Champions in Chiang Mai - Part 1

Thursday, 18th April 2013.

I had to reach the main entrance of my company's headquarters by 2.45am for the bus to take my colleagues and I to LCCT. About 40 of us were flying off to Chiang Mai, Thailand for the weekend, courtesy of the company.

FREE TRIP, woohoo!!!

Each year, the company treats the winners of any sports event to a free trip. I, by virtue of being part of the Champions' team for last year's KL Rat Race, managed to get on this so-called "Champions Trip" this year. Hah! First and only time, if I may say.

Aerial view of Chiang Mai and the Ping River.

I only knew my 3 teammates from last year's KL Rat Race. Most of the colleagues were either from badminton, darts, tennis, bowling and ... well, the rest of the colleagues from futsal, football, etc were traveling in the 2nd batch which arrived on Saturday (20th April 2013), the day before we left.

A view of the canal from the bus.

Chiang Mai previously had a moat and walls surrounding its city to prevent attacks from Burma and armies of the Mongol Empire. (So says Wikipedia!)

Upon arriving in Chiang Mai, our first stop was the Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. Situated 15KM away from the city, it is a popular destination for tourists.

 

"Ommm", says the dog at the cable car station.

We had an option of walking up the stairs or take the cable (car) ride up to the temple. Thankfully, our guide paid for our fare and we could take the ride up. It was too hot to walk up the stairs, no thank you!

Queuing up for the ride up. I would call it the elevator, actually.

Visitors praying and giving thanks.

Walk around the ... er, structure 3 times for your wish to come true!

The temple was built by King Nu. It is the legend of a white elephant who climbed up the hill, trumpted 3 times and died here.

Sorry, I wasn't really paying attention to what the guide was saying. Blame it on ADD. :P

Took a picture of Azri taking a picture of the cute monk dolls.

Took this picture because I WANT HER HAT!!!!!! Where can I get one like that? :D

Ze famous white elephant.

Famous monk who had a dream.

After that, it was off to visit the Meo Hill tribe village whose inhabitants were originally from China. It took almost half an hour to get there. I was chatting to the people in my van, 2 from tennis, 2 from badminton, 2 from darts and bowling and Azri and I made 2 from 'running'.

Not sure why, but they were in awe of us runners. I think we didn't look like runners, not being skinny at all. One of my other teammates is one of our national runners and holds a marathon records for the country.

And he doesn't look like a runner either. Hahahaha!

The view from the back of the vehicle.

Arriving at our destination we were made to pose for a group picture with our company's banner.

What caught our eyes and cameras was a silly cock. The owner had to come and put him back up on his perch! (Click to view larger image!)

You can also rent their costumes for a photography opportunity.

Cute girl!

Costumes for sale. O.O

After checking into our hotel, we rested for 2-3 hours before dinner time. Then it was time to venture out to the Night Bazaar along the main road.

We ventured into Asunarm Market, which offered a variety of food as well as the usual fare such as bags, clothes, trinkets, living room decors, etc.

Nice and refreshing!

Azri recommended that I try the ice blended coconut juice which I did.

It was awesome!!! I think a bit of milk and cream are added to the concoction before blending.

I kinda miss it.
During one of the hot spells in KL a few weeks ago, I was recalling this drink.

[Read Part 2 here.]

p.s. click on images for a larger view.