I woke up early this morning feeling excited cos we’re going to Chiang Rai today.

Now having Breakfast with my Mom, Dad & brother at the Holiday Inn’s River Terrace Restaurant which faces the Ping River!

The International Buffet Breakfast spread is really good - with local Thai delights, Western, as well as Japanese corners.

My favourite Breakfast in Chiang Mai - Steaming hot yummy Fish Congee - from my 2 visits to Chiang Mai, I notice that the Northern Thai people cook really delicious Congee!

Pork Buns (or “Char Siew Bao” in Chinese) with Chinese & Japanese Pickles with Salted Egg, Japanese sliced Eggs & Chinese Sausages :

Honey Melons, Papaya, Pineapples & Pomeloes - all locally grown! The Pomeloes (called “Som-oh” in Thai) are really sweet!!

After our good & most delicious Breakfast, we came up to our Room to wash up a bit, & I took some photos of the Mae Ping River which can be seen from our Room Windows. 

Well, Mae Ping River (or “Ping River“) flows through the City of Chiang Mai  & provides the surrounding rural Countryside with its much needed water for irrigation of Rice Paddies, Gardens & Crops. Known as the “Lifeline of the Province“, the Ping River is 569km long, & has its source in the nearby mountains near Chiang Dao, in the Northernmost part of Chiang Mai Province.

It flows Southward, creating  the beautiful & agriculturely rich Maesa Valley that leads to the Northen edges of Chiang Mai. As it flows through Chiang Mai, one can see how the City was carefully built up along the River (in Thai Tradition), & how it’s developed over the past 700 years!

I’ve put my photos of the Ping River in the following Slideshow for your viewing :

We’ll be staying in Chiang Rai for 2 nights, after which we’ll be back to Holiday Inn in Chiang Mai - now leaving Holiday Inn, Chiang Mai :

Our Thai friend is now driving us to Chiang Rai. And we’ve just stopped at a Petrol Kiosk for more petrol & toilet break.

My lovely Mom standing beside the beautiful green Wooden benches : 

It’s raining pretty heavily at times during our drive from Chiang Mai towards Chiang Rai. Our Thai friend actually drove us to a Hot Spring, but cos it’d started drizzling & the Hot Spring seemed pretty dull & boring, we decided to skip it instead!! (A nice Hot Spring to visit is the San Kamphaeng Hot Spring where I visited last December - I’ll show you my pics next time!!

Along the way, our Thai friend stopped to purchase some local small Tangerines (or Mandarins) in the midst of the rain. Well, the months between August to October is the rainy season in Thailand, & in fact we heard from the news in Singapore that there were floodings in Chiang Rai about 2 weeks before we were due to arrive in Chiang Mai!!

Thank goodness we’re pretty lucky cos so far since our arrival, there’s not much rain, even during pretty heavy downfalls, they were not for long.

And the rather wet weather does not dampen our spirits a little as we enjoy the many beautiful sceneries of valleys & mountains covered with mists, long stretches of vegetables & fruits farms & paddy fields, as well as pretty Thai structures & shrines during our drive.

Well, the best month to visit Northern Thailand is in December, when the weather is cooling, with good bright sunshine & no rain, & there’re many bright colorful flowers blooming everywhere - best for photograpy!! I was really lucky to have been here last December :))

After about 2 hours drive from Chiang Mai towards Chiang Rai, we stopped for Tea break at this Cafe which has a beautiful tranquil landscaped garden with a bridge over small green rivers - as shown above - beautiful :

Mom with Thai woman from Chiang Rai. This Thai Chinese Auntie is a cleaner who knows how to speak Hokkien - Mom & I were walking out of the Toilet when I was holding onto Mom & telling her (in Hokkien) to be careful cos it was raining & the floor was very wet………….

And suddenly this Auntie who happened to be around, heard me & said the same to me in Hokkien too! And that was when we knew she also speaks our Dialet - how wonderful!!

So we started chatting - well, Auntie is 47 years old & has a child & she started telling us about her eldest Aunt’s trip to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), guess she told us cos KL is so near to Singapore! Auntie commented that Mom’s dressing is very beautiful & that Mom looks so young & beautiful!!

Well, Mom does look great doesn’t she, & with her wearing the lovely genuine Pearl Necklace which I got her from Suzhou, China! Guess how old is my Mom?! Well, she’ll be 70 years old this September! Isn’t she just so energetic, full of youth & so so gorgeous?!

After chatting for a while with Auntie, we said Goodbye to her & left in our car to continue on our journey to Chiang Rai.

I’ve put in the below Slideshow photos taken during our drive from Chiang Mai to the Cafe here. And included in this Slideshow is a Thai Song Video - well, I’ve no idea what the song is all about haha, but it sure sounds very happy & exciting to me, just like I’m having the same feeling now travelling to Chiang Rai!!

Self-portraits of 2 beautiful Singaporean women inside Thai rental car - Like mother like daughter ha heheh!!

After about 4 hours, we arrived in Chiang Rai - actually it only takes about 3 hours drive from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai, but cos there were slow-downs & delays due to our toilet & tea breaks & the heavy rain, we took more than 3 hours to arrive at our destination.

Well, Thailand ends at Chiang Rai, the mountainous province that touches borders with Myanmar (or Burma) & Laos. Dating back to 1262, this Thailand’s most Northernmost City is 180km from Chiang Mai, or 785km North of Bangkok.

I’d passed through Chiang Rai last December when travelling on tours to the Golden Triangle & Mae Sai, but it’s great to be back here again!! And it’s been a most lovely drive to Chiang Rai from Chiang Mai!!

Besides, we’ll be seeing more more of Chiang Rai this time!! Hello Chiang Rai!! I’m really so excited!!