Over the course of our travels, we had both been to Thailand before with the obligatory tours of Bangkok before heading out to smaller resort or military towns to the south. This time, we wanted to head a different direction and scheduled 5 nights to the north, in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
We traveled to Chiang Mai via Asian regionals, Jet Airways and Bangkok Air - more accurately, that was how we were supposed to travel. Jet Airways from Ho Chi Minh City (SGN) to Bangkok (Suvarnabhumi - BKK) and then Bangkok Air from Bangkok to Chiang Mai (CNX). In reality, we were sitting at the gate 90 minutes before departure when ground personnel approached us with new boarding passes for Vietnam Airways and said, "You need to hurry, the aircraft is waiting..." Turns out, our Jet Airways flight was going to be 3 hours late (unannounced) and we were going to miss our connection from BKK to CNX. So off we hustled to the other side of the airport and a chaotic gate scene as the ground staff tried to get everything lined up for our departure. Our main worry, spot on as it turned out, was what about our checked bags? Say goodbye to all your things for 24 hours... Fortunately we had essential meds, etc but waved good bye to most of our toiletries and all of our clothes when we went wheels up from Ho Chi Minh City.
So how do you de-stress while waiting for your second airplane and knowing that your bags are not going to be there on the other end? You have a beautiful conversation with a Buddhist Master and his monks at our gate - the calm and serenity he projected helped us realize the real experience was sitting there beside us...
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| The Master calms us down |
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| The Master's card - his Temple is very well known in Chiang Mai |
Quick aside on our experience aboard Asian Regionals - we were very impressed with Bangkok Airways - great website for booking and check-in, very nice free lounges at BKK and CNX, and wow - we got full meal and drink service on all three legs we flew and none of them over 85 minutes! The cabin crew really hustles...
*** Travel Intelligence Tips *** - Frequent Flier Clubs and On-line Check In - One of these we did, the other we learned about after the fact.
First, On-Line check-in... We check in on-line here in the USA - but in many cases it seems, technology is on par or better overseas when it comes to regional air carriers in Asia (and Europe too...) In our travels on this trip, we did on-line check in for all our flights - when we got to the airport, instead of standing in a long line of people, there was always a very short, Web Check-In position - both for Bangkok Airways and Jet Airways - where the counter person printed out our boarding pass and checked our bags. Felt like VIP's every time even on a bargain economy ticket. So if you can check-in online, our recommendation would be to make sure you do it every time. We didn't worry about printing out our boarding passes beforehand, we just made sure we had a paper copy printed at home for each segment/flight we flew.
Second, Frequent Flier Clubs... Now you have to ask yourself, if you are not going to fly a carrier more than once or twice in your life, why would you bother? If we had done this for Bangkok Airways, we would have avoided the overweight baggage charge we got stuck with after buying goodies on our Chiang Mai stay. The airline personnel told us we would have received an additional 10lbs (5kg) allowance if we were members of their club - lesson learned... Suspect they aren't the only airline more positively disposed to members of their club, give it a try - it can't hurt and never seems to take more than 5-10 minutes to fill in the web forms.
Ok, back to Chiang Mai... We arrived about 10:20pm and since we were on a domestic flight having cleared Customs and Immigration in Bangkok, we were out in 10 minutes with our bags where were greeted by Jane from the 137 Pillars Hotel. Jane escorted us to our limousine and filled us in on the 15 minute ride to our hotel. This was the third hotel provided transportation service we'd availed ourselves of on this trip (Bangkok, Siem Reap, and Chiang Mai) - in all cases, things went very smoothly and we avoided the typical taxi cab hustle after a late afternoon or evening arrival. Once you've been someplace for a few days, getting a cab is old hat but who wants to fight the crowds when you've been flying for hours and don't know the right way to pronounce your Hotel's name to the local cabbie. (we say "Pill-ars"; they say "Pee-lars" - one gets a blank look, the other gets you there...)
On arrival at 137 Pillars, we knew we'd scored again - Small Luxury Hotels (SLH) emblem out front - and the same experience we'd had at Shinta Mani in Siem Reap - a lobby designed for introducing one or perhaps two couples to the property on overstuffed chairs and sofas and filling out the required paperwork. Contrast this to larger hotels where the lobby seems to be meeting and wifi central - one is for business, the other is the start of an intimate experience where the staff starts the process of making you feel like family for the duration of your visit.
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| Lobby at 137 Pillars |
Location-wise, 137 Pillars is on a small, quiet side street on the east side of the Ping river that splits the town; directly across the river from the north end of the Warorot Market on the west bank. Warorot market is an easy 15 minute walk - or 5 minute Tuk Tuk ride from the hotel and is where the local folks buy food, gold, clothing, etc. The prices and quality are better than the primary tourist market - the Night Market - which is another ten minute walk south of the Warorot Market and directly across from the Le Meridian Hotel (great landmark since it is taller than most buildings in the area).
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| Movie Star Wife exiting Tuk Tuk |
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| Warorot Market |
We were given room #18, great location overlooking the courtyard and pool. Room itself was very large with a large balcony outside, a bedroom as large as most hotel rooms, a separate walk-in closet/two sink make-up and dressing room, and then a four part bathroom consisting of a four footed free-standing tub, separate glass enclosed interior toilet and shower, then piece de resistance' - an outdoor shower on a your back patio that wraps around your bathroom. Great bed, sheets, pillows, and linen - and fortunately, included toothbrushes and toothpaste since ours were still in Saigon at this point. Did I mention nightly turn down and the fresh fruit, included mini-bar, and cookies each day?
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| Bedroom in #18 |
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| Dressing Room |
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| Bath Tub |
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| View from our room |
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| Disappearing edge Pool |
The next morning, we sat down to our included breakfast - a combination of cook to order and buffet Asian and Western items that were really good. By now we looked forward to our daily morning Asian noodles and soup to get things started, then added Dim Sum or eggs, accompanied by fish or chicken stir fry, fresh fruit and fruit juice, freshly brewed coffee, and believe it or not, the best croissants ever - Whole Wheat croissants - really? The other thing that truly stood out was the wait staff. In many cases, included breakfasts mean surly staff and mediocre food. Not at the 137 Pillars - we enjoyed exceptional service each morning - including in one instance, Valerie's morning watermelon slices being presented to her "seed free" when we sat down. When do you leave tips for included breakfasts? When every morning you feel like you are sitting down to fine dining and the staff greets you by name.
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| Are you kidding? De-seeded Watermelon for my sweetie... |
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| 137 Pillars Dining Room |
Another example of our experience at 137 Pillars is the hot sauce caper... Valerie is becoming quite the hot sauce connoisseur and loves trying the local examples in each country or region. She loved the sauce she was eating with her food at 137 Pillars so she asked one of our wait staff if she could take a picture of the bottle. Mr. Nat said no problem, he'd show us a bottle at our next meal. What he really did was have a bottle of each sauce they used, delivered to our room in a bag with a hand signed letter explaining each sauce, its name and characteristics - and his card. Turns out Mr. Nat is the Food and Beverage Manager, hmmm, no wonder the service is so good when your manager is leading by example...
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| Hot Sauce package waiting in our room |
In addition to our daily breakfasts, we also ate dinner in the hotel restaurant one evening. To be fair, the food was certainly more expensive than off-property, but both service and food were the best we had while we were in Thailand (both Bangkok and Chiang Mai). On the service side, we had Mr. Dith who had recently moved from Bangkok and had previous worked on Cruise Ships out of Miami. Mr. Dith was personable, engaging, and a very well trained waiter who helped make our experience special. Valerie had a Chiang Mai delight known as Khao Soi - kind of like a chicken curry soup with fried noodles - her favorite meal on the entire three week trip. If you are staying at 137 Pillars, you owe it to yourself to set aside an evening for their intimate dinner experience.
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| Valerie's new Fav - Khao Soi |
While we are on the subject of food and dining in Chiang Mai, we ate dinner at two other restaurants during our stay. One we'd highly recommend and the other we'd never recommend. Let's start with the "Must Avoid"...
The Riverside Chiang Mai has pretty good Trip Advisor ratings and was close enough for us to walk to from the hotel. We should have continued walking... While the location is picturesque - directly on the Ping River's east bank - the outdoor restaurant is in poor repair and during daylight, every bit of its poor condition is there to see. After night falls and your are under candle and lantern light, I am sure things look better, but then, you still have to deal with their food. Huge menu for sure, but what we had was really poor - either tasteless in Valerie's case or in my case, so salty and improperly spiced (where was the hot basil again?) that we couldn't get out fast enough. Service was incompetent at best - we didn't even know they served wine until Valerie discovered a pretty extensive wine list on the way out.
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| Picturesque Setting at the Riverside Restaurant -- too bad the food was terrible |
With that out of the way, we can move on to a great experience at the House and Ginger Cafe. This was a 10 minute Tuk Tuk ride (100 Baht each way) from our hotel and was highly recommended by our front office staff. They were spot on... We chose to eat inside and entered a relatively small, nicely air conditioned, (perhaps 25 tables) and eclectically decorated sitting area with beautiful orchids strategically located. Staff was numerous, attentive, and efficient and the seating arrangements perfect for couples or foursomes out for a nice evening's dining. Sound levels were perfect and we never felt we had to shout or just nod/smile because we couldn't hear each other. When a classically trained guitarist started at 7pm, we could hear the un-amplified music clearly and were still able to converse perfectly with each other across our table. Turns out he has been playing here for 9 years - a definite bonus we didn't expect that enhanced our dining experience. So what about the dining? Wow - started with Chicken Satay - eclectically vice traditionally prepared - delicious - followed by Valerie's obligatory Khao Soi and my own Red Curry. Just when we though we couldn't be happier, we were introduced to "Coconut Delight" dessert -- lock us up and throw away the key... We also had two nice glasses of Argentinian Red for a total bill of 2300 Baht - $66 - for a three course meal, four glasses of wine and a sublime dining experience. Yes, I know that we could (and did) eat delicious local food at street cafes for less than 15 dollars - so relatively speaking this was an expensive meal but in truth was a sublime experience and these are priceless...
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| Our table at the House, Ginger & Cafe |
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| Atmosphere with beautiful music in the background |
So what did we do in Chiang Mai? We experienced two premier Elephant camps, walked the entire width of the ancient walled city, and spent two days stalking bargains in the local markets.
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| Khao Soi and Green Curry |
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| Coconut Delight - Amazing |
First, the Patara Elephant Camp... Valerie had to fly solo on this one - I was down for a hard count with a cold acquired on our Mekong Cruise and just couldn't rally for the trip. First off, we have to commend Patara for the way they do business. Very responsive to our email inquiries beforehand, signing us up for two all day elephant training sessions without a deposit (just the request that you do abide by your reservation). The day before we were scheduled, they followed up with an email at which time we decided to reschedule for the half day Elephant Day Care vice the all day Training session. Then the day of our visit, I had to bow out, sending Valerie with my fee -- which they didn't take - if you aren't there you don't pay. Hmmm - good kharma is more important than money...
They picked Valerie up right on time in an air-conditioned taxi for her 1 hour trip to the camp, leaving Chiang Mai proper and heading out to the higher ground outside the city. When she got there, her other 8 classmates were from Wales and Spain, and the first order of business was sizing each guest for their very own elephant... Valerie doesn't know how this happened but she was assigned the bull elephant -- biggest and oldest one of the bunch -- Dang, this thing is big and look at those tusks... Come back here Valerie, you need to feed him, let me show you how... Ok, now that you have fed him, let's give him a bath... You did bring a bathing suit right? Oh, it is still somewhere between Saigon and Chiang Mai? No problem, please jump right into the pond and starting washing your elephant. Have you ever contemplated toweling an elephant the size of Volkswagen Van off with a palm frond? Valerie can tell you how it is done from personal experience. Ok, time to exercise your elephant, lets take him for a walk - more accurately, notice how he is putting up his right front leg? That is your step up, grab his right ear with your right hand and swing up into the saddle. What, no saddle? No problem, just straddle his neck with your legs, grab onto each ear and off we go... Oh, we didn't mention that he likes his back scratched - let's show you how he does this on the side of a hill while you are astride his neck and holding on for dear life as he shakes his very large booty to get all the itchy spots... Valerie came back with experiences, pictures, and video of a life time experience from Patara Elephant Camp...
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| Patara Elephant Camp located in beautiful hills outside of Chiang Mai |
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| They have born and raised a lot of elephants at Patara - latest baby getting lunch from Mom |
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| I am getting up on him how??? |
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| This is what it feels like when several tons of booty shakin' |
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| Val riding down the road |
Our second elephant experience was expressly chosen to score us an Elephant painting. In this instance, we chose "The Elephant Conservation Center" billed as the only Royal Family endorsed elephant camp in Thailand. Again, this was about an hour ride from our hotel via hotel arranged taxi (2000 Baht round trip) - to a slightly different area than Valerie had visited at Patara camp. Very different experience - generally speaking more of a show than interactive experience venue although you can actually do overnight stays to immerse yourself with the elephant experience at TECC. The show itself was 200 Baht per person with a 25 Baht shuttle ticket to take you from the parking lot to the show areas. When we got off the shuttle, we watched a half dozen visitors getting up on their elephants for a trip to the pond - aka Elephant wash rack. Valerie got to relive her elephant experience from a drier vantage point this time - of course none of the elephants were as big as her old boy (having seen the pictures, she wasn't exaggerating). After the wash down, we headed off to the main arena where 8 elephants were waiting to demonstrate their skills. They played basketball, rang bells, and generally showed us how incredibly coordinated these huge animals are. Then there was a demonstration of the kind of work elephants did in the teak logging industry -- single and dual elephant log drags, then arranging and stacking the logs with their trunks. The Piece de Resistance was three elephants picking up brushes and painting a picture. Each picture was quite different - two were landscapes, the third was of two elephants walking side by side through the forest -- we picked the elephant painting which will be adorning a place of honor in our den -- properly signed and annotated -- and carried home in a protective tube made of elephant dung paper.
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| Our picture being painted |
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| Finished products |
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| Map of TECC |
Our departure the next day was a final reminder of the 137 Pillar's excellence - as we walked down the stairs from #18 for the last time, one waiter from the restaurant and one of the house keepers hurried over to grab our carry ons - our checked bags being handled by the bellman. We kept our bags, but were amazed by the "jump in and help attitude" of everyone on the hotel's staff regardless of their department.
We took the hotel limo to the airport - lot more traffic on a Saturday mid-day than when we'd arrived on a Monday night - but we had plenty of time so no stress involved. Yet another smooth Bangkok Airways flight - go to the Web Check in counter - no line; head to the Bangkok Airways lounge to chill with free food and wifi - check - then the short 85 minute flight to Bangkok.
Bangkok is a major metroplex - when you have an early morning International departure, staying at a downtown hotel means you will be getting up really early to get there for the required two hour pre-departure check-in. In this instance, and knowing our 6:50am departure was going to have us up pretty early anyway, we had elected to stay at the only hotel on the airport property, the Novatel Suvarnabhumi. Having stayed twice at the hotel on layovers between Hawaii and New Delhi, I was familiar with the property. There is a free shuttle from the airport - floor 2, door 4 - that runs 24 hours. The hotel is walkable - through the parking structure's ground floor - perhaps 300-350 yards - but dragging a 45 lb bag can be a pretty sweaty experience in Bangkok's normal heat and humidity. We took the shuttle back to the airport the next morning after a nice -- actually very good -- Thai dinner in the lobby restaurant and a restful night's sleep.
