So I didn’t start washing up and packing till much later. By the time I got done packing, it was already past 1am. The hubby was frantically trying to print out our AirAsia reservation details as he’d misplaced the original printout because we’d moved our junk out of and around the study when our shelving from Ikea arrived. And because his PC is such a genius, he had trouble trying to firstly log on, then print out the details. By the time I was ready for bed, it was already 2am. Our flight was scheduled for 8am and the cab would be arriving at the house at 5am. We reconfirmed the weather in Chiang Mai online, hubby said it should be warm at an average of 21 degrees. I packed in my spaghetti tops.
So much for a good night’s sleep. Hubby announced that he would just stay awake since it was no point sleeping and he was afraid he may not be able to wake up if he did.
He never got the details printed out. Luckily, the booking number was on my Eten.
*****************************************************
When we got to KLIA early the next morning, hubby peered at the departure screens and announced that our flight was taking off at 8:50am, not 8am. Sigh, again, trust the hubby to get the times mixed up. No matter, at least we were early so we made a beeline for McDonald’s.
It may have been the lack of sleep or the fact that everything was done at the last minute but there was a lack of enthusiasm on my part. Going off for this holiday didn’t feel like a big deal to me. There was a lack of excitement; the anticipation was missing. Sure I was somewhat excited, but it was muted. I was more tired than excited. Like I said, maybe it was the lack of sleep.
As the plane took off from KLIA, I gladly welcomed sleep to claim me. I was tired and I knew I’d better get some shut eye before landing or I would not be able to enjoy myself all sleepy and bleary-eyed in Chiang Mai.
*****************************************************
We got into Chiang Mai unscathed. I was still sleepy but felt rested enough to take on the city. One thing we didn’t realize was that 21 degrees is actually closer to Fall weather than summer. Great. It was windy and quite chilly. We forgot to factor in the wind chill. There go my spaghetti tops, I thought to myself. Hot my foot. Rizal’s nose was sounding suspiciously like mine on a bad day. Uh oh.
We trundle along in the cab to Ban Sabai Spa Village. As we passed flyovers and took on the Super Highway, I thought to myself, Bangkok this is not. I noted to hubby though that you can always tell that you’re in Asia or some part of Asia by the sprawling highways and byways that meander all over the city to and from the airport. Wherever in Asia you go, you always pass under or over some concrete highway or other. The same familiar grey undulating bodies snake in and out of your sight whether you’re in Beijing, Singapore, South Korea, Bangkok or Chiang Mai. The only exception may be KLIA since it’s situated out in the boondocks among fields and fields of palm oil plantation or some small village-like area like Denpasar in Bali.
We meandered through what looked like side lanes into a kampong and went down dirt roads riddled with potholes and then before we knew it, we were there: Ban Sabai Spa Village. We passed heavy carved teak doors at the gate and headed into an airy reception area. There were lots of plants and greenery with wood accents and glazed tiles all over. Frankly though, I thought the place looked a bit worn. According to hubby though, it’s less than 5 years old.
We walked under a quaint and refreshing canopy of creepers and greens covering the path to our room. The resort has only 4 standard rooms and 5 suites. We were booked into a standard room: Topaz III. I liked our room although I thought it was rather drafty at this time of year and that the floor-to-ceiling windows on two sides of the wall were not going to help matters. The queen-sized bed was placed in the centre of the room facing the windows, and we looked out on a wall of greenery. But still, I was worried about the cold. It would have been quite perfect if not for the prevalent mothball smell and the cold tiles of the floor and the worry about how we would keep warm later at night. I also questioned our good sense in booking ourselves into the resort as each room had an open-air bathroom. Looks like we would probably not be taking any late night showers while we were in Chiang Mai.
After sniffing around and exploring the confines of our room, we did the obvious: have lunch! I wasn’t aware that hubby had booked us into a health resort. The listing on the menu were all way too healthy and nutritious. Nevertheless, we headed to the Orchid Room and made it through a round of somewhat bland but nutritious lunch of green tofu curry and vegetarian pad thai. A consolation: we had a great view of the pool and lush greenery from where we were seated at the Orchid Room.
We were both tired from the lack of sleep the night before. So instead of heading straight out into the city after lunch, we snuggled under the warm covers and took a nap.
No comments:
Post a Comment