A must visit on a sunday is the Sunday Night Market, which spans across the length of the entire Old city. Seriously, considering the scale of the market, this must be the mother of all night markets that I have been to. Almost 3hr there and I still could not complete walking through the entire market. And different from many other night markets in Asia where knock-offs are the norm products sold, this market instead focuses mainly on local made goods and craft products, as well as f&b.
For this trip, I also went on a full day tour to Chiang Rai and Golden Triangle. Chiang Rai is a 3hrs mini-bus ride away from Chiang Mai.
The famous White Temple at Chiang Rai.
The Golden Toilet in the White Temple.
Went further north to the Golden Triangle, where Thailand, Myanmar and Laos meet.
Took boat ride along the Mekong river to Laos.
Riverbank of Laos
Up for a sip of Geckho, King cobra, Tiger penis or Turtle whiskey?
Thailand on the left, Laos on the right, and Myanmar ahead.
At the Thailand-Myanmar border, with Myanmar just across the bridge. This is also the northenmost point of Thailand.
Visit to a Karen Tribe village. One of the very few surviving village tribes, but mostly are all tourist sights now.
Some of the delicious food that we had in Chiang Mai:
Dinner of Thai fishcakes, pepper pork and Tom Kha soup.
Ploen Ruedee Night Market. Very cool dinner/supper place!
Khao Soi, the "official" dish of northern thailand.
Really cheap and good thai local eatery, Lert Ros.
For the flight back, it was a 150baht Uber ride back to the airport. Great thing about Chiang Mai is that the airport is a mere 10-15min car ride (depending on traffic) from the town center.
Chiang Mai Intl Airport is clearly showing its age among the mega or new airport terminal buildings in Asia. Check-in was quick with no queues at 1.5hrs before departure, and was handled by very friendly TG agents.
Boarding pass
Through immigration and security into the departure hall. Some shopping within but not too exciting. Reminds me of Phuket's old international terminal.
Boarding gate. Our aircraft, initially scheduled for the A320, was swapped with the A319 due to the low loads. Aircraft had arrived early from Singapore.
Boarding announced and conducted very orderly by priority and row numbers. Our baby Airbus A319, one of the last 3 in SilkAir's fleet, awaiting for the flight back.
22 November 2016
Silkair
MI 705
Chiang Mai (CNX) - Singapore (SIN)
A319
9V-SBG
Economy Class
Flight Time: 2H38M
Welcomed onboard and greeted by name by the crew-in-charge at the door. Passed the 8 seater Business cabin and proceeded to my seat at the second last row of the aircraft. Pillows and blankets were available in the overhead bins or you can request from the crew.
Boarding in progress. Flight was about 70% full.
Seat pitch is decent for this short flight. Pillows and blankets can be requested from the crew.
China Eastern B738 beside. PRC is a huge inbound market for Chiang Mai, with multiple flights daily to various parts of China.
Reading materials.
Boarding was completed swiftly and wet towels were distributed.
Pilot announced a flight time of 2h45m, and also candidly introduced the beautiful crew-in-charge and the rest of the wonderful Silkair crew. One thing I noticed about Silkair is that the pilots and cabin crew are closely-knitted like a family. Prior to boarding, I even saw the pilots came out to the transit area to purchase Thai iced tea for all the rest of the crew! Safety video was then played.
Taxi to the runway, with the sun setting in the distance.
Video of the taxi
Lining up and takeoff from Rwy36. The entire Chiang Mai city can be viewed as we climbed into the sunset.
Over city of Chiang Mai
Video of the takeoff.
Sunset
Dinner service started shortly after takeoff. Service started from the front of the aircraft towards the rear. Short silent features were shown on the drop-down screens while wireless-streaming Silkair Studio IFE was also available.
Quick visit to the lavatory as the meal service moved towards the rear. Basic amenities available only.
Meal cart reaching my row soon.
Unfortunately, as the chicken option has ran out, the only available option left was the fish with rice. The meal tray came with cut fruits and an almond cooke. I requested an orange juice and a white wine to go with the meal.
The chardonnay came in a mini-bottle. It was rather good.
Drinking water and cookie.
The fish was in a thai-styled spicy tomyam sauce. However, maybe to tone the spicyness level down for the western palette, it was actually rather tasteless with only a hint of tomyam flavour. The vegetables, on the other hand, was a bit too salty. Edible, but definitely no where near the best I had on a flight. Fruits were sweet enough.
The Asian vegetarian choice, which we requested from the crew (normally there is one or two catered on each flight), tasted much better.
A cup of tea and the almond cookie to end. The cookie is very tasty!
After meal service. cabin lights were dimmed, while I watched on my phone through the wireless streaming IFE. 45min prior to arrival, cabin lights were switched on again, and the crew passed through with juices and mixed nuts before the descend. Interesting service as I had though that normally nuts would be served before the meal service.
Descending into Changi and landed on Rwy20C more than 15min ahead of schedule.
Video of the landing.
Parked at Terminal 2.
Disembarking and a shot of my seat.
Thanks for reading and any comments are welcomed.
