Songs of joy
Today we were experiencing Christmas in Chiang Mai. As it was Christmas, we decided to have a lie in (we usually have lie ins, but we have an excuse now). Around mid-morning we thought we should grace the breakfast buffet with our presence. Well, we really didn’t want to miss a free breakfast! Once again, I enjoyed a random assortment of breakfast foods: cereal, sausage, eggs, fruit, and more!
This time, we had a class of school children singing Christmas songs to everyone. It was quite heart-warming, to hear these young children singing songs in a second language to theirs. Plus, because we’ve been in Asia, there hasn’t been much Christmas spirit to get into, to be honest. After our breakfast we returned to our lair and chilled out for a couple of hours.
Getting beaten up
As we were spending Christmas in Chiang Mai, it was still very hot, and we decided to just have a very relaxing day. I suggested we have a Thai massage, however, this was no form of relaxation. Not at all. We visited a Thai massage parlour, about 30 seconds from our hotel, very close. There was no one else in, so we got straight in to the masseuse. We had to get dressed into some very light linen tops. Once we were all set, the violence began.
I say violence, the masseuse was being very rough with me, probably normal though to be fair. My legs and arms had made noises and moved in ways they never have done before. The one that got me the most, was when she dug her fingers into the back of my knee. Oh my days, talk about a knee-jerk reaction! I finished a few minutes before Mat, so I waited downstairs. A load of Chinese tourists were there, all with their smelly feet out…yuck! Once Mat had finished, we returned to our hotel room, a bit more battered and bruised than when we had left.
Christmas dinner
When we got back to the hotel room, it was Christmas morning in the UK. I gave my parents a ring, and we had a nice, long chat about things. Of course, I didn’t have much to talk about in the way of Christmas presents, except some underwear I had bought from H&M yesterday. It’s always good to have a catch up, and see how things are back home. Not much has changed though. After an hour or so on the phone, it was time to leave for our Christmas dinner in Chiang Mai! One of the most important parts of the day.
We had scoured the city (via the internet) for Christmas dinners, but most were fully booked or very expensive. However, we did manage to find one through Facebook. I’d been messaging the person since last night, and it seems we were on to a winner. For Christmas dinner, it seemed pretty cheap, plus we were okay paying a bit extra. So, we got a taxi there and got sat at our table.
All of the portions were pretty generous, and our expectations had been exceeded with flying colours. We had a starter, main, and pudding, for about £15, which is good for a Christmas dinner! Starter was a cream soup with some bruschetta and salsa on top. The main was a hefty portion of mashed potato, roast potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, turkey, stuffing, and a Yorkshire pudding. Absolutely delicious, just what you want. Pudding was a gorgeous gateau, just to polish the meal off. We never thought we’d strike gold like this.
Festive markets
After our bellies were full to the brim, we made a move and got a taxi back to the hotel. It was getting dark, and the taxi driver had a hard time finding us. Eventually we hopped in, and he was a very friendly guy. We spoke to him the whole way, talking about each other’s days and the differences between Christmas in Chiang Mai and back at home. Once we bid him farewell, Mat called his family in the hotel room, whilst I just chilled out and made a cameo appearance. Once it was full dark, we decided to go out and check out a night bazaar. For more info on this bazaar, go here!
Not far from our hotel, there was a long street that was home to markets and a large night bazaar. These markets actually had a large variety of different wares, instead of the usual copy and paste markets. We weren’t actually in the market for anything (pardon the pun) but it was good to have a look nonetheless. There was a marketplace which had Christmas decorations and lights, with some live music playing too. I didn’t expect to find this in the middle of Chiang Mai to be honest, but it was a nice touch.
After a bit of time here, we moved on towards the large night bazaar across the way. This was a large indoor market, with a grid of stalls, as well as many corridors filled with merchants. On the way back to the hotel, I managed to haggle for a Harley Davidson cap. This was to make up for the one I lost yesterday; I was able to bargain to get it quite cheap. A lot of the time, they’ll price themselves way too high, so you gotta haggle to get it down. Once we were back at the hotel, we turned in for the night.
