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Chiang Mai, I like it.  We had a great time during our first visit here in December, and this second visit has been wonderful as well. It has been fun to show Matt’s parents places familiar to us, like the little market where we bought all of our goodies, just as it has been fun to do some new things around Chiang Mai together such as a visit the Royal Winter Palace and night walk along the river, and enjoying sawngthaew and tuk tuk rides around town.
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Buying our favorite snacks at the market (photo courtesy of Rob Shibata).
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During our walk we popped into a design shop where I saw this cute little lamp. Unfortunately it wasn’t collapsible, so I settled on some elephant glasses to send home instead.Â
Finally, the hotel where we are staying has been really fun. It’s a smaller “boutique hotel†with just a few dozen rooms set around a beautifully landscaped garden and pool. The staff are laidback but friendly and helpful (service at the Oriental was superb, but a little over the top with formalities such as excessive bowing, etc.), and the rooms have fresh and simple décor. I think each room is different from the other in some aspect or another. Between our room and Matt’s parents’, the wall color, artwork, lamp, and curtains are different. But each room is spacious with a small couch, a wall of windows looking out onto the balcony with a nice little bench built into the railing.Â
Our room.
It’s the kind of hotel where you don’t just enjoy spending the night, but where it’s nice to hangout during the day and relax. One afternoon we all decided to try the high tea offered at the restaurant. It was my first time having high tea and such a fun experience—they kept bringing out all kinds of little goodies and drinks for us. We were stuffed. High tea at the Puripunn was definitely different from the other “feast†Matt and I had in Chiang Mai…Christmas breakfast.
Christmas Breakfast vs. High Tea: both were good, but obviously High Tea was a bit more advanced.