Stage 4 - 2nd February 2014

So to Stage 4 - Chiang Mai, the northern capital of Thailand. Up early this morning - 5:30 am - not something I like doing but it was a religious festival yesterday so it was a 'dry' day, no booze, which made it a little easier to cope with an early rise! A taxi took us to the airport where we had something to eat and a coffee and then caught the flight to Chiang Mai, just an hour in the air. On landing we booked a limo to take us to the hotel; lady driver who spoke good English drove, just 40 minutes, but through what turned out to be an absolutely beautiful place. No high rise buildings but a clean and modern city without the high density housing one associates with large cities, and everywhere it's green and fresh with flowers and blossoming shrubs.

The hotel turned out to consist of a collection of small villas spread over several acres of woodland with a small lake, maybe slightly isolated from the city but near to smaller communities which, no doubt, we will explore over the next few days.  We checked in at mid-day, unpacked, had some lunch then sat by the pool to relax for a few hours; I also took some photos - see below!

We had dinner at the hotel, typical Thai food but the menu offers more 'traditional' fare if we don't fancy the local grub, but we did tonight. The service wasn't great and I suggested we took the service charge off the bill, which didn't go down well, but I complained that we were served our food and then left for 35 minutes before any member of staff came back to the dining area! Not a single member of staff in sight! Not something I've ever experienced. When I asked where they'd all been I was told: at a staff meeting! Crazy.

Checked out the local excursions over lunch and after dinner booked tomorrow afternoon for a visit to a local Tiger sanctuary which should be interesting. More photos of that tomorrow.