Chiang Mai

17 February Tune Hotel KLIA2

It seems like several lifetimes since we penned our introductory blog while having breakfast in Coolangatta Airport - OOL to those who know their airport codes.

It must be said that we have had a fairly lucky run with flight delays and cancellations in the past. Aside from the memorable incident in Cape Town in 2011, when a flight was delayed for a day because the ground crew directed our plane into the terminal skybridge, we have had very few problems.

All that changed fairly dramatically yesterday. Before we launch into this tale of misery, we should make it clear that we are still big fans of discount airlines and AirAsia in particular. 

Just a few minutes after publishing the previous post, there was an announcement that our flight to KL was to be delayed until 10PM! We were advised by ground staff to return to the airport by 7:00pm and that further details would be sent via email. Luckily, we were able to spend the day with Paul’s sister in Burleigh in comfort rather than sit it out in the airport. Several calls to Customer Service later, we realised that we would not be getting off to KL that day. Seems our plane was diverted to Bali due to a medical emergency. After taking off again, just out of Darwin, there was another medical emergency that forced the flight back to Bali.

We spent the day re-booking hotels and trying to get an alternate flight, which we managed to do, 24 hours after our original booking. We now know that our original plane is still in Bali, held up by Indonesian Immigration officials because several passengers can’t be accounted for.

Settled into our regular stop-over hotel, the KLIA2 Tune, we are sorted. Just a day behind and a little tired after all the delays, we have beer from the 7-11 in the hotel and the prospect of a good night’s sleep. 

We are back on track.

18 February, 99 The Gallery Hotel, Chiang Mai, Thailand

After the dramas of our first leg of this trip, KL to Chiang Mai was a breeze, through Customs, out of the airport and in the back of a tuk-tuk inside 15 minutes of landing. The insurance excess charge meant it wasn’t worth claiming the cost of our first night at the hotel due to our delayed departure, so we simply told the hotel we would check-in this am instead of last night. The bonus was we scored a great breakfast on arrival.

Our early impression of the Thais is very positive. People smile at us on the street, cars slow down for us on crossings, (a very positive sign in Asia) service is friendly and casual in the positive sense of the word. And, amazingly, nobody hassles us on the streets. In a full day of walking about, one tuk-tuk driver quietly asked if we wanted a taxi.

We are staying in the middle of the old city, so it is Tourist Central, but the narrow streets, footpath stalls, the odd smell of rotting garbage, the high-pitched wail of under-powered motor scooters remind us that we are in Asia. Having said that, Thailand is way more developed than many of its neighbours. A few months back we were in Myanmar, still very much the old Asia we: love dirty back street; kids playing on the road; noisy, sometimes smelly; crowded, hot, steamy; busy and exciting. Laos and Cambodia are towards the Myanmar end of this development scale. Malaysia and increasingly, Vietnam, are towards the Thai end. Japan and China are in a different world altogether. We don’t know about Indonesia. An experience we are yet to savour.

Myanmar and Cambodia may have spoiled us when it comes to Buddhist temples and monuments. We visited Wat Phra Singh and Wat Chedi Luang today and were a little underwhelmed. What did give them a bit of a “wow” factor, were the life-like wax models of venerated monks given pride of place. When we say life-like, we mean, look twice and tap on the glass.