We started a restful and unexpectedly interesting vacation before kick-starting the year of Dragon.
When we booked the room, we knew what we were getting ourselves into, we just didn’t expect a series of pleasant encounters and experiences while staying in a small and somewhat private compound of 4 independent traditional Thai houses.
We’ve been needing a well rested vacation, to catch up with reading, and just physical and mental rest. Apart from achieving that objective during this vacation, we have enjoyed great company during our stay – from the exceptional hosts (young Chinese couple who speaks considerably good English and fluent Mandarin), and the 3 house-kittens and occasional visits of other cats from the neighbors.
Bonus and lessons:
1. Our Mandarin ought to be improved; half the time, we paused in between sentences and tried to figure out the appropriate Chinese words to express our thoughts, while communicating with the hosts.
2. We have traveled to Thailand countless of times now, it’s a shame that we hardly knew the history, or culture of the Thai. From this couple, we learnt a tad more about Thai living, and also took an inside perspective into the Chinese culture.
By learning, we may then hope to understand the behaviors and attitudes of people from all over the world, and all walks of life.
From the colorful and lively night bazaars – Saturday Bazaar, Sunday Bazaar, Regular Night Bazaar – to serenity. There is no moment of boredom. Of course, there are tons of established day tours that we did not take much interest of, since our main objective is to do less for more.
We eat (too much), walk (a lot too) and play with the house kittens.
Don’t believe me? We had Thai food (most of the time); Japanese food; Italian food; regular food, exotic crazy insect snacks (nah, I took the photos, but don’t dare to try) and what do you know, we had the honor to be invited to a cozy birthday celebration with the lady boss!
It’s a near two-weeks stay, and we are not eager to explore the whole of Chiang Mai. We know we will come back again. On our 2nd day in Chiang Mai – since we arrived in midnight on our first night, the considerate host merely gave us a brief tour around our villa, and left us to rest – the informative host gave us a substantial amount of information of where to go, what to eat, and how to get around places.
We only went far for food, that includes The Good View restaurant located along the Ping River – it reminds me of our Boat Quay, but less rowdy; Fuji Japanese Restaurant at Central Airport Plaza – a huge shopping market with more upmarket brands and better restaurants.
Oddly, we rarely visit temples; not in Phuket, Bangkok, Bali, Siam Reap, nor in Chiang Mai. Personally, I don’t prefer to go out in the day, since I feel that I am completely incapacitated by the heat and sun.
Just a few more days left in this beautiful city, we decide to sit back and ‘hang loose’ – as if we had any hectic day, to begin with. Ha!
This is one of my best vacations. Staying in a big enough villa means more personal space. If you live in a hectic and fast paced city like we do, you will appreciate the bigger and quieter personal space where you feel ‘freed up’ from being caught up with too much happenings.
We have brought our iPads, and a notebook. We made a conscious decision not to work during this trip. We’d always worked even when we holidayed, that put our mind in constant ‘thinking for work’ mode. We often felt more rested, but not completely discharged of work load when we pinned our mind around improving our working methods.
This lodging has been more than perfect. I managed to catch up with some reading, and lots of sleep. I had worked continuously for too long, I need the restful sleep, badly.
We are staying at ‘ChiangMai Summer Resort’. Be warned, there are only 4 villas, and they are fully booked for now; and bookings have been made till April 2012 for most days. Be sure to book early, or you may be another – amongst the many interested tourists – who came and went with disappointment. We’ve been here for 10 days, we know for sure.
On some days, I secretly gloated over my good fortune when the others disappointedly left. They exclaimed, ‘So beautiful!!!! Are you sure there is absolutely no vacant room?’.
This place is new, but quickly becoming the highly rated and recommended hotel. A renowned journalist in China visited and made a rave review, within hours of her recommendation on ‘Weibo’, endless of inquiries are received and visitors flocked to view and reserve rooms. Seriously!
References: ChiangMai Summer Resort on Facebook
ChiangMai Summer Resort Official Website
P.S: This is not an advertorial, other than the usual friendliness and warmth, we receive no special payment (in kind or monetary) for recommending this exceptional tucked-away gem.
P.P.S: One of the reasons of this post – I found the wordpress for iPad and can’t wait to try out! The detailed blogging on this trip will be blogged when we get back.
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