The morning dawned cool and delightful in Chiang Mai. We had breakfast at the same table in the restaurant overlooking the pool. Breakfast was spectacular with the best fruit juices I have ever tasted. The watermelon juice splashed with a bit of pineapple juice was cool and refreshing. Evelyn ordered an omelet and i ordered scrambled eggs from the young girl who was cooking them out in the courtyard. I asked the girl to stop cooking them when they were done to my satisfaction and she didn't understand so I grabbed the pan off the burner startling the poor girl. It was extreme, but I am particular about scrambled eggs.
We then decided to walk through town looking for some reading glasses for Evelyn. It proved to be a wild goose chase though we got to see the walls around the old city of Chiang Mai. We then tried to go to the complex for Lanna architecture and it too was a bust. So we went shopping. There was a cute open air shop near our hotel, and Evelyn bought two dresses and a shirt and I bought two shirts. And that was all our time in Chiang Mai.
We returned to the hotel, asked the hotel driver for a ride to the airport and checked out of the city. At the airport we had just enough time to look around and to try and grab some Thai food from the restaurant upstairs. Some rice dish with chicken and egg arrived fast, but the pad thai took a while and they were calling our flight. We took the pad thai to go, went through security, bought snacks and water in a shop. I ate a little bit of the pad thai and then we boarded where Evelyn ate the rest of the lunch. The flight was quick just under an hour and we were back in BAngkok.
We collected our luggage and took a taxi to the Face spa in the Sukhumvit area. While driving to the area, the taxi driver had to stop for gas, that was a little weird. Evelyn ran upstairs to make sure they could accommodate us, and we were in for an afternoon of bliss. Face spa was located all on the second level up a long, broad flight of teak steps. The open reception area had couches and seating areas where we sat while trying to decide which spa treatments to do. After deciding on the whole package, body scrub, massage and extra massage, foot for me, head for Evelyn, we were in for a treat. We sat down in two relaxing chairs and were brought hibiscus tea while our ladies washed our feet in a wooden bucket filled with warm water and orchids. We were then led into our individual teak houses for our treatments. I put on disposable mesh black underwear and that was it. I laid down on the mattress and the woman proceeded to rub every part of my body with the salt scrub. It was so rough and she was working so hard at scrubbing that at times it was almost painful. After 30 minutes of this, I took a shower in the room that was a big copper bowl/drain surrounded by white curtains. The salt instantly turned to oil and my skin glistened was utterly smooth. On went some more black undies and the massage. It was two and a half hours of bliss. She pounded, smoothed, pressed and pushed on every part of my body. And then when she was done with a section, she would take a warmed compress and pound it all over the area with such a delightful smell. On and on it repeated, one area to the next. It was mesmerizing.
Finally the massage was over and I dressed and met Evelyn back outside. We were both equally relaxed out. They handed us a glass of warm ginger tea and we debated what to do. After deciding that it was too difficult to go anywhere or to the night market with our luggage, we decided to eat dinner at the Thai restaurant at Face. The restaurant was equally gorgeous with tall ceilings and generous spacing. Not being that hungry, we ordered veggie summer rolls, chicken satay and fried calamari. All pretty good. It was a very ex-pat type of place as almost everyone in there was not Thai.
We then had them order us a taxi and the taxi driver agreed to swing by the Night Market where I was to buy a purse. I hopped out at the night market, found the stall that had the purses we liked, asked how much they were 750 baht. Too much, i offered a lower price and she just scoffed at it. Said it was Thai silk. She obviously wasn't going to bargain this night. I suppose that's what you get when you go on a Friday night
The taxi took us to the Novotel at the International airport. Upon entering the hotel grounds, they swept under the car for bombs. We checked in and knowing we were a day early played dumb when they asked what day our reservation was and whether we had any documentation. They asked me to go to the business center to print out my confirmation email. Once I did and handed it back to the reservation desk, all was well, we were given a key and a room. Evelyn figures that they were paranoid about security and just wanted to make sure we were who we said we were especially since were a day early.
The room was bland and decorated by the Chinese with an odd feeling. There was a large window over the bathtub that invaded the whole room. It was an expensive room for not much atmosphere and service. We would be glad to fly out early in the morning and leave this place.
No comments:
Post a Comment