My Thailand Blog by Richard Barrow

At the moment I am in Pattaya on a 3 day media trip with the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT). We are product testing some new attractions as well as some places that won the Thailand Tourism Awards this year. The hotel where we are staying is the Pattaya Marriott Resort & Spa. It is on Beach Road.

This is the room where I will be staying for the next two nights. As you can see, it is beautifully designed and is also very comfortable. The hotel is right next door to Royal Garden Plaza and a short walk to the beach. The hotel won the Thailand Tourism Award this year for the second time for “City Accommodation with more than 80 rooms, Eastern Region”.

The room has the now common flatscreen TV and also a DVD player. However, I was surprised to find this coffeemaker which was a nice touch. Though I think a normal kettle would have been sufficient. There is also a network cable for Broadband Internet but this is quite expensive. However, the lobby area has free WiFi. My room has a private verandah and is only a dozen steps away from the pool.

The room price of 7,600 baht per night is obviously more than my normal budget. So, I must thank the TAT for inviting me to stay here.

- Posted from my iPhone

One of the most impressive temples in Chiang Mai is Wat Chedi Luang. It is the largest chedi in Chiang Mai and is located in the center of the city.

The original chedi, which dates back to 1481 A.D., was 98 meters high and 54 meters wide. It must have been a very amazing sight at that time. Unfortunately, the structure collapsed during an earthquake in 1545.

A good reason for foreign tourists to go to Wat Chedi Luang is the Monk Chat Program. As the name suggests, you can come and chat with monks about anything. For example Thai culture or their way of life. At the same time the monks get a chance to practice their English. This program is open between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.

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Thailand has had panda fever ever since the birth of Lin Ping at Chiang Mai Zoo in May 2009. They even have a 24 hour reality show so people can watch from home. This is a picture that I took of Chuang Chuang, the father.

The queues to see the pandas used to be very long. Fortunately this morning we were able to go straight in. The temperature inside is a comfortable 15 Celsius. They have built an ice dome for them next door but at the moment only the tourist section is ready.

The area where the mother and daughter pandas stay is quite large. Maybe too big and dark if you want to take a picture with a mobile phone. You are also not allowed to take a picture with flash for obvious reasons.

This is a picture of Lin Ping who is now one and a half years old. She is more active than her mother and was climbing up and down a lot. Under the agreement with China, any panda cub born abroad must be returned to China within two years. I think Thailand is trying to extend this but we have to think of the welfare of the panda.

The father panda, Chuang Chuang, is kept in a separate area. Here it is lighter and you can also get closer to observe his habits. Entrance to Chiang Mai Zoo is 520/390 baht (290/190 baht for Thai people). For the panda enclosure you have to pay another 100 baht (50 baht for Thai people). The snow dome is also extra at 150/100 baht for both foreigner and Thai.

- Posted from my iPhone

These are some pictures that I took with my iPhone of the floating lanterns during the Yi Peng Festival in Chiang Mai. Truly a wonderful sight and an experience I won’t forget any day soon.

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On the list of “must-see” attractions in Chiang Mai is definitely this temple on top of Doi Suthep. It is a famous landmark about 15 kilometers from the town and 3,520 feet above sea level. The temple dates back to 1383 A.D.

As you can see, we were really lucky with the weather during our visit as we had some wonderfully blue skies. From the car park you have the option of climbing 290 steps to the top or taking a cable car for 20 baht. We took the second option though on my first two visits I walked up the steps.

Foreign tourists have to pay a 30 baht entrance fee though it is free for Thai people. The argument is that the Thais will be buying lotuses and incense sticks in order to make merit. Fair enough as it is a really beautiful place. There are also some spectacular views of Chiang Mai. That is, if you don’t go on one of Chiang Mai’s infamous hazy days when you won’t see a lot.

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Thailand is starting to be world famous for it’s spas which are being promoted as “wellness tourism”. The number of hotels and resorts with spa packages are increasing all the time.

On the second day of our TAT media trip in Chiang Mai we were brought to The Oasis Spa which apparently has a good reputation among spas in Thailand. They also have branches in Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya. It is a shame that the words “Thai” and “Massage” have negative connotations. There is nothing sleazy about the experience at all. Unless, of course, you go to Patpong.

I’ve never had a massage at a spa in Thailand before. It’s never been my kind of thing. However, as is was a specially arranged visit for the media I felt obliged to try it out. They put me down for the Aroma Hot Oil Massage which costs 1,350 baht. To be honest I was a bit nervous about this but at the same time willing to try something new.

I was taken to a room where the lovely Thai lady told me to take a shower first and then change into disposable underwear. I then laid face down on this massage table and she worked her magic for about an hour. Of course the blinds on the window were pulled down during the massage session.

I must admit that I felt really relaxed and calm after this hot oil massage. It turned out better than I thought. I can highly recommend an experience like this if you are going to Thailand on holiday. As for whether I would ever go to a spa again, I don’t think so.

I wish to thank The Oasis Spa Chiang Mai for giving me a complimentary massage and also to the TAT for “forcing” me to have my first massage at a spa. I am glad that I did it.

- Posted from my iPhone

These are some of the pictures that I took of the lantern displays in Chiang Mai last night. I took them with my iPhone so apologizes for the quality. Not easy to take night photos. Hopefully I managed to get some better shots on my DSLR which I will post later over at www.Thai-blogs.com.

The first two pictures were taken at Suan Dok Gate in Chiang Mai. They had lanterns in the shape of mythical creatures from Thai literature. This one in red is Garuda.

The next photos were taken at the Three Kings Monument. This one had lanterns from the Lanna Culture. Very beautiful and there were many Thai people here taking pictures.

This last picture I took near the Night Bazaar where they had Lanna Thai Cultural performances. There were many people here and it was very difficult to take pictures. But very beautiful as the night sky was full of floating lanterns.

- Posted from my iPhone

One of our first stops in Chiang Mai was at the Vieng Joom On Teahouse which is alongside the Mae Ping River. An article in the inflight magazine Sawasdee recently said that this place is 1 in 10 reasons to overstay in Chiang Mai.

The name of the teahouse translates as the Pink City which, as you can see from this picture, is a favorite colour of the owner. I was surprised to see so many people in the garden terrace around the back. But the surroundings were certainly beautiful. This Thai couple had a tripod set up to take pictures of themselves.

The manager told us that they have 59 different varieties of tea in their teahouse. They also have a shop where you can buy many of these teas and also accessories. The customers are roughly split 50:50 between foreign tourists and Thais. Though most of the Thai people are from Bangkok.

I haven’t had High Tea for many years. I grew up on a farm in England. We used to have our main meal of the day at noon, called dinner, and then High Tea at about 5 p.m. But, these days, most people have dinner when they get home from work in the evening. I chose to have scones today together with some Earl Grey. if you like tea then this teahouse on Jaroenraj Road is an obvious must.

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At the moment I am in Chiang Mai on a 3 day media trip with the TAT. They have brought us here to experience the Yi Peng Loy Krathong Festival.

We are staying at the Shewe Suite Resort on Charoen Muang Road in Chiang Mai. It is the kind of place that I wouldn’t be able to afford myself as it is very luxurious and exclusive. One night in this suite is 12,000 baht. I feel a bit lost here as it massive.

The four poster bed was really comfortable and I had a good nights sleep. This is my living room. While I’m typing this I am waiting for my breakfast to be delivered. As well as a bathroom there is also a changing room.

This is a shot of the living room looking towards the flatscreen TV which also has a DVD player which is a nice touch. Unlike some other resorts, this place has good working WiFi which is also free. Surprising how many hotels charge for this.

This is my private verandah. I have the double doors open at the moment and I’m enjoying Chiang Mai’s morning cool breeze. The furnishings are all from teak wood and the designs of the rooms are all very exquisite.

Although I normally cannot afford hotels such as this, I am grateful to the TAT for giving me an opportunity to at least experience how the other half live. It’s useful “research” for me as I have both hotel and guidebook websites for Thailand.

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When I first moved to Samut Prakan about 16 years there wasn’t really much of a choice for shopping malls. If I wanted to watch an American movie or buy some English language books I had to go into Bangkok. My only local mall was Imperial World in Samrong which had a water park on top.  But then, three new malls opened within a short period of time.

On Bang Na-Trad Highway Central City Bang Na opened. Then on Srinakarin Road we had two massive malls open up next to each other called Seacon Square and Seri Center. I used to go to Seacon a lot to watch movies and go shopping. But, after that became so busy I switched to Central Bang Na and Seri Center. I liked Seri as the movie theatre was good as the other malls but was often empty. It also had two floors of computer shops.

For a few years Seri had been going down hill until finally last year it was bought up and has recently re-opened  as Paradise Park: The Oasis of Eastern Bangkok. I went to take a look this morning as all of the shops have now reopened. It is certainly more up-market than before. A number of the old favourites are still there such as Seri Market, Sports World, Home Pro and the movie theatre. They also have some new shops including the Loft.

The IT section is still there but not as big. I was also pleased to see Asia Books which wasn’t there before. There are probably more fashion and beauty shops than I would want, but the quality restaurants on the 3rd floor and the food market on the ground floor more than make up for that. It wasn’t that crowded and so I probably would still come here to watch a movie and get something to eat.

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On the fourth day of the big Temple Fair in Samut Prakan, they always hold boat races on the Chao Phraya River in front of Phra Samut Chedi. They also hold other activities and competitions for the local people.

This is a competition for thatching using leaves from the nipa palm tree.

This is the popular Muay Talay (sea boxing). The loser is the person who falls into the water first.

In this competition, the winner is the person who catches the most crabs without getting bitten.

This is the messiest of the competitions. Here the winner is the person that manages to eat all of the cockles (hoi kraeng) the quickest. They look pretty raw to me!

I will be posting pictures from my DSLR camera over at www.PaknamPhotos.com

- Posted from my iPhone