"$3 Dinner for 2" - Chiang Mai - Thailand

Day 13

So, our last night in Chiang Dao Nest was interesting. We couldn't sleep so we stayed up fairly late chatting. We finally decided to go to bed and immediately after we turned off the lights to our bungalow, we heard this loud scratching noise from the corner of our roof. It sounded like a T-rex was trying to claw its way into our bungalow. Our walls are made of bamboo, so pretty thin and would be easy to break into and our windows did not have locks, just screens. We immediately turned the lights back on and the noise stopped. We had no idea what it was and whether we were sure of what we had heard. So we turned on the lights and once again, the clawing started, it was loud and fierce. Really freaked us out. So, we ended up sleeping with the lights on. Didn't get great sleep, and I think there was an ant in the bed, because I woke up with about 5 new insect bites. We never found out what was making the noise - a gibbon? or maybe just the resident cat? Nevertheless, we were ready to leave Chiang Dao.

We had our last meal at Chiang Dao Nest - oatmeal for me, chocolate pancakes for Eric. We then hopped on a songthaew to get back to the bus terminal. We knew it would be a pretty crowded bus back to Chiang Mai, because it was a Sunday and people were likely going back to the city to work. We decided to take it anyway, since it was 80 baht (vs. the 1500 it would cost to take a songthaew). We were in for an adventure. We sat in what was probably the size of a school bus, and sat three to a seat. I had the pleasure of sitting next to someone that was getting car sick..so I moved. The next seat, the guy next to me kept falling asleep and putting his head on me. I almost fell out of the bus because I was sitting in the seat near the open exit, because he kept leaning into me. We ended up at a police check point - the cops got on and started checking everyone's papers. They bypassed us though, probably because we didn't look like illegal immigrants from Myanmar? That's the only reason I could think of. They were also looking at the different weapons people had on them - knives, etc. It was a pretty interesting experience.

We finally made it to Chiang Mai and checked into the glorious Le Meridien Hotel. It was like coming back to civilization. Felt so good to be in a big, clean, bright beautiful hotel. At the reception desk, we realized that Eric might be a starwood member. They found his info in their system and upgraded our room. When we got there, we almost cried. It reminded me of the scene in Zoolander when Mugato sees Zoolander's Magnum pose and says "Dear God, it's beautiful!!!" That was our thought at that moment.

We were hungry, so we dropped off our things to go find some fast food and a laundry place to wash our clothes. Sadly, we ended up at McDonald's. Not surprisngly, the cheeseburgers and fries here taste just like in the U.S. We then dropped off a load of laundry (5 lbs for 80 baht) and returned to our hotel for a relaxing swim. It was one of those infinity pools and had a great view of the city and the sunset.

At 5pm, we made our way to the Sunday Market - a local tradition here in Chiang Mai. It's an arts and crafts and food market that goes from 4pm to midnight and runs through the old city on the main road.

The food was dirt cheap. We had a sweet corn dessert made with sugar, butter, salt, condensed milk, raisins and gelatin. It was delicious and only 15 baht. We continued walking down the street and noticed a crowd gathering. It's a stand with people making these buns out of dough and pork filling and then pan frying it in a huge pan. Once it was done cooking, we waited in this line and we ended up buying one for 10 baht. We should have bought at least two. It was Eric's favorite of the night. We then had a waffle shaped like a fish that was filled with chocolate for just 5 bahts. After walking to the end, we turned around, and before making it back to our starting point, we stopped at the last group of food stands. By this time, we're hungry. First we sat down and had a traditional northern thai dish called kao soi, which is a spicy noodle dish with lime juice, chicken, and crispy noodles. Very simple, but also very good. One bowl for 20 bahts. We then went on to have an omelette stuffed with pad thai for 20 bahts, a mango salad for 20 bahts, and lemon ice cream on a stick for 10 bahts. So our total for dinner ends up being 100 bahts, which is a grand total of $3 for two. Not bad at all!

For the rest of our pictures of the day, go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=theresang1977&target=ALBUM&id=5388800999769151521&authkey=Gv1sRgCM2F94qa8JiBGg&feat=email