Having been to northern of Thailand so many times and countless of visit to night market.....here is one good place to shop, dine & people watching. The Lamphun walking street on every Saturday is worth a visit and a mere 30 minutes leisure drive from Chiang Mai city. Many foods, clothes, souvenir etc etc. Here is how the market looks like:-
Remarks:-You can fill your stomach here with less than 50 bath and trust me the food here is simple but the taste is remarkable! Do remember to try the sesame rice cake....it's damn good and cheap( only 10bath per piece) Do pay a visit here if you around the Princess City of Lamphun.....a city full of ancient temple, sleepy but full of nice & beautiful people.
I've heard about this place quite some time ago.....and glad that I visited this place during my recent trip in the northern part of Thailand. The reason why I wanted to visit this place......."food is good". I've tried a few of the dish and it does not disappointed me! It was Xtralicious.....worth a TRY!!
Remarks: Pricing is very moderate, food is delicious, environment is cozy and service is very attentive. Address:Chiang Dao Nest 2, 144/4 m.5 Chiang Dao, Chiang Mai, 50170, Thailand.....or call +6653 456242 (if no answer please try +6653 455795) for more info!!
Well wonder which mountain is the 3rd tallest in Thailand....the answer is here:- see the photos below........
Doi Luang Ching Dao......3rd tallest mountain in Thailand.......I shoot this photos from a bamboo platform in a resort own by a Thai & Lisu couple. A perfect place to unwind your day......cool & relaxing.......GREAT ESCAPE!!! One of a MUST DO when u visit Ching Dao.
Before I blog about my TransIndochina trip.......here is my recent most trip to Chiang Mai.......well of course I revisited Doi Inthanon..........here are some of the photo's I've taken:- For your pleasure viewing......hope u guys like it.......
It's been some time since my last post on my backpacking or shall I say flashpacking trip in Indochina earlier this year. Anyway the Holiday weekend is near the corner and I think I'll make good use of this coming weekend to blog about my Indochina trip. Anyway.......I am embarking on my next backpacking trip to Phongsaly, Northern Laos next month. Hopefully no unforeseen circumstances that will stop me from this coming trip....I always wanted to see Laos....I did it earlier this year but this time I am going to concentrate on one place only! My main agenda is to snap as many photos as possible.....well beautiful one of course!!! Till my next blog......have a nice day!
Day 2 Mekong Delta (My Tho - Ben Tre) We started the day early with everyone wake up at 6 am as we have a full day tour to the Mekong Delta.We have our buffet breakfast at the hotel cafe which was surprisingly good. We gathered outside our hotel at 8 am sharp and waiting for the tour bus to pick us up. Our schedule for the day are as follow:-
- arrived at the town of My Tho and boarded a motorized boat to Ben Tre -visited a coconut candy factory at local village....free tasting of coconut candy! -visited unicorn island -visited a honey bee farm and tried honey tea & rice wine with local fruits -lunch ala Vietnamese style -trekking along the village & meet the local people -cruise along small canal & horse drawn carriage or local transport "xe loi" -returned to My Tho by boat and transfer back to Saigon by bus.
All these amazingly for a mere USD 10 per person or RM 32.50!!
During this trip we met a lonely traveler from Denmark by the name of Jonathan....he has been in this part of the world Asia for some times. However the best part of the day is where my buddy Ong left my camera tripod on the island.....and he only realized it when I asked him where is my tripod on the way back to the mainland......he puzzled and replied OMFG.....I left it on the island! I replied....OMG...how can u forget about it..........luckily enough our kind tour guide...Mr.Loong....help me to locate it and best of all....told me to collect it back later at the tour office just a short walking distance from our hotel! Thank you very much Mr. tour guide.....u'll be remembered!
We are back to Saigon in the evening and soon after our shopping spree started with 2 of my buddy started to burn their money! I joined soon after....hahahaha...but limited damage for the day! I collected back my tripod at the tour office and yes it was right there when I arrived....after all Vietnam not really that bad....except some incident that happened tonight! We had our dinner later that night at some small lane which I don't see a foreigner at all except 3 of us......dinner was extremely cheap and good. All in RM20 for 3 of us....our cheapest meal in Vietnam!After dinner we walked around the town and the traffic at night was as chaotic as the busy afternoon in Saigon! We went back to the hotel after a short walk.....and Ong went to sleep earlier as he developed a pain on his leg!
I went to beef noodle supper again with Kelvin and this time I tried the braised beef noodle Vietnamese style....to my amaze...."WOW" extremely delicious and that's the best bowl of beef noodle I've ever ate in my life! I think it is because the taste of the noodle is too good...I forgot my hotel access card and left it at the noodle place.....worse still only recall it after 15 minutes.......run back to the noodle place....luckily it was still there....the staff keep it and kind enough to pass it back to me. Oh gosh...lucky day for the 2nd time! During our supper we saw a foreign tourist lost her hand bag after being snatched by motorcyclist! How unlucky she was.....and bear in mind this incident is a very common sight in Saigon...next time when you are there....be very extra careful and keep your eyes open!
Both of us went to have a drink at the local bar and hit a few bottles of beer before we called it a day and went back to our hotel. I have a good sleep and tomorrow is another long day....we are heading to Phnom Penh, Cambodia....my fifth visit to Phnom Penh.....and I am looking to meet up with a friend I've known for 5 years now! So far so good.......more to come in the next 10 days!
It was a great day indeed….everyone wake up on time exceptionally unbelievable especially Kelvin whom normally has difficulties to wake up early in the morning. By 6am we were already on board sky bus to LCCT terminal in Sepang. The journey was smooth and we all arrived at LCCT terminal at 7am. Checked in our individual back pack at the check in counter…..without much hassle but then….our first hiccups along the many on the way happened! Kelvin lost our journal log book…….but thanks god we eventually found it on top of a baggage x-ray scanner! We had out very first Trans Indochina breakfast at Old Town White Coffee…..but we made a big mistake….service was bad, food sucks and waiting time is long!
We walked past the immigration counter without much hassle and soon after we are already in the departure hall waiting to board our flight on 9am. Next we are informed that the flight is delayed due to some technical fault on board the new Air Asia Airbus A320-200. We only manage to board our plane after a 30 minutes delay…..happily enough we are on our way now to Ho Chin Minh City or Saigon. A country made famous by years of war with the Americans. We reached HCMC International airport approximately 11.30 am local Vietnam time. We collected our luggage and passed through the immigration counter without much delay and soon the first culture shock of the day occurred……….in waiting us in the arrival hall is thousands of Vietnamese waiting for their relative, friend, tourist etc etc! My team mate Ong roughly estimates the strong crowd at five thousand! For me it looks for like a demonstration or protest! We then board a taxi to our pre booked hotel Duc Voung hotel in District One or the backpacker’s district! Here there are plenty of guesthouses, backpacker’s lodge, and small hotel to cater for every individual backpacker! Our hotel was great, clean and service from the staff was compliment able! We take a short rest and take our bath before embarking on our mini city tour!
My first impression of Vietnam….a communist country with red flags hanging all over the city. A country with millions of motorcycle zooming all over the city but surprisingly accident is very rare! Indeed if I can recall well enough….I don’t see one! The sign of poverty is obvious and beware of snatch thief and pick pockets. We had our lunch at a local restaurant……noodles and rice. The weather is extremely dry and hot….I reckoned it at 36° Celsius. We relax our self after the lunch on top floor of the restaurant and admiring the daily life of the locals. After lunch, we walked again to the famous Ben Thanh market. It was similar to jatujak market in Bangkok but in a very much smaller scale. We do spend some time visited the Independence palace and witnessed the history in the past! Almost everything inside this place is kept as what it is since the end of the Vietnam War! After much walking…we decided that we need a nice place to chill out for the evening. We went to Trung Nghu Yenh cofffe shop. Coffee and cake is okay…..service is top notch…..price is equivalent to Starbucks! We spent almost the entire evening here chatting and discussing about our trip. Before we heade back to our hotel, we do a detour to a local saloon to have our hair wash, facial and massage. We badly need one as we roughly had a mere 2 hours sleep last night! By the way RM 1 is roughly equivalent to 5000 Vietnamese Dong. After the session at the saloon, we are rejuvenated and heading for our dinner at a local side street stall. Pricing is above average but food was so so only! Maybe we are tourist…..so what to do? Pay only la! After the dinner we walked back to the hotel and take some own sweet time relaxing, bathing, chatting and surfing on the net! We did had our supper at a beef noodle restaurant……..It was superb and xtralicious! I still remembered the taste till now…..if I ever go to Saigon again….I’ll go again for the beef noodle…..the stewed beef noodle taste is totally out of the world! We dozed off at 12am as we have a long day tomorrow! A one day Mekong Delta tour……here is where I am going to lost my camera Tripod…..all because of ??? To be continue on day 2 of our Trans Indochina 2010 trip!
