Tick Tock

So less than 24 hours to go of my time in Singapore and my holiday (I don't count the 13+ hour flight home as part of the 'holiday' despite the buzz I get from airports and air travel).

Anyway I've just got back from my gourmet meal of 30 satays and a side order of sambal kang kong. All washed down with a jug of Tiger beer (and a few cubes of ice). This is the third time this year that I've had satays at Lau Pa Sat, and there is the potential I'll be there for a fourth time before the end of the year!

 

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Pit Stop

I'm Singapore for a total of 32 hours as I make my way back to home and the delights of a British winter! Oh well at least Christmas is just around the corner.

No real plans apart from probably not spending too much time in the vicinity of Orchard Road. I went swimming after I arrived this afternoon and the plan is to get another 'session' in tomorrow. I reckon a trip to Lau Pa Sat for satays tonight is on the cards and there might be time spent at Brewerkz at some point before I head to the airport tomorrow evening (sounds like a Saturday afternoon time wasting activity to me).

Chiang Mai was cool and so much more of a Thai experience than Phuket or Koh Samui. I was looking in the Silk Air in-flight magazine getting inspiration for future trips. I reckon I might finally get round to visiting Vietnam in 2013. So many places, so little time (and money)!

 

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Tranquility

So my last night in Chiang Mai is drawing to an end. I bottled out of a trawl through the girlie bars on Loh Kroh Road, and instead am mellowing out on the balcony of my hotel room. I've eaten well and have stuck to Singha beer all night (4 large bottles and 1 small). Hopefully there will not be a hangover waiting to greet me in the morning!

All would be bliss, as the sky lanterns drift by in the bucolic evening breeze, if it wasn't for the war zone like aural accompaniment provided by hundreds of fire works going off at frequent intervals! It is incessant. Thankfully I have earplugs.

 

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Sausages

What has surprised me is how keen they are for a good sausage in these parts (and that isn't a reference to Girlie Bars).

Street side stalls selling them are all over the place. In fact my favourite breakfast at the hotel I'm staying has been Chiang Mai sausage served with brown rice.

 

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600 grams?

This blog post is dedicated to Catherine.

The tiger prawns in the picture are weighing in at about 600 grams. I think in the U.K. if you called these tiger prawns people would think you we're a bit silly -- more like a langoustine or cray fish perhaps, but a prawn? Nah.

Any way I had them at a place called Man-O-Cha prawn farm, which was a restaurant I in the Anusarn market. As the name suggest there were a lot of prawns on the menu - of all shapes and sizes.

The ones I had weren't cheap at 950 Baht, but boy were they good!

 

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Brutal: Part 2

I've just been beaten up again courtesy of the good people at Deep Relax. Or rather, courtesy of the fairly unassuming small middle aged women who inflicted the punishment.

It started well with a foot scrub and massage and then got decidedly painful when she got to work on my shoulders and back. In fact I had the masseuse giggling at one point when my big toe was wriggling because of the pain I was feeling on the top of my shoulder thanks to the location of her elbow. Not for the faint hearted!

I'm sure it did me good, but I'm not sure about any kind of relaxation! Maybe that's what the Singha beers I'll have tonight will achieve?

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Loi Krathong

The festival of Loi Krathong is in full effect tonight. The sky is full of sky lanterns and every now and then a barrage of fireworks or fire crackers go off. The area by the river was really busy with people buying Krathong to float on the water. I also got to see another parade (see the picture).

There was also a much higher concentration of traveller/backpacker/gap year types than I've seen since I've been here. All looking very brown and like they had 'gone native'!

 

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Cookery School

I spent pretty much the whole of today cooking, eating and learning about Thai food! I had booked myself on to a Thai cookery course at 'A Lot of Thai' and it turned out to be a really good day.

There were 7 of us on the course, which takes place in the house of Yui who runs the cookery courses. I was picked up from my hotel at 9.15am and dropped back around 5.30pm.

During the day we cooked Pad Thai, chicken green curry, chicken with cashew nuts, Tom Yang Kung soup, spring rolls and sticky rice with mango. We also had a short trip to the market to see the various types of herbs, vegetables and other ingredients used in Thai cooking. I resisted the temptation to buy anything -- no matter how much more Thai cooking I do in the future, am I really going to need a load of palm sugar, preserved tamarind or dried crushed chilies? (These are some of the things my course mates bought.)

Of all the dishes we cooked I think I liked my Pad Thai the best, although they were all pretty good. The added bonus was that after each dish there was no washing up to do -- all our stuff was cleaned up by Yui's helper.

My course mates were a diverse bunch -- a young Slovenia couple, a French couple who live in London and a couple of girls in their late 20's from Boston (one had been teaching English in Thailand for the last year). The Americans conformed to type by being a bit loud and asking the most obvious questions.

 

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Chang Damage

I woke up this morning with a splitting headaches and a parched mouth. It can only be down to one thing -- the bottles of Chang I had last night (and possibly not drinking enough water in the evening).

I toyed with having no beer today, but that would be silly (I am on holiday afterall)! Instead I've played it safe by only having a couple of bottles of Singha (and plenty of water).

 

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Limes

No need for chemical fresheners. In Thailand a few crushed limes are up to the job!

 

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Lanterns and Fireworks

I seem to have got lucky and I'm in Chiang Mai for the festivals of Loi Krathong and Yi Peng. Yi Peng is the Northern Thai festival which is sort of similar to Loi Krathong but seems to start earlier judging by the parade I saw today! Wikipedia will no doubt help out here.

Loi Krathong is definitely tomorrow and it's marked by fireworks and the lighting of lanterns which float up into the sky. In fact tonight has been full of fireworks and the rather beautiful sight of lanterns drifting into the darkness.

I love the attached picture as the father and son spent ages getting their lantern so that it was able to 'launch'. The joy of the little boy when it was finally airborne was fantastic. (Yes I appear to be going soft).

 

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Myanmar

Today's lunch. Meat and two veg Burmese style - pork and potato curry and rice Shan style (is rice a vegetable?). All good and super cheap. A bit disappointed the goat curry wasn't available. Didn't ask whether the goat offal was still on!

 

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Food Porn

Various random places I wandered around (and sampled) in my jet lagged state yesterday evening. If only I was hungrier -- the Sunday street market had loads of interesting looking stalls selling food that looked and smelt delicious.

 

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Skype

I had lunch at a place called Blue Diamond. A place that appeals to traveller types with an eclectic menu of Asian and Western food. Lots of 'organic-y' salads and the like. I went for a Spicy Vietnamese salad which was excellent and pretty spicy (and all for about £2).

My meal was 'accompanied' by a Canadian girl 'Skyping' her friend back in Vancouver. I learnt tonnes about her -- she's been in Chiang Mai for 3 days; she stopped off in Hong Kong on the way here and she didn't like the place; she's doing some kind of cycling tour and is heading to Vietnam eventually; she's not sure about her travelling companion (Daria); she gets asthma; she wants to study French; she did a yoga course this morning etc etc.

Bizarre entertainment!

 

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Temples Everywhere

So the question is how many temples does a city need? You can't walk more than a few hundred metres before you come across one -- some more ornate than others, although all broadly similar. Unsurprisingly also lots of monks in their almost dayglo orange robes.

I took a lot of pictures of temples today, probably enough for this trip!

Walking around the old city today was lovely and hot. A welcome change to the miserable Autumn/Winter weather at home. Thankfully I didn't make the novices mistake of not putting any sunblock on. As everybody knows you also have to stay hydrated in hot climates, so by having a mid-afternoon bottle of Chang in a random bar I ensured I didn't succumb to heat stroke (and inadvertently helped out a Premiership rival!). I'm also drinking Chang now, but it's Chang water.

 

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This is Asia Calling

Back in Asia and I'm in a jet lagged haze.

Decent flight out - I had paid for a 'Preferred Seat' i.e. one with extra legroom, and I had the bonus of an empty seat next to me. Not quite Business Class, but more than bearable. The day flight east is a tough one - an early start to get to the airport and once in the air a struggle to try and get some sleep when your body clock says you should be awake. Then you arrive early in the morning with the joy of a full day ahead of you!

I had a 6 hour layover before my flight to Chiang Mai. In an attempt to temper the severity of my jet lag I went for a swim followed by a tasty Indian vegetarian breakfast at Komala Villas. So far so good. Then I got on the MRT back to Changi airport (no need for a cab as not in any real rush). I sat down and just felt monumentally tired. My irritability index was in the red zone.

Got to the airport and after a quick look at the shops I went to the KrisFlyer Gold lounge. It's a good job the seats aren't particularly comfortable otherwise I would definitely be nodding off.

I've now got just under 3 hours until my flight.........

 

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