Chiang Mai Day 1

Our AK816 flight to Chiang Mai was scheduled to depart the LCCT at 7.00 am, but the moment the plane backed off from the runway, I smelled fumes, then the engine started to gurgle. The Captain announced that he could not proceed and had to call for an inspection. After some minutes, he came back on the PA system saying that the plane was found unfit to fly and we had to change plane. The suitable replacement was on its way from Penang, so we the passengers waited patiently. It's better to wait than to have our remnants strewn out from the stratosphere of Malaya right? Finally we took off at 8.30am, so the wait wasn't too long.

We reached Chiang Mai some three hours later. We took a cab from the airport that cost us 150 baht, which my head immediately divided by 10 to gauge it in RM. The driver introduced himself as a Muslim and his Muslim name was Mustafa. He responded to our salam and he said inshaAllah, but we were fully convinced when he showed us the picture of his wife and daughter wearing hijab.

The tiny hotel that we booked was nice enough. The receptionist gave directions to a "halal" restaurant  even though she was vague about what "halal" or Muslim mean. The first "Muslim" looking restaurant that we saw was an Israeli restaurant-- what nerve!! We marched on until we saw an Arabic Restaurant right across Shangri-la hotel. It was a decent lunch that cost us 700 baht.

Lilu Hotel reception hall

We had a rather embarrassing experience with the tuk-tuk on the way back which I will not elaborate, no thanks to one guy named U-Soop Mad-alee, phone number 085-0385846.  Be wise to avoid this opportunist if you ever come to Chiang Mai.

Outside the massive Warorot market

After Zohor, we went out to Warorot market; that's the day market that the locals go to for their supplies, a place usually overlooked by tourists. I got my supply of yarn (for shawl project, inshaAllah) while my friends got their supply of lychees and mangoes. Then we chartered a van for 200 baht to take us to a Thai silk factory, decisively skipping the silver and gems factory. My three companions came out of the store beaming with metres of silk material for their baju raya.

My travel buddies with their silk haul.

We took our dinner at the hotel before going out on foot to the night market some metres away from our hotel. Got our souvenirs and stuffs to bring home. We noticed  a few Muslim vendors from their attire. And of course we bumped into other Malaysians and Arabs. But surprisingly no Indonesians. Not even one during the entire stay which is surprising as I had always met them during my trips in other parts of the world save Japan. By the way, the time in Chiang Mai is minus one hour from Malaysia. 

One thing that I made sure I did on the first day was to pose a'la RITZ in the modified van called songtaew (means 2 rows). These are Chiang Mai's bus and taxi service rolled into one. So, my fellow travel buddies, now you know. Ta daa. Hehehe.