After 4 good days in Pai, John and I back to Chiang Mai to catch up flight by the next day.
As i mentioned in the previous post, Pai doesn't have an international airport but domestic, you can either go by minivan like us (save a lot) or transit in Ching Mai to catch Nok Air (the local airline) to Pai, cost you about RM300 for return.
Alright so we back to Chiang Mai with minivan from Pai. FYI, Minivan to or from Pai and Chiang Mai is very frequent, so don't worry bout the ticket.
Minivan from Pai to Chiang Mai stop in 3 places.
1. Train Station.
2. Bus Station.
3. Tha Phea Gate, which is the hub of Chiang Mai.
Just let the driver know where do you want to stop and they will drop you there.
Frankly speaking, although i know Chiang Mai is a historical town in Thailand, but i'm not really interested, and that's the reason why we only stay one day in Chiang Mai.
After tonnes of research, I came out our to-do in Chiang Mai:
1. Tha Phae Gate - The historical gate of the square town, John loves anything bigger than him.
2. Sukonthan Buffet - The local Thai BBQ Buffet, cheap but hell lots of food, we eat like local :D
3. Warrorat Market - The local market that selling lots of stuff, we both love local market.
But i'll only write the above in the next post, this post is hotel review.
In Chiang Mai, we choose to stay in Chiang Maan Residence, the boutique hotel that out of the hub, which located in resident area.
I love this home-alike hotel that run by an old couple very much, indeed i'm regret why not stay another night here. To stay in Chiang Maan Residence, makes you like spending your summer break at your grandparent house.
As i said, Chiang Maan Residence is not in the hub (which is Tha Phae Gate), it was 1.4km away from the gate accordingly google map. Take you about 20 minutes slow walk from the place to the gate.
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| Red is Chiang Maan Residence, Blue is Tha Phae Gate |
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| Chiang Maan Residence |
Frankly speaking, Chiang Maan Residence did not really catch my eye when i first saw from Agoda website, because the photos didn't seem attractive, but i put it in the 2nd choice list for the location.
After go through some other choice and i came back to do some review research in Chiang Maan Residence and found more photos from guests and positive reviews, i decided to spend the night in this boutique hotel.
Oh, did i tell you? Rent for this boutique hotel is fairly cheap, cost me less than RM100 for a deluxe room / night.
You would probably love Chiang Maan Residence if:
1. Live like a local but modern and designed room.
2. Wish to stay away from of noise and club.
3. Prefer relax more than rush to attraction.
4. Don't mind walking a little for food (located in residence area)Tips to Chiang Maan Residence:
- Tell the driver to go Chiang Man Temple, 3 times tuk tuk ride and none of them know where is this place.
- From the temple main entrance, turn left and turn left in the first junction, walk straight until you see the place. Less than 3 minutes walking distance, if you take tuk tuk, will take you like forever. =.=
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| Blue is the temple, red is the place and green is super nice chicken thigh rice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
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| You will see the owner's pet welcoming guest from far |
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| old but faithful dog. |
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| Chiang Maan Residence. |
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| The outlook and the lazy dog :D |
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| I love boutique hotel because of very detail deco, like this. |
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| The "lobby", comfort like your own home. |
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| The door to rooms. |
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| Read and relax in the lobby is my favourite thing to do in Chiang Maan Residence. |
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| coffee table outside of the room. |
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| I love the door in our room! |
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| Room is not big yet very comfort and clean, of course with a big window and lots of sunlight! |
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| love the wall, love the deco, love almost everything in the room! |
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| the other side of the window is Chiang Maan temple's garden, greenery everywhere. |
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| I spend a few hours lying on the bed and enjoying the scene outside. |
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| Light up the little lamp during night time, romance. |
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| Put the mosquito net down although no bug in the room. |
This boutique hotel is the home of the owner, so around 3 or 4 rooms available, every room (well at least deluxe room, which we're stay in) is with modern facilities, like:
1. Very strong pressure shower head.
2. Flat tv.
3. Air con.
4. Wifi around the building.
Although the owner cant speak fluently English, but they treat you like children, always put their smile on face and suggest place to go, they even ask us to join for dinner when we bumped into their dinner time.
Chiang Maan Residence doesn't have an official website, but a very simple blog, but they work together with some booking website. We make our reservation via Agoda.
If you decided to stay Chiang Maan Residence after reading my blog, please show this blog to the owner, and tell them they deserve this, and i miss them already =)
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
20130613, 0219pm
Rach in hungry mood.
We (a couple from USA) did the Everest base camp trek in late November- beginning of December 2012. It was great! November is the end of the main trekking season, but we still had really nice weather and nice days in the mountains. We flew into Lukla and hiked for a total of 12 days. Our original plan was 13 days of trekking, but due to bad weather we were delayed for one day on our way to Lukla. Since we missed one of our acclimatization days, our trek became one day shorter and we did not make it to Kala pathar or Everest base camp. If it is important for you to reach base camp, you have to make a deal with your travel agency in advance; otherwise you will not be able to reach your goal without the risk of getting altitude sickness if you are short on days. On our way down we walked to Khumjuung and visited Khunde, which we really liked and recommend. We used the guide book “Trekking the Everest Region” by Jamie Mc Guinness, and we really enjoyed to read it during the evenings.
ReplyDeleteOur trip was organized by Mr.Sanjib and his “ website ” www.nepaguideinfo.com. For approximately 1050 USD per person he met us at the airport, arranged and paid for our room at hotelnapalaya . The price also included the plane ticket Katmandu – Lukla –Katmandu, a very nice Sherpa guide and a porter. During the trek, all food (but not drinks) and accommodation was also included. We recommend using Sanjib and his services, he met all our expectations and we are very happy with our trip. I recoomnded him He email address -sanjib-adhikari@hotmail.com
hi there, we did the same trek at the same time. We did not make it to the based camp due to we have only limited time. For us, land on Lukla airport aka the most dangerous airport in the world is important for us.
DeleteOur trip was organized by a travel agency in Kathmandu, i should say Sherpa is nice, friendly and humble.
Glad that you guys enjoyed the trip and share the info in my blog. Do come and visit always please. =)