Paradorn Hotel Phrae

... chef holding a small plastic bag firmly in his left hand while he pours boiling soup into it from a large ladle held in his right is heart-stopping. Everything goes in these plastic bags; there are a few polystyrene containers but a minute number compared to the six inch by five plastic bags. Dinner started with a couple of steamed buns which, curiously, cost twice the price here that they were in Ayutthaya. The lottery is to choose the bun with correct colour of ...

... internet, food lovely, staff so much friendlier than rest of thailand so far and all for 3 quid. As soon as I arrived I got a great vibe from Chiang Mai. We went straight in to town to the night market. Tommy's dream market. Knock off fake t-shirts and watches. Unlike Korea the thais are very willing to barter and you can get them to a third of their starting price. Nice atmosphere on the market, people in your face but no ...

... and hit the road straight away in the morning without having to deal with the traffic...Ayutthaya is a nice city and it use to be the former capital of Thailand. It's really funny because there are ruins all over the place so you can just ride around the city with the bike and enjoy the ruins at the same time! Then we took the highway all the way up to Chiang Mai were we stopped at a Dragon boat race that ...

... day - why do people like massages?? I just dont understand!! During the day we went to the Doi Suthep temple. The climb to the top was hard work, as it is a mountain top temple, so there were LOTS of stairs to climb! However, the view from the top made it worthwhile. There was a huge bell at the top, which you can ring 3 times for good luck - which I needed so dutifully did. At night we went to the night bazaar. There was an amazing buffet at one of the ...

... trains de jour. C'est assez efficace disons. Arrives a Chiang Mai, on s'est fait harceler par une proprietaire de guesthouse qui voulait nous emmener gratuitement jusqu'a son hotel pour nous montrer les chambres. On a pris le lift, mais pas la chambre... oups!! Coquerelles! Alors on a marche un peu et on a trouve une petite guesthouse tres sympatique, tenue par une madame qui habite la avec ses parents. La meme est excellente et nous lance des sourire a ...

... bragging how good Chiang Mai is and the fact that i was probably gona see Eak lazing in his tattoo shop!! (and i was right! aha) After dumping our bags we had our first massage.. it was goooddd! then got a facial scrub.. it was goooodd! Then headed to the great night bazaar.. Not so good! lol, jus playing.. It was fun.. but by the 3rd hour i was jus exhausted! The thing that ***** me up is that u ask how much something is.. they obviously overcharge and ask you how much ...

... importantly) BLANKETS! But on this bus - nothing! It didn't seem to have much of a personality, but Shaun was a good laugh so i did alright....He also lent me his jumper when i started whinging that i was cold, which was an added bonus. :) Anyway - my room in Chiang Mai is fine, and at first impression, i really like it here - it is already a million times nicer than Ayutthaya just to look at it. More to follow.... Lots of love.x

... village--also, I'd say, to our benefit. Allen and Jasmine kept apologizing for this--of course, completely unnecessarily. As I said, we viewed this as a benefit--how much more authentic an experience of a H'mong hill tribe could we have? It's certainly not on the tourist "hill tribe trek" route. We slept on pads on the floor of the family's common area, woke to roosters, listened to other morning sounds such as vegetables being chopped, and ate a ...

From Thaton, we journey along the Kok River in longtail boats towards Chiang Rai. At some times of the year, we may need to travel by minivan due to the low water level. The trip along the Kok River allows us time to enjoy the hilly surroundings and look out for small villages, which are home to various hill tribe people. We overnight in a comfortable and centrally located hotel in Chiang Rai town.

... 2! We watched some Mulan with our restaurant's little daughter and enjoyed some patseu (my fav!!!) Then, Jolene and I got massages! Mine was amazing, but her's was the opposite. You never know when you'll get a good one or a bad one. After that, Justin and Dane taught us how to drive motorbikes because we are going to get some of our own very soon. The guys said I was a natural. Jolene was even able to drive ...