The SSSS tour of celebrations.

[Katie]

Back to Le Meridien.This was a Points booking.Only upgrade to the club floor just a short walk to the lounge-

Not a fan of looking into the bathroom from the bed.

A large bathroom but needs a powere point and more light over the mirror.Now our view-
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Some macaroons and fruit for a welcome-
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Ahh, we were there just before you - same side of the hotel, same view. We were in 2017. Great number for NYE!
Much prefer the view on the other side, looking up to Doisuthep, like the view from the lounge.

It's a bit hard to get at, but we were thankful for the shade over the bathroom window - helped with Little Miss 10's modesty.

We had a two pack of macarons appear on our second day at LM. No note or fruit, so I guessed it was some kind of welcome.

 

[Katie]

One of the food areas-

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I grazed a bit and mrsdrron had some of the BBQ meats-

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That selection was 100 baht and definitely sub par quality.The rest sampled was carp-the only spice was chilli.

I read some reviews about that food area before we went there one night. Upside for us was the easy access to a variety & Little Miss getting western food. We also felt secure enough to let her order her own food & walk back to us. Other areas, like Kalare, seemed too busy for that.
Downside was that it definitely seemed to be geared at tourists, and so tourist prices.

We ate at Lemongrass one night, down the street from Hard Rock and McDonald's -heading toward the river from the LM. It was delicious. We had to wait for at least 45 minutes.

 

[drron]

Our room was 2111 so just down the hall from the lounge.more food to come.
our days here were also laid back.we have been to chiang Mai several times so no need to do all the tourist things.the last time was ~ 20 years ago.Reading about things like the elephant parks made me glad we came then.Seems much more touristy now.
So we would rise late,have a leisurely brekkie about 0900 and would go out for a walk ~` 1430-1500.nothing much open before then with one exception-the money exchanges with the best rates close at 1230.I believe they do run some of the night market exchanges where they have a much wider spread.Ie for AUD from 26 baht to ~ 25.2 at the night markets.They really are tourist traps.
So Saturday and we walked to the old town and the Saturday walking markets which get into full swing ~ 1700.So the pictorial from leaving the Le Meridien-

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Most of the tourists do their tours in these red vans little realising that Thailand has the second worst road toll in the world and these vans kill more people than any other vehicle.The road toll for the 6 day New Years holiday was 478.Nearly 80 people a day.

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We reach the walls of the Old City-

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[drron]

So continuing our walk.First the impressive Thai Electricity Distribution system-

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It did come as a little surprise the numbers of female backpackers in chiang Mai.of course they could stay in a Box-

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[Pushka]

Gosh. I thought Vietnam's electrical wires were crazy but that beats them by a country mile! Bet they hold up better than ours in SA do!

 

[drron]

Definitely less blackouts there than SA.:shock:

 

[drron]

Not much in Walking street.A lot of silver stores and stalls plus all the usual rubbish.so soon found ourselves walking back but inside the walls.As we came to a food market a young boy and his mother were feeding lots of pigeons.A tuk tuk started up and they all ended up here-

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They soon decided to return amongst the famous food carts-

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Now outside this school which was attached to an elderly residential facility there was a pedestrian crossing controlled by lights.The red light meant nothing and it took 3 goes before the traffic stopped for the red.So continuing back towards the hotel-

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lots of temples-

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And nice gardens beside the moat-

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[drron]

A well decorated bridge as we turn towards our hotel-

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One of the stores on the way back had an interesting new food-

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Now a bit more of the hotel.the lounge breakfast was quite sufficient.Not a great range except for the fact you ordered your hot dish and the choices were quite reasonable.Here are our choices the first morning-

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You could also have brekkie in the restaurant and although more choice the quality wasn't as good.plus it was busy with many uncontrolled kids running around.So we preferred the lounge.plus you got good views-

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Plus you got views of CNX-

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[drron]

We didn't feel like going out that night.the items in the lounge weren't to our taste so we got the lounge staff to book us into their Italian restaurant-Favola.We were then told Happy hour drinks were also available in Favola for plats.Fantastic.
We are not late eaters so we went down at 1915.Chef Matteo came over and introduced himself and explained the menu and asked if we had any food intolerances.We were soon also visited by the F&B manager.Staff were very good.But of course it is the food that must impress.
Interesting way to serve the bread plus an amuse bouche served quickly-

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Mrsdrron started with the carpaccio which she rated one of the best she had had.I began with the deep fried soft shell crab,snow fish,squid and prawn-really good plus I then snuck in the wild mushroom soup with black truffle oil-it was very nice as well-

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For mains mrsdrron was feeling like her comfort dish-pasta carbonara and I the foie gras ravioli with truffle sauce.A little rich-

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It was also very good to have the Happy hour wines so for a change I could drink red and mrsdrron her SB.After we finished chef Matteo came over for another chat.i think mrsdrron took to him-

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We thoroughly enjoyed the food and the total experience so decided we would go back on our last night.

 

[drron]

The next day we decided to walk to the Elephant Parade chiang mai shop over the river from the LM.it is an elephant "charity".Means a little of the profits go to elephants.So left then left again out of the LM.

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It becomes a lot more of a local street then goes through the extensive Wororot market area-

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So maybe the Chiang mai real estate market is becoming a bubble.
We headed down the lanes to our left to the Hill tribe section of the market-cheaper and better quality than the night markets-

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Picked up a few things for the grandkids.Back to the main road.And this is outside the entrance to the wet market.Also a flower section.

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[drron]

You can get everything here.even one of my childhood favourites-gooseberries.

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Then across the river on the pedestrian bridge-

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And finally Elephant Parade.they even have elephant decorating classes-

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[drron]

Just down the road from the elephants is a temple.It was buzzing-

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Now despite the sign saying women were not allowed to climb the steps many female backpackers of European origin felt it didn't apply to them.

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And they had the subspecies banknote of the money tree-

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[drron]

So we say goodbye to the temple and keep walking down the opposite side of the river to the LM.Some magnificent old teak building-

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We came to the gallery restaurant which had good reviews on some food sites though not so much on TA.As we were going an aussie walked out saying the food was great.Certainly an attractive place to have lunch.

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Then the food.We ordered the special BBQ mushrooms,pad Thai with prawns and I had another khao soi.

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Well the BBQ mushrooms was neither a mushroom dish or BBQued.The khao soi was bland and the boiled noodles were spaghetti not rice noodles.The pad thai was unexceptional.plenty of flies as well so definitely not a recommendation.Pity as the actual setting was nice with lots of orchids-

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our walk continued down the river until we came to the bridge which the road passing the LM crossed the river-

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[Geegeela]

You can get everything here.even one of my childhood favourites-gooseberries.
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You don't find hair on duck eggs,
You do find hair on apes,
It's only the hairs on gooseberries,
That stops them from being grapes.

 

[drron]

So across the river and head towards the LM with some more impressive electrical work-

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And a temple we could see from our room.i did not make a donation-

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And another elephant outside a well known Thai restaurant-

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So back to the hotel and a nice evening in the lounge watching the sunset with a free wine in hand-

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[drron]

We had passed a nice looking restaurant on that walk so on the third day it was a late lunch there.They had a nice garden for attracting butterflies.but first a typical Thai pub-

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And this is the restaurant-

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[drron]

A very nice spot on the river-

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They had a display of the Elephant parade sculptures-

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[drron]

So to the food washed down with Chang for me and young coconut for mrsdrron.Tamarind ribs,lemongrass chicken and khao soi for me-

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Very nice food.The khao soi was the best I had in Chiang Mai though the best of the trip was at the Marriott Mayfair.But the cook was from chiang Mai and as he said he was able to get better quality ingredients than when back at home.
So now a different way back to the LM.Another old teak house which houses a restaurant which was on my list but closed while we were there-

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Better than the modern monstrosity close by-

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So I wonder who the celebs are.

 

[drron]

Continuing our walk back to the LM.A building where only one half has been renovated.We thought it looked better unrenovated-

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Another old teak building-

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I don't think I would recommend this gem lab or the jeweller-

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A beautiful old teak building which looks like it is being allowed to decay-

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Back to the lounge in time for happy hour with a relaxing view-

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[drron]

Our 4th day and finally a rain affected day.it continued all day.So what do you do on a rainy day when you don't want to go for a walk?Of course it is off to the mall.So the Central festival mall it was.As a change they had a large picture of the new King outside-he had come to Chiang Mai on the same day as us.

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There were several of mrsdrron's favourite stores as well as a Jim Thomson outlet store.But it was I who got the most buys.Lunch was at a Japanese restaurant-Fumi.Quite reasonable food at a reasonable price.started with some sushi-tobiko and ikura wrapped in salmon.Then the same on rice plus mixed mushrooms with garlic-

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Continuig with tori karaage,teriyaki beef and mixed tempura-

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Interesting decorations.Umbrella making is big in surrounding villages-

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When it was time to leave we went down to the basement and their downmarket food court and bought some mango and sticky rice for later plus this-

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A coconut that has been removed whole from the husk.Just stick in a straw and drink coconut water.Then eat what's left.
Taxi back to the hotel.Couldn't get any taxi to use a meter and fare was always 200 baht,anywhere.