Rose(s) and Flower Festivals in Chiang Mai

And so it was on to Thailand. We couldn’t face the 18 hour bus journey through the mountains, so opted for the 1 hour flight instead. It was my first time in a plane with propellers but Lao Airlines did the job and we touched down in Chiang Mai, the largest town in Northern Thailand, without too much bother!

Thailand immediately seemed more developed than Laos – there were taxis picking people up from the airport instead of tuk-tuks for a start, one of we which we took to our hotel. Rose (Gem’s mum for anyone who doesn’t know her!) was joining us for a couple of weeks the following day so our standard of accommodation was a slight improvement on the usual to say the least! We arrived quite late so there was just time for a quick swim in the pool and a surprisingly cheap curry by the river.

The next morning we picked Rose up from the airport, and since she was quite jetlagged that gave us a good excuse to lounge around the pool in the sun all day, which we happily did, before belatedly celebrating our engagement with some champagne and another riverside dinner! Click here to read more…