It was evening flight, so we left for airport at 5:30pm and had Texas Chicken at Terminal 1 of Changi Airport.

Out of habit, I asked Mike if he remembered to bring the envelope of Thai currencies which I thought he left on the bed while we packed the luggage. That was set aside for the lodging as the resort only transact in cash.

A phone call home confirmed that we had left the THB28,800 at home! Fortunately, we separated the money, so we only needed to withdraw the Singapore currencies and change it to Thai Baht in Chiang Mai. I couldn’t find my makeup pouch too, I thought I left it at home as well.

We arrived in Chiang Mai at around 11:30pm and took a taxi to Chiang Mai Summer Resort for THB120. The hotel is new, and the taxi driver couldn’t find the place. The owner of the resort was awaiting for our arrival, so he came out to look for us and directed the taxi to the entrance.

The weather was cold at night, and the considerate owner, Ju Wei, proposed that we do the check-in in the morning and showed us to our villa. We explored for a bit, washed up and turned in.

I was up at around 7:30am, heard the monks chanting. Our immediate neighbor is a temple. The advantage of having the temple as our neighbor is that the Thailand’s law has it that within a specific area around the temple, no noisy activities is allowed. That is great news to us. We love quietness. The light chanting did not affect us at all.

I was excited about the in-house kittens.

We had simple breakfast – included in our accommodation booking – at the ground floor of our villa. It was so quiet and serene.

The bedroom and reading corner are located at the 2nd floor, while the kitchenette and bathroom are at the ground floor. There is also a living room at the ground floor. Depending on the configuration, some villas have balcony and slightly different arrangement.

I enjoy boutique hotel because it is more personal and private. The attention to details makes everything more cozy and warm.

Books and travel information at the cozy reception. We would later find ourselves spending many hours and evenings here, chatting and drinking with the very friendly hosts.

After breakfast, we did up the paper work for check-in and made full payment for the booking. Mike preferred to ‘do away’ with the accommodation payment first, so that we know how much we have left for spending.

We spent the rest of the late morning indoor. Mike read the Steve Job’s Bio on iPad; while I charged mine in the room upstairs and iMessage him for fun. That caused a spill-over accident on my solo keyboard with my glass of whisky!

Panic, I rushed to rinse the keyboard under running water. more »