Chiangmai free and easy : Temples and sightseeing

We booked a Chinese speaking tour guide  because my parents only understand Chinese.

We need a driver as my parents are not really good at walking. This is more of trip catering to senior citizens. 

Actually if you book direct which means you call up the guide, the price is cheaper.

We booked kind of late so we could not get a driver cum tour guide directly.

Hence, we booked through an agency. We paid 3000 baht.

My tour guide is quite good but he is not those chatty kind so if you prefer someone who liven up the atmosphere, then is not suitable. We are not really chatty so we don't mind and he can speak chinese quite well as he worked in Taiwan for a couple of years.

His car is a MPV so it is quite comfortable and the car is very clean.

We were lucky that we booked a private guide so the itinerary is flexible. 

It started raining very heavily in the morning.

Instead of visiting temples, we switched to visiting the handicrafts places as that is the only sheltered places. 

He was quite flexible, we asked him to drop us at a market and when we decided not to go shopping near chiangmai university, he bought us to one or two temples to make up for the time difference.

I booked by tour packages through this website. I chatted with them in chinese via QQ.

http://www.fuchiangmaitravel.com/

He drove us to a market selling fresh fruits as my parents are interested in markets and fruits.

We bought some fruits back to try in our hotel.

Wat Phra That Doi Suthep

Can either climb a flight of stairs or take the cable car. The steps are still manageable.

They charge an entrance fee  for foreigners only. My guide explained that is because locals will donate when they entered the temple so that is their entrance fee. For foreigners, sometimes we don't know how to donate so they just charge as the entrance fees.

Beautiful skies. BEautiful photo.

 Can catch the beautiful view of chiangmai at the back of the temple.

Bells, bells, bells...

Look carefully, donation from a Singaporean.

After all the walking, is time to snack. 

If you are not into roadside food, which includes corns, hotdogs and fruits

 can buy chips or icecream from a provision shop.

There are various stalls selling clothes and accessories, remember to bargain.

Near to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep is the Chiangmai University. Beautiful lake.

Coffee break at Coffee Man at Chiangmai University. 

He bought us to 2 more temples. I did not get the name but I did get some beautiful photos.

I did enjoy my temple visit because the temples looks very beautiful and also they do not look alike. 

Paris free and easy: Puces de Saint Ouen, Avenue des Champs-Elysees, GAlaries LAfayette

Galaries Lafayette

We walked over from Pritemps. 

Is a beautiful roof top. Quite a view.

But if you are not into shopping and architecture, drop by if it is on the way.

Puces de Saint Ouen

Took a train there.

Personally, I am quite disappointed because it reminds me of Singapore Pasar malam but at a much bigger scale and cost. 

OUr walking tour just ended around here. so We walk over for a snack and a stroll. 

There is Laudree here if anyone is interested

 Hunks outside a shop. What is the brand?

The famous shop. Short queue outside. We went in just we were so curious. But lots of people doing serious shopping.

Performances.

PAris free and easy : RAndom shots and accomodation and some notes on travelling

We chose to stay in a rented apartment rather than a hotel.

Firstly, we realized it was very hard to find a hotel with good reviews or maybe we were picky and we booked quite late. Some were too small, too expensive or location was just not good or there was no free wifi or it was old.

So after doing a lot research, we decided to rent an apartment which has bed room, living room, kitchen and toilet. There is big bed, a big sofa bed, and fully equipped kitchen. We had a lot more space and no my friend say the sofa bed was big and comfortable.

The negative part about staying in an apartment is there is no housekeeping, no fast response as the owner is contactable by phone or email, we had to climb a flight of stairs up. The door was not like the standard Singapore door, we had to ask a neighbor for help to open the door and we practiced to get the hang of it. It was fun. Do not note that some apartment do not have air conditioning.

The plus is the space. We also can eat breakfast in the hotel room which was much cheaper than eating out and sometimes, we were just to lazy to crawl out of bed. Is quite important to have a good breakfast when travelling because sometimes we have to skip lunch or have a late lunch because we are in the midst of travelling or sight seeing that we cant afford the time to sit down for a meal. We only have time for some snacks. We usually just grab any interesting snacks from a supermarket.

Train ride from London to PAris

Paris is a beautiful place. Some of the shots are just taken randomly when we stroll from place to place.

If you are taking the metro, remember the tickets can be bought in set of 10. It will be cheaper, however the tickets tend to be faulty so just go into counter and ask for replacement.

Avoid standing at corners because they are usually for the reason for the stench in train station.

I met some helpful people in Paris. One couple even use their google map to help us locate the shop for duck confit. Not as arrogant as what people rumored but I do have a bit of problem with their accent at times.