a trip without regrets (continued)

Day 2:




I had a good sleep the previous night on the comfy bed with comfy comforter and comfy pillow. In fact, I woke up at 9am+ (Singapore time - 10am+), which is considered very late. After having breakfast at the cookhouse, I went for a swim, only to torture myself with the chilling waters. The water was so cold, that at one point of time I could not even feel my toes.



In order to make the best of the time we still had in Chiangmai, I seeked the receptionist's opinion on where is the best place to shop and bargain. She recommended the 'Warorat Market', which is like the Teka market in Singapore. Not surprisingly at all, it sells basically everything, from strange delicacies like dried cockcroaches and maggots, to clothings for children, men and women. We came across a Muslim couple selling some items near the entrance of the market, so we decided to ask them where we could find good halal food for lunch.




En route to finding the halal restaurant, we came across a rare mosque, which is very big but rather inconspicuous from the main road. Ironic.




Here we are! The restaurant's called 'Khao Soi Islam' and it sells very typical dishes such as chicken rice, chicken briyani, mutton briyani etc. So I ordered mutton briyani, trying to see how Chiangmai's version of briyani tastes like. It was good, with lots of sprinkled fried onion (I like!) This was the first definite halal meal that we had, with having the benefit of doubt for all the previous ones.



As we continued to walk along the streets of the Chiangmai city, we came across this road side stall as shown on the left. Unlike any other typical road side stalls, this one was special, not only in its good hygiene, but also its creative menu board. Most importantly, the 'roti' was very delicious. D-to the E-to the L.I.C.I.O.U.S! Haha!

We decided to make one last stop before heading back to our Gasson Lake City Resort. This last stop, was also the same shopping centre we went the previous day - Kad Suan Kaew. I was the one who wanted to go there because I wanted to purchase some cheap clothings from this particular shop (shown on the left). I got 2 shirts (99 Baht each) and a pair of jeans (290 Baht) and this amounts to 488 Baht. See the girl on the extreme left? We bullied her like mad, in the sense that we persistently insisted on pricings which she persistently refused. We started with 400 Baht (which we know is quite ridiculous), and went on with 420 Baht, then 430 Baht. Finally, we decided upon 444 Baht (si-si-si). I think we spent a total 30-40 minutes bargaining with her before settling on the final price. I think if it was another salesgirl, she would have gotten pissed off long ago. Let me do a minor cost breakdown: 444 Baht in total means its 250 Baht (S$10.90) for the pair of jeans and 97 Baht (S$4.20) for each of the two shirts! Wow!

After this final stop, we headed back to our resort, in hope of catching the live match of Chelsea vs Liverpool on ESPN. This time, the transportation was the classic red cab, which has an open rear and was windowless. As such, it was a chilling ride, with cold gushes of air wheezing through the automobile.

The initial plan for day 2 was supposed to be elephant ride, followed by river rafting and a few other traditional activities at an expense of S$60. But I guess we had as much fun, if not more, with this free-and-easy programme of our own, as we would have with the original programme.

To be continued...