Saturday, July 23rd, Chiang MaiThis marked our last day in Chiang Mai.
After dozing off a bit in the morning we eventually headed out for a walk at around 11a to see and explore a bit. Nothing too adventurous being that we did not want to sweat too much and wanted to make it to Chabad a bit early this time to secure our seats.
So after walking within the vicinity of our hotel and passing at least fifteen 7-Eleven's (More on why there are so many there >
here) we headed for Chabad. We got there around 12 and it was already quite crowded. The meal started at around 1230 by which the place was - once again - platzing.
To our left were young Israelis that instead of taking dips, rice, and chulent on to their plates would prefer to use their utensils to eat straight out of the shared foods. *yummy yummy* And to our right was an Israeli family of 7 where the father clearly had a more then hard time dealing with the fact that there were a good 150 people that were being served before him. He kept yelling at the staff to bring him food. First I don't think they understood him. After a bit more yelling it became clear that they very much so understood him but now simply refused to serve him. I found it quite funny. He really felt way too entitled. Once again the food was fine and after filling up on challah and dips and some chulent we left at around 130p.
On a side note: I did find it funny how Rabbi Pikel (CNX Rabbi) was so familiar with everything. When I met him the first night and he heard me speak English the conversation continued as follows:
Are you from DansDeals? Yes.
Did you fly here in First Class? Yes.
You have a lot of AA miles? Yes.
Are you staying at the LM on points? Yes.
Are you going to Phuket or Koh Samui after?Yes.
Then we exchanged laughs and continued to shmooze.
We then headed back to the hotel, rested a bit and then headed over to the pool to relax a bit more.
"Pool area" - on the smaller side but a very clean pool with a really pretty view of the mountains
Side note: While the pool was great, there was a strange thing that occurred. There was this 10 year old Asian boy that - after being done at the pool - just got naked and rested in his chair. It was weird to watch and I was not the only one to find it a bit weird. After the staff on site noticed the boy, he walked over to educate him on the matter and advise him to put on his bathrobe. The boy did not want to and the LM employee was basically throwing a towel at him and telling him to cover up already. Then the parents finally came by and - to everyone's surprise - started yelling at the LM employee. WTH?! 
This some sort of Asian culture thing where its ok to be naked at a public pool area past the age of 2?As promised around 630p there was a knock at my door and it was the concierge who had a delivery for me. My suits had arrived. I tried them on right there and then and with my wife's nod of approval happily stored them in my suitcase.
As it was Saturday night and its the one day the local market was open we decided to head there. (Tourist markets around the hotels are open every night but the "local" market is open Saturday nights and - while they do offer some souvenirs - are mostly about the local food. ) We took a Tuk Tuk for about 10 minutes until we arrived there.
Our ride
Pics from the market
Eggs on a stick. Hmm.
I will post some pics of the chuchkes we bought as well.
Elephant mug I love
Smaller size Giraffe mug for the kids
Some Chiang Beer T-shirts and 2 sets of fake sunglasses that are surprisingly still in tact and some amazing elephant paintings. I don't have a pic of them on me right now but will post them later. They weren't the cheapest but we are so happy with them. The seller was so ecstatic about selling three in one shot, he couldn't believe it. He had his partner take pictures with us, wrapped it up for a good 20 minutes and posted it onto his Facebook page. I was really happy for the guy, and for us in getting some beautiful paintings.
It was now getting late and we had arranged for a cab to pick us up at 520a for our 7a flight to BKK the next day. We headed back to the hotel to finish packing up (who are we kidding, when it comes to packing it is all my wife. I'm just not good at it.) and try to catch a few hours of sleep before traveling for a good chunk of the morning.
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