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Tales From The Jasmine Mansion...


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Kevin Meacher -- board member Cookie and owner of Jasmine Mansion -- has a bunch of new stories up on Riff-Raffles. The latest batch is from his trip to Chiang Mai. There's some pretty neat stuff here, including a visit with the "long neck" people, an interesting train ride from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, a trip to the zoo, and more. Here are some excerpts with links to the full stories.

 

The Road to Chiang Mai Leads to...a Train in Bangkok

We have recently returned from our Chiang Mai trip and, remarkably, experienced a week away without any major incidents occurring either on our travels or back at the hotel. In fact, the hotel appears to have fared extremely well in our absence with Jasmine Mansion being full and our restaurant recording some excellent figures. At the time of this writing, it’s still low season in Pattaya and to be turning potential guests away at this time of year, as we are, is almost unheard of.

 

I have always been a very organized person and trips away usually see me packed and ready for the road about a week in advance. My normal routine is to carefully fold all my clothes and place them neatly in my suitcase whilst checking that I have sufficient shirts, trousers, underwear and so forth for the number of days away. I will then add more shirts, trousers and underwear just to be on the safe side. With two or three days to go I will then unpack everything to check that nothing has been forgotten then re-pack, adding a couple more of each item. I go through this process once again on the eve of my trip, adding even more clothing. Therefore, a one week trip will see me traveling with sufficient apparel to last a fortnight, at least, and still I will send clothes to the hotel laundry during my vacation — yes I really am that retentive! I will also have packed more books than there are likely to be found on the shelves of a small library. Even if I were to spend the entire trip reading I would still have three times too many books with me than I could get possibly through.

 

Mrs. Boss has a rather different approach. She is one of those people who pack ten minutes before the scheduled departure time. When I say ‘pack’ what I actually mean is haphazardly fill a suitcase. Mrs. Boss will open a case and hurl various items of clothing into it directly from the wardrobe, empty her makeup drawer on the top of the clothing and close the lid! Of course, everything will require ironing once she has arrived and inevitably she will have forgotten various essentials necessitating the first day away being spent shopping. I am convinced that this random act of packing is a deliberate ploy to justify her going out to buy some new clothes and cosmetics but have, thus far, kept the theory to myself.

Full story and photos

 

The Broom-Closet Train From Bangkok to Chiang Mai

After a surprisingly smooth ride from Pattaya to Bangkok, my family and I were ready to board the train to Chiang Mai. The joy of being at the beginning of our holiday and the impending train journey was, however, short lived. It survived right up to the point where we boarded the train and saw our compartment. I had been dreaming of an Orient Express style experience with grand carriages and ornate fittings evoking memories of Victorian days. What I got was a grey and barren room. It was hardly large enough to accommodate a couple of brooms let alone two adults, two children, two large suitcases and four pieces of hand luggage. We were jammed into the compartment with no space in which to move — the boys immediately expressed their preference for air travel.

 

We endeavoured to make the best of our circumstances although I could not resist the occasional dig at Mrs. Boss for only booking one compartment. I had suggested we get two compartments and, on those rare occasions, when I am right I like to ram the point home. Having arranged everything to maximize the space the best we could, we set of for the restaurant car. Again my unreasonable expectation levels surfaced and my dreams of a carriage lit by gas lamps with a gold embossed menu offering an array of international cuisine and extensive wine list was were just that. The food was edible but distinctly average with the only real bright spot being that smoking was permitted in this area of the train. I therefore puffed away feverishly, doing my little bit to recreate the era of steam trains, until the boys became bored.

 

We returned to our broom closet and in no time at all both of my sons were soundly asleep. The same could not be said for Mrs. Boss and I, as we tossed and turned failing miserably to find anything remotely resembling a comfortable position. Our lack of comfort was compounded by the fact the air conditioning unit was not functioning. Our complaints to the train personnel were met with such remarks as, “If you don’t like it then get off,” or, “Air-con must be okay as you only ones to complain.” We explained that perhaps our fellow passengers were not complaining because their air-con units were working fine thus giving them no cause for complaint. This was met by even more dismissive retorts and eventually we simply gave up and accepted that customer service was not included within the price of our ticket.

Full Story and pictures

 

Panda Pies and Long Neck Paduangs

From Pattaya to Bangkok, we finally made it to Chiang Mai! We checked in to the hotel and spent the next few days traveling around the city. The first day, as I had anticipated, was spent shopping for the various items Mrs. Boss had forgotten. Additionally a couple of pairs of shoes were purchased for James who had left home and traveled the entire journey without any footwear. Such was the length of his trousers neither Mrs. Boss nor I had seen his feet, and thus we were blissfully unaware of his barefooted-ness. Following the day at the shops we visited Chiang Mai Zoo, went on the Night Safari, had a day trip into the mountains, ventured to the Wat Phra Thart Doi Suthep temple and took in a hill tribe village excursion. We also allowed the boys to spend some time go-karting and horse riding — both of which they found highly entertaining. All of the attractions were worthy of a visit although it is unlikely I will be counting the days until I return to any of them.

 

The Zoo was passable but the experience was made a success due solely to the Panda enclosure. One of these adorable beasts was fast asleep for the entire hour we were watching, whilst the other was on the go constantly. Having completed our tour of the zoo we decided to take our evening meal at the restaurant just outside the main entrance. Here I noticed several dishes not normally witnessed on a Thai restaurant menu all featuring Kangaroo or Crocodile meat. There were several Kangaroos and Crocodiles present at the zoo and I presumed that the fare at the restaurant was part of a bit of business on the side between the two operations. Perhaps on my next visit they will be offering Panda Pie, although if they do I have absolutely no doubt that it will taste the same as chicken!

 

The Night Safari scores many points if you are one of those people interested in peering through the dark at seventy different species of antelopes and other herbivores — by the way I am not one of those people. However, the highlight for me was in seeing a pair of white tigers for the first time, and I considered that alone to be worthy of the entrance fee. The entrance fee was also something of a first for me. The usual practice here of imposing higher prices for Farangs than for Thais was in evidence, as expected. However, the indomitable Mrs. Boss is no different on holiday than she is when in work mode. She explained to the assistant that I live in Thailand and therefore should be charged the same as Thai people were. Without so much as a murmur the price for my admission was immediately reduced to the same level as being charged to Mrs. Boss.

Full story and photos

 

Wat Phra Thart Doi Suthep and the Idiot Waitress

Wat Phra Thart Doi Suthep was a pleasant change from our zoological experiences in Chiang Mai. We left early in the morning and headed up the mountain range, which had been the view from out hotel room window for the past few days. Upon arrival at the foot of the temple we were informed the climb to the top was some three-hundred and three steps via the Naga stairway. Before I could even start to list several thousand reasons why I would not be making the ascent, Mrs. Boss advised that there was also cable-car access to the summit — we all got into the cable car even though I did tell the family not to be swayed by my decision! The views from the temple were quite spectacular and the cool morning breeze was very pleasant. I agreed to walk down the steps with the boys and Mrs. Boss and maintained this charade until we stood peering down at the descent. It was now I discovered that my ankle, broken some thirty years ago, had flared up. Unfortunately, once again, I would be forced to miss out on the joys of navigating the Naga stairway.

 

Every night took on a similar feel as, due to sheer exhaustion, we took to our beds almost immediately after dinner. This meant no looking at the night life of Chiang Mai such as it may be and, most unexpectedly, never making it to the Night Bazaar…ah! We had purchased a DVD player on our first day along with several DVDs. We would clamber into bed as a family and put on a DVD with the normal outcome being that all of us would be asleep prior to the selected movie even reaching its midpoint. I would the wake in the early morning hours and have to carry the boys to their beds and turn off the television. The plans for privacy that Mrs. Boss and I had been anticipating lay in tatters — like so many of my plans have since moving to Thailand.

Full story and photos

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