And so to Chiang Rai

Now first, my dear reader, let me clear one bit of confusion up about our latest location. Chiang Rai is also spelt Chiangrai, and is sometimes spelt Chiang-Rai – clear? Excellent, then let’s move on! So, this morning started badly. Captain Clarke and I overslept. Possibly due to the extensive activities of yesterday, we found ourselves awaking at 9 o’clock. This wouldn’t have been a problem except for the fact that we were due to meet Madame Cholet and Great Uncle Bulgaria at 9 o’clock to take breakfast. We rushed around and managed to appear for breakfast at 09:30 hours. Not good.

Air Bangkok Lounge

Today was a travelling day. We checked in online for our flights – check-in was no problem, but printing the boarding passes was somewhat more problematic because none of the printers in the hotel business centre worked. (We have had words – apparently someone had stolen the toner cartridges. This is true, but a rather lame excuse, I felt!) We left the Shangri-La hotel in Bangkok and had an uneventful journey to the airport. Once at the airport we walked about 10 miles, (or at least it felt that way), to the exclusive airline lounge. This was a bonus since, on this flight, we were turning right! However, the lounge, if I am to be totally honest, did not turn out to be much of a bonus! It transpired that anyone could use the lounge and, pretty much everyone did.

Now, Great Uncle Bulgaria was accused yesterday of being grumpy by Madame Cholet. This was probably a bit of an unfair charge, although at this point, I must issue a public apology. You see, it is like this. I hate with a passion, turning up at an airport gate late – particularly when travelling economy, (I know from experience that airline staff love to offload late passengers, just because they can – I allegedly used to do it!). Great Uncle Bulgaria takes a different approach and prefers to make use of the lounge for as long as possible. Today I insisted that I would be going to the gate in good time and, reluctantly, Great Uncle Bulgaria said that he would come too. I offered the compromise that if he had to wait at the gate for more than 15 minutes before boarding then I would issue a public apology. It was 20 minutes! Public apology issued! (He wasn’t the grumpy, but a deal is a deal!)

Chaing Rai arrivals

Our flight from Bangkok to Chiang Rai was … ok. I am going to have to get these pilots together in a group for a stiff talking to – the pilot yesterday managed to find air with a significant number of lumps in it! In fact, at one point, I think the plane must have fallen into a pot hole because it certainly bounced around in it! Anyway, we arrived safely in Chiang Rai and awaited our luggage at the appropriate belt. Actually it was belt number one … of one!

We met our guide and driver at the airport with no problems and were safely delivered to our hotel. Unfortunately, when we arrived it was raining. And it has been ever since! Since tomorrow night is a festival here in Thailand, (Loy Kratong), we decided that we should take the opportunity to visit the night market here in Chiang Rai this evening. Despite the rain we took the view that it was worth the effort and so took a taxi into the town centre.

Aye’s Restaurant

The centre of Chiang Rai was, it will come as no surprise, very wet! Captain Clarke boldly led us in our search for a suitable hostelry and it wasn’t long before we had taken a table in Aye’s restaurant. Despite having a menu in English, Dutch, German and French, (the first time we have seen this in Thailand), we thought it was probably worth a try. Usually a restaurant that has menus in this many languages serves food of a rather poor quality, but this was not the case and the whole party managed to choose something that met their taste. For my part I had a local dish called, Khanom Jeen Nam Ngiao, which is a spicy broth with noodles and pieces of meat that I am not sure where are from, but it was very good! Others had food.

Overall, we like Chiang Rai. Tomorrow is another full on day of visits to various places, so we shall see how that pans out. I shan’t be able to provide my brief report until later on Friday because we are taking a small vessel built for just 40 passengers, (but dedicated to the four of us!), down the Mekong river and into Laos. I am not sure when I shall next have Internet access, but you can guarantee you will be seeing more from me soon! It’s RudyMenTerry!

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