This Morning: BKK --> CMB

 

Day 098 of Our Winter:  The pics were live on the plane as we boarded in Bangkok.  I put them on Whatsapp for some Vancouver friends. Three hours and ten minutes later we touched down on the tarmac in Sri Lanka.  

We had to get up early.  We left the hotel in BKK at 6:15 and thusly had just fifteen minutes alone at the Ramada Buffet Breakfast prior to getting in a van.  That was enough time for some good coffee and a plate of fruit and croissants. Sri Lankan Air served pretty decent breakfast choices too.  We took off at 9:00 and landed before 11:00 am because of an hour and a half time zone difference.  Flying seems easy again.

We're not used to flying into CMB at a reasonable hour of the day.  Often flights land and also leave in the early hours of the morning.  Jay and I have just three final weeks in Sri Lanka this winter.  When we leave to fly to Hong Kong to catch the MS Westerdam, we also connect through BKK but leave on Thai Airways #308 at 01:00 am on February 27th.

 

Big C Supercenter Ratchadamri

Day 096 of Our Winter: After breakfast today, Jay logged onto the Sri Lankan Airlines site. He checked in for Friday's flight back to Colombo. We stayed with the seats we were given on the Airbus 320. It has just three and an aisle and the other three across. Jay's sister's and Jay are in 19A, B, and C and I will sit in the aisle seat in 19D. Perhaps this spurred this my purchasing decision today.

   

We walked to the Big C. It is big. A few things were bought by the sisters and Jay. Most importantly, to me, I got a new supply of Classic Snake Cooling Powder. Last summer, I noticed my New Westminster supply was dwindling. I have a couple more cans and feel confident that I'll have enough for a while.

 

Rather than walking back, we hailed a Grab rideshare from the front entrance.

 

Tomorrow will be our last full day in Bangkok.  We've not visited China Town on this visit and will mostly likely do that tomorrow.  It is a four to six km journey rather closer to the river which makes it perfect for a Grab rideshare rather than transit.  The whole gang is on medication now, so our decision will rest on how we feel tomorrow at breakfast time.

Soi Ratchaprarop 8

 

Day 095 of Our Winter:  I don't know quite how many times we've walked down and back along this street.  I've lost count.  It is the main way for us to get from Ratchaprarop Road to the Ramanda D'MA hotel.  What we see depends a lot on the time of the day.  Some things don't open up until late morning or early afternoon.  While some businesses are primarily open at night.

As with many side streets in Bangkok the sidewalks are taken up the businesses that spill over the sidewalks.  Soi 8 is primarily one-way.  I say primarily as motorcycles short cut just about any place they can.  So it's best to keep an extra eye out when traversing this street.

There is a swimming pool waiting at the hotel as long as it's between 10:00 am and 6:00 pm.  Jay took my picture, but I haven't used it even though it looks inviting enough.

 

The Chatuchak Weekend Market

 

Day 093 of Our Winter: We remembered the Chatuchak Weekend Market from our last time in Bangkok a couple of years ago. The market isn't that far away but we didn't feel like taking the Airport Link Rail one more stop and then connecting to the SkyTrain-type BTS.  We had to wait for about 20 minutes for a Grab rideshare to get to the hotel lobby.  

A car made by BYD arrived to pick us up to get us to the market in around 25 minutes.  It was my first ride in one of the Chinese electric vehicles.  Whereas the US automakers are throwing in their collective towel on the future of automobiles, this company is going to only be held back by tariffs and reminiscing about when the US had an automotive sector.  BYD will supplying EVs to the rest of the world.  It's a shame that the United States no longer has a desire to compete or engage with the rest of the world unless through military misadventures.  I grew up in the shadow of the space race and when the future held promises and science wasn't a swear word.

  

Here were some thoughts on the Market: "Sitting here on the edge of the world's largest open-air maze, ostensibly catching a 'natural breeze' that is really just the filtered exhaust of the Mo Chit transit corridor. Around me, 35 acres and some 15,000 stalls hum with the frantic energy of 200,000 people—half of whom seem to be like Jay's sisters—convinced they’ve discovered a fiscal miracle in a 100-Baht pashmina. It is a grand, chaotic monument to the 'grazing' instinct. While the retail infantry vanishes into the 27 sections of the maze, I am content to audit the logistics from the perimeter, smiling through the smog and realizing that while it truly 'takes all kinds' to make a world, most of them appear to be currently blocked in Soi 3."

 

Everyone Can Fly Now

 

Day 092 of Our Winter:  We didn't fancy a 12-hour overnight train nor an equally long ride on a bus.  So we flew to Chiang Mai and today we returned to BKK the same way. 

Doing the trip in around an hour sounds like magic.  However, the truth of flying is different because one needs to get to and from the airport and spend lots of time checking in and going through security.  We took the low-cost carrier and didn't spring for the extra seat charges.  So, their computers ensured that the gang didn't have a chance to sit close by.  I'll be darned if I can be blackmailed to convenient seating just so the airline can sell 'normal' space for optionally inflated prices. 

 

Air Asia flights into BKK encounter the Bangkok afternoon system crunches.  We would have made it earlier than the estimated 4:00 pm arrival, except the airport was too full to take us on.  Our plane had to do several large loops to stall our arrival time.  We landed only 15 minutes late.

Even though I'm complaining, it was a whole lot easier to fly than going those 700 km either by bus or train.

On the Bangkok end, we got a pubic SUV taxi to get us and our luggage back to the Ramada D'Ma.  We were here for three days when we arrived in Thailand.  Our eight nights in Pattaya and Chiang Mai are finished now, so we're back until we fly back to Colombo.  We will do that on February 6th.

Tonight we went back to the Manel Lanka restaurant as it's right in the neighbhourhood.  We are quite tired considering we spent the majority of the day sitting.

Our Final Day in Chiang Mai

Day 091 of Our Winter: This was our final day in Chiang Mai on this trip. If we plan to return here for another visit, we'd best not wait as long as we did between our 1991 visit and this one! Tomorrow, we have an afternoon flight back to Bangkok and our final five nights in Thailand.

 

Our breakfast is inside but right next to the hotel's little pool.  The air is always pretty brisk in the mornings but by midday the heat returns.  As Jay's sisters didn't see Wat Phra Singh the other day, we took a Grab rideshare out to it again. Recovery from their particular flu is taking a long time.  So far, neither Jay nor I are coughing much.  Renuka's is persistent.  We returned from the temple to the gate in another Grab car and walked back to the hotel.

It really is quite amazing how many temples sit in Chiang Mai.  Walk a little in any direction, in the old city and out, and you'll find a temple every few hundred meters.

This evening, Jay and I walked back to the Night Bazaar area by making a large square loop.  It added a few more kilometers to my Fitbit data, but today we only added about 7.21 kms in total.  I lost count of how many temples we walked past outside the old city walls.

We were in Chiang Mai longer than in Pattaya.  Our total nights in Bangkok will be the most as we've already spent three nights plus the remainder of this trip.  Jay and I could definitely spend more time in SE Asia.  It is so easy to travel within the region once settled.  So whether based again in Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, or Indonesia, we could someday end up here again.

Interestingly though, we are thinking of re-visiting bits of South America next winter.  It takes just as much energy to plan as it does to hope.  So, why bother with the latter?

 

Wat Phrathat Doi Sithep

Day 90 of Our Winter:  We rallied the forces and went to a mountain temple just outside of Chiang Mai.  Jay and I really weren't sure if we had visited this temple during our very first visit to Thailand in 1991. It is in the mountains that ring that side of the city.  I'm pretty sure we must've used a rented scooter to travel the 15 kms out of town the first time. Today, I wouldn't dare threading two wheels through the non-stop traffic of Chiang Mai in 2026!  The road was well paved but full of switchbacks and loops.

Today, the sisters were up to the effort and we took a a/c Grab rideshare vehicle both ways.  We matched up the nagas (serpents) along the stairway with an old, scanned photograph and determined we had, indeed, visited thirty five years ago.  This time we took up a funicular rather than trying attempt the hike up in the hot midday sun.  

The day was a bit hazy but we could see the city which must be much larger than the footprint of the city the first time in the city.  There were lots of locals and tourists at the top and it was an immensely interesting morning.  Even with all the tourists, may of whom probably used hiking trails, it maintained a religious atmosphere.

Jay and I walked out at dusk to get dinner.  We stopped again at the Grill of Punjab for rota, dosa, and nan.  We have been a little 'rice and noodled out' in Thailand and bread and a curry seemed like a perfect little dinner.  We went near the Tha Phae Gate just to enjoy the action that this side of the old city enjoys.

Wat Phra Singh / Chiang Mai Gate

Day 089 of Our Winter: Today, Jay's younger sister was still recovering from the flu. We ducked out and purchased some cough syrup as soon as a close pharmacy opened. Jay's other sister stayed to take care of her today. Jay and I walked out to the Wat Phra Singh. It is one of the major temples in the old town of Chiang Mai.

         
There's a supposed connection between Sri Lanka and a Buddha image in one of the temple's building.  

The Phra Singh Buddha (or Phra Buddha Sihing) is the central figure of a 700-year-old mystery that spans from India and Sri Lanka to the northern reaches of Thailand. Since you’re exploring the "Lion Buddha" temple, here is the deep intelligence on why this small statue is such a big deal.

The "Sinhala" Mystery

The name "Sihing" is derived from Sinhala, a direct nod to Sri Lanka.

• The Legend: Local tradition claims the statue was cast in Sri Lanka around 157 AD and sent to the King of Sukhothai in the 13th century. Legend has it the ship carrying it sank, but the statue floated on a wooden plank until it reached Nakhon Si Thammarat in southern Thailand.

• The Reality Check: Art historians note the statue looks remarkably Lanna (Northern Thai), with very few Sri Lankan features. It’s more likely a 14th-century Thai masterpiece influenced by the Pala style from India, rather than a physical export from Sri Lanka.  There are also two other locations in Thailand that claim ownership of the 'floating' Buddha from Sri Lanka.

Regardless of the origins of that particular statue, the temple is large and important.  We walked from the hotel after having breakfast.  However, by 11:30 am this sun had commenced its work.  The nights are a cool 16C in this city but the daytime temperature today was 30C.  We got a Grab rideshare car rather than walking, most of the way across the old city, to our hotel.

Later Jay and I had lunch again at the Dada Kafe and brought back some spicey Tom Yum soup for Renuka's sore throat.

When it was close to sunset, we walked around the outside of the moat to an entrance into the old town called, the Chiang Mai Gate.  It was interesting as locals and the 'digital nomads' go here to find very cheap street food.  

When returning, we took roads in the old town and stopped for some Indian-inspired nan and chapati with a spicy chicken curry.

Wat Phan On/Phantao/Chedi Luang and the Night Bazaar

Day 088 of Our Winter:  It's pretty hard not to trip over a temple when walking around the old town of Chiang Mai.  The old city center is roughly a square area approximately 1.5 to 1.6 km on each side.  Within that area there are more than 30 major temples and upwards of 100 smaller shrines.

Our hotel is just outside of the former city walls on the other side of the moat.  It takes us around five minutes to walk into the Tha Phae Gate, on the western side.  We did that after breakfast this morning.  Renuka sister is still in recovery mode.  She has a very raspy voice from the sore through.  She's coughing less than yesterday.

We walked through the Tha Phae Gate and along Rachadamnoen Road.  The nights are a cool 16C but as soon as the sun starts shining it quickly rises.  The temperatures were around 30C but the air is drier than what we felt in the south.  Thailand is a Buddhist country as is Sri Lanka.  The religion differs here but the history of the teachings are similar.

We had lunch at Dada Kafe.  For our evening outing, we walked two the Chiang Mai Night Bazaar area near the big hotels.  It was less than a kilometer but going there and back did mean we did another 9.74 kms today.  It seems hard to avoid doing this much walking!

We brought back some food for a light meal back at the hotel.

Pattaya to Chiang Mai

Day 087 of Our Winter:  It was not a tough day at all but it did include a lot of moving.  We started out in Pattaya and now we're in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

We checked out of the Sunshine Hotel & Residences after a final breakfast.  It had one of the better buffet breakfasts of our trip thus far.  As soon as I clicked the destination as BKK on the Grab app, it connected to a driver.  It was a lady driver who had a lead foot and got us to the airport with 90 minutes.

As soon as we entered the airport, we discovered that our Air Asia flight to this city would be nearly an hour late.  By the time we actually were about to land, the sun was setting.  Our two bags were unloaded quickly.  The sisters were asked to check in carry-on.  As they didn't have anything they needed on the hour plus flight, they checked them too.  We stopped at the Airport Taxi booth right near the luggage area and proceeded directly to the SUV #70 directly.  We checked into the hotel around 6:30 pm.  We are in the Sleep Mai? hotel near the Tha Phae Gate of the old city.

    

Jay's younger sister caught something on the trip and is quite sick.  She didn't feel up to walking out for dinner, so we picked up some light food at a 7/11.  We also stopped at the pharmacy and got some medicines for her symptoms.  Travelling while sick is not fun.  We do have enough time in Chiang Mai to allow her to recover and still see the sights.  We have the rest of the week here before we head back to Bangkok on January 31st for our final days there.

Jay and I went across the moat canal and had food at John's that opened up the year following Jay's and my last time in this city.  We haven't been in Chiang Mai since the spring of 1991.

Our Final Day in Pattaya

Day 086 of Our Winter: We've been putting on a lot of mileage. In Bangkok, and now here in Pattaya, we've been walking a lot.  Last night, we took a baht bus (taxi pickup trucks with seating in the back) to Walking Street. We walked all the way from the corner out to the end under the Pattaya Sign. Then, we did the same back in this direction. This has made at least three or four days in a row that we've walked around 10 km.

So, we decided to take it easy today.  Jay's younger sister is also feeling a little under the weather although it was quite nice.  This is of course added simply so I could show off a little.  When most of the North America is freezing, we're looking out over the Gulf of Thailand and enjoying the warm breeze.

This will be our last evening here at the beach.  Tomorrow, we will get a rideshare back to the major international airport of BKK.  However, we will be taking an afternoon flight to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand.  We have five nights in a hotel there for a big change of pace from the beach.

 

I put a picture on Facebook of my Mai Tai. This was the cordon bleu that I had with it for lunch at the Sailor Bar and Restaruant. The total for both the chicken and the drink came to less that $US 7.00. Thailand is not as cheap as we remember from the 90s but no place is! Lunch felt like it was a good deal for 2026.

Wat Phra Yai

Day 085 of our Winter:  Interestingly, this is same day that east coast North Americans are preparing for a winter storm.  However, we're looking south over the Gulf of Thailand.  It is was hot 32C with clear blue sky.  It made for an excellent morning to head to Wat Phra Yai.

I was thinking today, how technology worked out just in time for my generation.  When Jay and I were young, we used to hike up mountains to see destinations when travelling.  Now, in 2026, we can call a rideshare from the front of the hotel and have a car come to drive us around.  Today we did that to see the 'Big Buddha' at the famous temple of Pattaya. We were dropped off with just the final 100 steps to climb.  The view was nice from the top of the hill.

We returned to the central beach area of Pattaya in another Grab car. We were let off behind Mike Mall, and walked through in order to see what was for sale. The sisters bought on several items. We came through to the Beach Road and walked back to our Soi 8. 

I'd read about Sailor Bar and Restaurant and we stopped by for a cheap meal of Thai curry and rice. This place has been operating for over three decades. It remained intact through the COVID pandemic too. I had a beer with lunch but the mixed drinks are still 70 Baht. There aren't many places where one can buy a Mai Tai or just about any tropical cocktail for $US 2.25. Have to get one tonight!