Thurs 22nd Feb 18
A lazy start and breakfast then a stroll around the Old City streets, it’s in the 30s by midday. Tuk Tuk to the Duangtawan, a modern 24 story hotel; room wasn’t ready they apologised and upgraded me to a business class room instead.. result After a shave in hot water for a change and a nice shower I had a chance to catch up on several days for the blog, the Wi-fi works well here, they even have Earl Grey tea
Had dinner in the Hard Rock Cafe, expensive but surprisingly good Asian noodles with tasty shrimps.
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- For a change
Had a browse round the night bazaar and then into the rock bar. Sat through The Black Hawks whole 2 hr gig, really rocking; they even set fire to the floor for effect during Highway to Hell Got talking to the singer and the young lead guitarist after; apparently the singer won the Voice over here and is married with a young child and always goes home to the wife after the show, not all Rock & Roll . During the show some bikers turned up, check out the Chopper, how that goes round corners I’ve no idea
Black Hawks front man
Click below for a clip of the Black Hawks in action…Highway Star, Deep Purple.
Fri 23rd Feb 18
Lazy start, very good breakfast at this hotel then went walking. Spent some time chilling and talking to ex pats in various bars; they love it here, their pensions go a lot further than in U.K. That night I went to the night market to buy some presents for home and got accosted by the cabaret Ladyboys who were advertising their show; what could I do they wanted a tall guy for a pic.
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- Ladyboys love BigJohn
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- Yes…she’s a Ladyboy
Great place the night market, music everywhere really cool vibe.
Wanted to buy a makeup bag for my daughter, picked one and asked how much? 300 bhat he said so I said too much and offered 150, as expected he said 200 so I gave in. Then I realised it was a 3 bag set, small, med and large.. I thought I was only getting the middle size bag so I had got the full set for under £5 !
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- Green prawn curry with vegetables
Dinner was a delicious Thai green curry in a very nice restaurant with vegetables and prawn and rice; washed down with 2 Singha beers, all for less than £10. The owner of the restaurant had a vintage Mercedes on show, obviously doing OK and even the little Buddha was happy
I LOVE Chiang Mai
Sat 24th Feb 18
My last day in CM, I fly back to U.K. in the morning tomorrow. Just seen weather fcast.. freezing temperatures and snow; so I’ll be going from 30c+ to 30 Fahrenheit oh well, it’s been a nice break from U.K. winter.
After a leisurely breakfast I walked up to the Corner Bar for a cappuccino and to watch the world go by. Some time later a guy carrying a crash helmet stopped at the ATM next door, he noticed my TBB Tshirt and came over; turned out he had just taken a bike back to their shop; he was English from Wantage; we started to chat. An hour so later Fred from our trip came walking by and joined us for a couple of beers. James suggested lunch so he and I went off and said goodbye to Fred. We went to a very nice cafe in the old city and continued chatting; in no time it was past 4pm, Great way to spend a few hours I didn’t fancy the walk back to the hotel in the heat so grabbed a TukTuk.. short clip below.
Went to the night market to buy a couple more presents then popped into the rock bar to catch a couple of songs from the Black Hawks; they were so good I stayed to the end.
All packed now and ready for an 8.15 TukTuk to the airport and a total of 14hrs in the air back to freezing UK 🇬🇧
This adventure is nearly over; it’s been one of the best 🙂
Let’s keep the motor running……:)
John, Great write up of our trip. Enjoyed your company, lets do it again sometime!