem to turn towards you no matter which angle you are .






next , headed to the not so famous local replica of the famous Shwedagon Pagoda, in rangoon.



Only half of it is gold leafed , the other half waiting for donations.
there are 7 altars to pray at , one for each day .
released some birds for good luck then rang the big bell .

next visited the local village


and went to the market .
Lots of stuff to see , local products , souvenirs , and suspicious-looking LV/Burberry/D&G/Gucci/ Etc.. handbags/clothes/jackets/shoes/accessories


Haha .




waited for the rest while some of us tried betel nut (not me)

went back to Thailand , and visited the Opium House after lunch.
There they have everything opium, from the best pose for smoking



, poppy flowers, DIY Make-Your-Own-Opium displays , opium weights, opium pipes , opium posters , branded opium
(DOUBLE UOGLOBE brand. Kinda the best opium) , punishment-for-drug-offences display

Khun-sa the drug lord.

but no opium .


next , went to this small jetty and waited for a boat to Laos.
after a 20 minute boat ride, we went ashore and felt like pendatang haram because no one came and check pasports .







welcome to P.D.R Laos , Donsao .

visited this wine maker which has bottled snakes in wine .All with their own weird effects. not only bottled snakes, there are pangolins , scorpions(increase imunity ),
chameleons (for ladies , i dont know why) , ginseng , lizards , and
tiger penis (for what ? duhh. OBVIOUSLY.. )

ahem . nothing much to see in Laos , went back to Thailand .

3 countries in a matter of hours.

visited the Karan long-neck tribe . They rely a lot on tourism . Saw a few playing what looked like a guitar and singing songs which i didn't understand..

Long journey back to CM , entertained the kiddo on the bus by doing rubiks .
( yea, there's an 8 year old kid in the group , and i remember how to solve rubiks :D)

Day4




First stop , Wat Chedi Luang. Literally means " big pagoda temple "
There's a 100 year old rubber tree in the compound , and heck , it doesn't look like one .

half the pagoda is left , because it was damaged by an earthquake .

it had 4 entrances , but only one has stairs while the others are just ramps , to ensure that only one person will go at one time (when the king goes up la)

saw a group of kiddos on a field trip . went inside the relic hall , and there we received the official news.


"Survanabhumi Airport has been closed down "


crap! how to go back. means can't go bangkok . everyone who didnt pray quickly went and pray.

*typical!*


* taken on the way to doi suthep . 3 kings of ancient times, discussing how to return to bangkok now that the airport is closed .




next stop , Doi Suthep . One of CM's main temples. On the way there we visited a flower garden , and they had poppies there also . Then this uncle demo how they tap poppies and said with a big toothless grin that he has a little opium if we were interested in trying ...

waited for those who wanted to take pictures with the flowers and waited even longer for those who wanted to take pictures in traditional tribe costumes .

meanwhile i walked around and this little kiddo showed me a wooden crossbow .
so i occupied myself with shooting papayas on the wall with a crossbow . really fun!

apparently one of those taking pics saw a blurry figure through the camera .

But did not take the picture because she was too freaked out.


Doi Suthep , 309 steps up.
Choose to walk , or spend 20 B on the tram ride.
few of us chose to walk , and spend the 20B on FOOD .


the gold pagoda was under renovation , and we saw the emerald buddha statue also .


and behind the temple there's a bird's eye view of the whole Chiang mai city .


went to silk factory , then umbrella factory.

and at night , went for a cultural performance , where you " dine and feast like a king "
and watch the performance.

it was quite nice, the ambience and performance i mean. the food was so-so only .

*opera

thai peacock dance, and their version of lion dance , with a deer i think .
and then sword dance, muay thai .

left a little early to light our paper lantern , and watch it float away with wishes that we can return safely , and on time...

(well, the on time one never happened)

went back to day one's hotel , Dusit Princess , and lepak-ed at the night bazaar until quite late.
found the food court and market square . HAHAHAH.
ate the "rotee " which is well , roti la . "Best Banana Rotee" indeed.


Day 5






woke up at 5.30 am . Really .
a few of us requested a tour to the Doi Inthanon national park ,
the highest point in thailand .
the internet guide says " in mid december , the ground is frost covered before 7am"

well , it wasn't mid december and we were going like , 7 am . So no worries, wear 2 shirts should be enough .

our driver didn't talk much , and the van's air con was cold . heck , before we even reached DI i was feeling cold already .

* 5 Degrees Celcius

well , almost there was cold. windows got fogged up and i was colddd....
reached there, got down , " not so cold la.. nice weather"
*starts running up the trail*

suddenly a guy in army pants points at me and starts talking in thai
im like , " huh? * gestures to my ear trying to say i dont understand*"

" No running " he says . " walking can"

im like , 0.o , " okay , thank you "

*no expression*

"kap kun kaa, sawadeekap " * im doing the thai greeting thing*

*SALUTES* *i salute back * and the fella walks off . im like, WTH..

iii ssstart to ssshhhivver.. ddamn coldd..

the late king's memorial is on top , no wonder..
everyone's debating where to go , wheter got anywhere sell hot drinks and they're like pointing the opposite direction to a huge compound and insisting thats where we're supposed to go
(we dont have a guide) when that place is actually the Chiang Mai Observatory
(military guarded)

*observatory . trespassers will be shot , survivors shot again.

went to the tourist building.kinda surprised when saw frost on the grass ,

(its thailand ... ) .


lots of freezing photographers bending over in awkward positions trying to take photos of the frost with huge DSLRs

did i mention that it's damn cold? (im only wearing t shirts )

found a drinks stall which sold HOT CHOCOLATE !! 55B per cup (5.50) very nice.
iced chocolate is 65 B . WHY MORE EXPENSIVE???

bought a jacket (REALLY NEED IT. )


went on the nature trail , very nice place . There's a big meadow with lots of sunshine . Saw the highest water catchment ( tadahan air.. geografi :D ) in thailand , called the "Ang Ka"
(crow's pond)





went down the moutain to see the twin Pagodas , one for the king and the other for the queen , built by the Royal Air Force for their 60th birthdays .

*king's * queen's

the king's one is higher than the queen's one , and its VERY WINDY..
my hair was all over and my bag straps where flapping . if you stand very straight , you can fall down . hahaha.

*not really all over la .

AND IT WAS CHILLY.. (not so cold cause we were lower down and the sun came up higher)
seeked refuge in the solace of shelter . each pagoda has a hall with a buddha statue inside .



the scenery from up there is all clouds and mountains all the way dowwwwn..


went down to the royal project , a botanical garden commisioned by the king .
Lots of orchids and flowers . walked around quite cluelessly searching for the waterfall and asking people where it was.

found the waterfall and realised it wasnt the waterfall we were looking for.
suddenly find the van parked nearby and feel very thankful .

ask the driver to take us to the Wachiratarn Waterfall .
its a beautiful waterfall .really beautiful .one of the best i've ever seen .
the spray from the waterfall creates a permanant rainbow . As long as the sun shines, it'll be there.
and its , like , coloured mist becoming solid and forming a rainbow bridge like that.


spent a little too much time there , only few of us went up for the top view , the rest missed out on this!

went down to CM city , to the airport plaza , where everyone else was.
so turns out we cant go back today , only on the 2nd december.
sad .

ate at the food court , i love pad thai !

went to see the royal floral exhibition , nothing much there. the natural floral exhibition at doi inthanon was better ;D

lepak at the night market again , this time booked some local tours to last us a few more days :D


Day 6

the van from the tour company picked us up to go to the Mae Tang elephant centre.
along the way , picked up a few ang mohs, i sat with 2 irish dudes.
they ask me how old i was, i told them "14"
they're like , " jesus , he's fourteen!"

disbelief . HAHAHA.

today's programme is : elephant ride > ATV ride> bamboo rafting

ATV is all terrain vehicle , or quad bike .

the ang mohs were going for the elephant , ATV and white water rafting .

we went for the ATV while they went for the rafting.

okay , i suck at driving :D
while trying to drive the atv , i rammed into someone's truck .
my mum was like , " DRIVE PROPERLY! DANGEROUS LAA"

me: " I KNOW!" *bang*

finally i kinda got the hang of it .
it was fun , haha . my mum looked very scared while her friend, who was driving , was having lots of fun and kept on overtaking me , so i tried to overtake back. hahaha.

*i look weird

got one part going downhill , the guide wouldnt let me drive.
he said "dancherouus"

okay...

after that we went back for lunch ,and we saw the ang mohs looking wet , and wearing different clothes .
apparently their raft turned over and one of them hurt his leg.

how was the rafting?

"it was CRUUAZZY ! our raft turned over , and phill got a nasty cut on his leg ! i tell you , it was CRUAZYYY"

my mum: " see , luckily we didnt take rafting"

LOL. elephant ride next.



*mum likes the baby elephant

This , is unarguably the best elephant ride ever. River crossing , plus the baby elephant followed its parents along! so cute !

we bought some bananas to feed the elephant , cause it kept sticking its trunk to us and demanding bananas . I fooled around with it before it got pissed and kinda blew at me through its trunk , sending dust flying .

okay , take the bananas . the baby elephant was like , poking my mum's leg with its trunk , asking for bananas .

then the mother elephant took the banana. hahahahah.
it tried to take someone's camera too .

then we crossed the river , and the baby was swimming alongside with its trunk up like a snorkel.it kept rolling around . Saw lots of "cannonballs" floating down the river. elephant shit .

*fire in the hole / shit out the hole
*my mum's timing is quite good eh.

the elephant in front of us started shitting , and the shit was huge .water splashed up of course. yuck!

someone asked whether it was a male or female . I saw its "5th leg" and i shouted back that it was a male..

after that we went bamboo rafting . one of our group member dunno how to swim..
well, i'm more concerned about the river than the depth . because there is shit floating everywhere. bluekk.

it was nice and relaxing , and then the boatman sang some songs and he forgot the lyrics .
then the group ( majority aunties la) SANG TOGETHER .

and we did not see much wildlife on the way i wonder why hehe :DDDDDD

reached the end , our van supposed to pick us up . while waiting , bought some coconuts and watched a muay thai match on tv.

WOW , the ang mohs are not with us. one of them is in hospital cause he crashed his atv.

the driver said , " captain say stop , they say "FAAASTTT" . very stubborn! "

nothing serious . haha . lots of leg space for us on the way back . I hogged 3 back seats :D

went back hotel , rested, then lepak at night market.
*went massage , rm 8 for back , shoulder , leg , feet , neck massage. 1/2 hour . NO EXTRA SERVICE *

ate at MIKE's BURGERS ORIGINAL , Converting Vegetarians Since 1979
burgers were good , american style . haha.

Day 7

went to visit the hot spring area. bigger than the previous one we saw .
went to buy eggs to boil , haha . there's a signboard there:

soft boil: 3 minutes
half done: 9 minutes
well done : 10 - 15 minutes

i went for 10 minutes , very nice. ahahhaha.

next , baan thawai market. it's chiang mai's answer to bangkok's Chatuchat market, the mother of all markets .

but , 1) not many tourists because of the airport thing
2) no tourists , no need to open stall .
3) not many stalls to see



ate pad thai again :D
saw little kid holding toy gun and knife pretending to shoot invisible enemies then hara-kiri himself .

*for him , gunshots sound like , " CHING CHING CHING "

*puppets

went back to hotel , rest , then came out . (its a sunday! )
sunday means SUNDAY MARKET !


the sunday market starts at the city gate , a huge square there. like the size of EC's school field .
and past that , a very long road , maybe 1 or 2 km . ALL STALLS .
and got roads branching out also . ALL STALLS!

everywhere got food , souvenirs, stuff , and buskers!
there was this blind band , they sat in a row and sang and played guitar ,they were good .

lots of buskers , there was this guy who was like shouting funny stuff as he played , his style also funny , but he spoke thai so i didnt understand .
then got this group of students playing violins . Night market street quartet sehhh

was really nice. got one more blind band , and then i saw this guy with long hair and torn jeans with torn sneakers . i'm like, "familiar.."

oh , this fella from the night market opposite the hotel XD

buskers the gathering .


walked until like 10pm , then my mum said it was late better go back .
I'm like, " still early! we only saw like, half"

"in malaysia is 11 pm already la , come lets go "

*_*

Day 8


* the thai words on the signboard say " CHINATOWN " , duhh :D

went to chinatown , frankly nothing much to see.
mum and friends very happy , cause they saw lots of stuff they like . hahaha

went till like , lunchtime . went back to hotel .

came out in the evening to lepak some more !
saw the stars and the moon smiling at us , like :)

decided to go to the GERMAN HOFBRAUHAUS for dinner!


and guess what , they ran out of sausages .
my mum said maybe the planes cant come in to supply them >_>

*nice ambience ,funny polka music . there's a buddha statue upstairs though :D

ordered pork chop . superb ( see, shape like Thailand map, half eaten LOL)

and apple strudel



after that mum's friend wanted to buy some stuff so i showed them around the night market
then later , everyone felt hungry so they went to eat noodle soup ( i ate twice before)


*random pic near noodle stall . WTH


instead i went to try double bacon cheeseburger ( PORK VERSION) at burger king!


*SOME LIKE IT HOT LOL*


and from the top floor i could see the whole night market, so sad, hardly any tourists.

december has begun , its starting to get cold .
everyone i saw was COLD , i was wearing 2 shirts and i was sweating , my mum was like , "NOT COLD AH" . the guy at the reception asked me , " you not cold??"

" NO .. "

Day 9

finally! we're going home!
went to airport plaza while waiting for flight , had my last round of pad thai :(

ate so often that my mum says " i think i know how to cook pad thai"

everyone was like, PUSHING to board the plane , and it was FULL SEATING .
first time seh .

reached home safe and sound ,

overall , really nice trip :D
great weather , great food , great people .

oh yeah and when we got home my dad said that somchai(thai pm) stepped down already .
i was like , LOL .

completed (FINALLY ) on 31st December 2008