The adventure this time all takes place in Europe and Asia! I left with my current roommate, Stephen, on July 6th for a 3-week holiday in Thailand. The first stop was a 14-hour layover in Vienna, Austria, long enough to allow us to leave the airport and tour the city. What a beautiful place!
We toured the city in a horse-drawn carriage and saw many places where people like Mozart and Schubert lived at one point.
We ate wiener schnitzel for lunch and it was delicious!
The airport in Vienna is so comfortable! They have computer benches in sets of four with plug-ins and free WiFi. They have lounge areas, and also couch-style seats where you can lean back and nap! These Europeans know how to travel! I'm beginning to detest western "all for profit, get nothing free" philosophy.
We bit teh bullet and upgraded our seats to Business class for the 11-hr flight to Bangkok overnight. Talk about LUXURY! The seats were HUGE! We had an individual pod to ourselves, the seat reclined into a flat bed, the on-board CHEF took our dinner and breakfast order, I was given several glasses of champagne, we were given overnight bags complete with a pair of clean, new socks! WOW!!!!
My meal...marinated prawns in beetroot cram with crisp cabbage and bacon salad, caramelized pea soup with truffled potatoes, fillet of salmon with tabbouleh salsa, fennel and sauteed spinach, two-tone chocolate trifle, fresh fruit, coffee, and more champagne. Oh my!
The seat even had a massager built in!!!!
We got to Bangkok about 2:00 pm (1:00 am Toronto time) and had a short wait until our flight to Chiang Mai. It is lovely here, Set in a valley between mountains that eventually join up with the Himalayas, it is a mixture of old and new, and the people are very friendly.
Our hotel is the Maninarakorn, very comfortable, with a nice pool and free breakfast buffet. I had jasmine rice with egg and some veggies in a stir fry for breakfast along with pineapple and papaya.
Our first full day, we took in a cooking class. I made hot and sour prawn soup, pad thai, spring rolls, green curry with chicken, and sticky rice with mango.
My pad thai and hot prawn soup.
I'm making the green curry paste here.
We took a cab-truck to the market to shop, took a train to Lamphur district, and rode a bicycle to class. Interesting trip highlight...stepping into the bathroom of the train to find a hole in the floor, two foot-shaped pads and a hold-on rail...LOL! Welcome to another world for sure! And as there is no proper sewer system here, toilet paper is prohibited in many places so they have a hose-option for hose down, drip dry...unique to say the least!
Today we booked a driver and went to many factories. We took in the silk-making factory, jade, silver, fans, and so on. Then we went out to the Sankampraeng Hot Mineral Springs, kind of like a mini Yellowstone and provincial park all-in-one. Apparently the springs are hot enough to cook eggs, which they will sell you, in a bag, to do just that!
We swam in the mineral springs, had a foot massage (they cost about $6.00 for an hour) and then had lunch. I have found some Thai food I like, but not too much...I should come back much thinner, LOL!
Tonight I'm going with what I know, and we're headed to a Chinese restaurant beside the hotel. Tomorrow, Tiger land, a cruise on the Mae Ping river, and some shopping at the Night market. Then on Friday, the zip line through the rainforest canopy. Look it up on "Flight of the Gibbon Chiang Mai" to see. I'll rent a helmet camera for video-taping. Then on Saturday we'll go for an elephant trek and see what else sounds good. From there, who knows?
More to come as the days roll by!
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