The maids knocked at my door at 4am to say; :"tun nun", get up! Ponsak had one of his workers pick me up from his house and drive me to the airport. It was fortunate that I arrived two hours early because my reservation from the day before was never processed since the internet was not connected when I pushed confirm. At least that is my explanation of the stressful situation I put myself in. The woman at the Air Asia ticket counter spent 40 minutes trying to work out the problem and locate my confirmation number. She said from the start that it was never booked. I did receive a confirmation from Expedia, which was pending. I told her I would talk to management and state what an awesome job she did. And............"you will be famous because you are the first picture on my Blog for July 2, 2014". Here is Dischayada Wongyawd.
Chiang Mai is 435 miles north of Bangkok near the boarder of Burma to the north and west. Laos is to the east.
Air Asia??????????? I had never heard of the airline until I went to book my flight for Chiang Mai. There were 8 airlines that fly to CM. Seven of the airlines were the same price at 224 dollars. Air Asia charged 123 dollars for the exact flight. In my mind I was wondering if I would have to turn over the propeller to get the plane started. It turns out that the airline has 70 new planes in their fleet and for an hour flight we were served egg and sausage with your choice of drink. There were 7 flight attendants on the plane. I gave it a rating of "10" flying from BKK.
I was able to explain to the taxi driver where I needed to go. Luckily I had the address to give her because it is an obscure hotel. We started at 300 baht but managed to get the ride for 120.(3 dollars for 8 mile ride). I arrived at the hotel at 8:30 AM. Check-in is at 2pm. I wanted to leave my bag and walk through Chiang Mai without carrying anything. The housekeeper was having a difficult time with my Wisconsin accent, so she called the owner. She understood my broken accent with the Wisconsin dialect and told me that my room was ready and to bring my suitcase to my room. She suggested that I take a rest. That was a good start!!!! (go to tripadvisor.com and search Veradaplace). Great reviews and inexpensive. I decided I would rest later and begin my exploring the city right away.
ABOVE: This school with it's second grade class was out for recess, so I stopped in to chat with the teacher. He has been teaching 12 years at that particular school. The students attend school year round. The teacher said if a child talks in class they have their parents come and get them. In his 12 years of teaching, he has sent 2 students home. Class room discipline is not an issue. Teachers are revered by everyone in Thailand and children are taught respect of teachers from birth.
Chiang Mai, meaning "new city" was settled in 1296 as the capitol of the Lanna Kingdom. It became the new capitol instead of Chiang Rai and earned it's "new city" name. The city was secured by a moat totally surrounding the city as well as a 24 foot wall that is in disrepair today but is still evident from the 13th century.Burma and Thailand have fought 18 wars since 1550. Thailand won all but one of those wars!
Year of the WHAT???? Thailand uses a 12 year cyclical animal calandar for each year. 2014 is the year of the horse, 2015 is year of the goat. I am year of the bull.
There are 41,000 temples across Thailand. Thailand leads all countries of the world with the largest percent of the population as Buddhists (95%).
Here are a couple pictures of me with my new whiskers. I have a check-up at BKK hospital on Sunday. It is also shaving day.
The picture with the police is in front of a paddy wagon. I was asking him if you can drive a scooter without a Thai driver's license. If you get stopped without a license there is a 20 baht fine and you can keep driving until you get stopped again to pay another 20 baht (85 cents). They have daily road road blocks set up to issue fines to hundreds of illegal drivers. Good way to make some money for the city. The husband and wife in the room next to me have paid 520 baht in five days. Nearly 17 dollars and 14 road blocks. Below is a post card that is made out of wood, 1/4 of an inch thick. I really liked the novelty of it.
Street vendors are prevalent in Chiang Mai. I bought 2.2 lbs.(1 kilogram) of Mangosteens. They are the deep purple fruit just to her left.
Bing Bang rides to and from work each day with his master.
Any grammar or spelling errors are the responsibility of my proof reader Bing. The problem with her proof reading is that she only speaks and reads Thai.
Chiang Mai is 435 miles north of Bangkok near the boarder of Burma to the north and west. Laos is to the east.
Air Asia??????????? I had never heard of the airline until I went to book my flight for Chiang Mai. There were 8 airlines that fly to CM. Seven of the airlines were the same price at 224 dollars. Air Asia charged 123 dollars for the exact flight. In my mind I was wondering if I would have to turn over the propeller to get the plane started. It turns out that the airline has 70 new planes in their fleet and for an hour flight we were served egg and sausage with your choice of drink. There were 7 flight attendants on the plane. I gave it a rating of "10" flying from BKK.
I was able to explain to the taxi driver where I needed to go. Luckily I had the address to give her because it is an obscure hotel. We started at 300 baht but managed to get the ride for 120.(3 dollars for 8 mile ride). I arrived at the hotel at 8:30 AM. Check-in is at 2pm. I wanted to leave my bag and walk through Chiang Mai without carrying anything. The housekeeper was having a difficult time with my Wisconsin accent, so she called the owner. She understood my broken accent with the Wisconsin dialect and told me that my room was ready and to bring my suitcase to my room. She suggested that I take a rest. That was a good start!!!! (go to tripadvisor.com and search Veradaplace). Great reviews and inexpensive. I decided I would rest later and begin my exploring the city right away.
ABOVE: This school with it's second grade class was out for recess, so I stopped in to chat with the teacher. He has been teaching 12 years at that particular school. The students attend school year round. The teacher said if a child talks in class they have their parents come and get them. In his 12 years of teaching, he has sent 2 students home. Class room discipline is not an issue. Teachers are revered by everyone in Thailand and children are taught respect of teachers from birth.
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