Songkran Festival

I'm happy to say that this year's Songkran festival is over! I managed to stay mostly dry and even have fun thanks to my friend. Surprisingly the only day when I got wet and I mean soaking wet was my last working day before the holiday. We celebrated Songkran also at the office and after staying dry almost the whole lunch/celebrations time, I got 3 buckets of water thrown at me. That killed my mood for the rest of the day but I didn't let it ruin my whole holiday. 

First I spend 5 days in Bangkok and then traveled to Chiang Mai for a couple of days after which I still spent a day in Bangkok. During the first weekend in Bangkok I went to see a Thai movie with a friend and eat dinner together. It was a horror movie called 11-12-13. I really liked it because the plot was kind of different to what I'm used to see. It had 3 different stories which were all somehow connected and what made the movie really interesting was that everything happened during Songkran. 

After our movie we ate in Paragon's food court and
I was really craving for meat noodle soup.
This wasn't the best one I've eaten but it was still good.

The next 2 days I went shopping for several things I needed and also for something my mum asked to buy. I was also trying to figure out what will I do on Wednesday when Songkran celebrations start in Bangkok. First I made plans with a local friend but after he wasn't willing to change our plan from water fighting to something else, we cancelled. I was really disappointed about that because I wanted to meet him but apparently he couldn't really understand and accept that not everyone likes to celebrate Songkran with water guns. It was interesting to find out that kind of side from a person who I thought wouldn't be like that. In the end I decided I would just stay at my hotel room and just relax which ended up being really nice. I had time to talk with my mum a long time and watch some good movies so it was a good day.

On Thursday I flew to Chiang Mai with my friend where we spent a couple of nights celebrating Songkran together. Our hotel was located nicely next to the night market so we went there to explore and eat on the first evening. During the next day we went to a temple on a mountain called Doi Suthep. It's my favorite places in Chiang Mai and I consider it a must see place always when I visit Chiang Mai. The scenery from the mountain is great if you're lucky. This time we weren't so lucky because there was so much haze that we couldn't see really far. The temple and the whole area are very beautiful and worth seeing. It's one of the most important and precious temples in Thailand and it's visited a lot by both locals and tourists. Every time I have been there, it has been full of people and honestly I don't wonder why. Previous times I have done some of the rituals that the locals always do because I had my brother's wife to instruct what to do. This time I was satisfied with just looking and taking pictures. For your information the entrance fee is 30 baht + 20 baht if you want to use an elevator to get to the top. That would be a really good idea if you're old, handicapped or just somehow incapable to climb up 300+ stairs. I have every time used the stairs even this time but after I got to the top, I said to my friend that this was the last time I'm doing that. I wonder if the burning sun and +40 degrees had something to do with that... There's also one other thing you should remember when visiting a temple: dress code. This is something I take seriously and during our visit I was disappointed in other tourists who were wearing really inappropriate clothing. You should cover up your knees and shoulders but still there were a lot of tourists wearing shorts and tops. I don't know if it was because they didn't know or just didn't care. At least they should know because there are signs before entering the temple. In my opinion it's really disrespectful to the locals and their religion and culture. I always make sure I'm properly dressed and if I'm not, I will rent some clothes from a shop at the temple because they usually have those. 

Dinner on the 1st evening.
After a long time, I could eat sweet & sour with chicken again.
Swet & sour chicken/pork/beef is one of my favorite Thai dishes. 

For the evening I had planned for us to go eat dinner in a riverside restaurant. We ended up eating in a restaurant where I had been during my previous visit to Chiang Mai with my family. It's called Riverside, a restaurant/bar and they offer various Western and Thai foods and drinks. It's a really nice place to watch the sunset and enjoy delicious food. 

After our dinner we went to get a massage in a place opposite to our hotel. This time I took a leg + neck/shoulders massage. The pain I had especially with my shoulders was absolutely horrible and the lady kept asking if I'm alright and if she should be more gentle but I tried to explain that it's okay and I knew that would happen. I survived the whole hour of "torture" and I was actually already thinking when could I get a massage again. Me and my friend decided we would go get a massage again this weekend in Bangkok at a place where I went with another friend last fall. I hope the pain won't be so bad then. 

On the next day it was already time to go back to Bangkok. For both of our flights we used Thai Lion Air which was new for both me and my friend. At first I was a bit worried but after I read very positive reviews about the airline, I got more trusting. It turned out to be a very good cheap airline. This time I also got to see the new terminal at Dong Mueang airport. It was really different and much better compared to the older one from where the international flights leave. Later that day I still went to get my nails done, eat dinner and see another Thai movie with my friend. This time we went to see a Thai comedy movie in MBK's cinema where I hadn't gone to before. The movie was really good and especially funny. A couple of times I didn't really get the joke because they didn't quite work in English. After an enjoyable and fun holiday, I felt sad to go back home and to work on Monday. But I'm happy my holiday went well even though I didn't use it to travel to another country. I also don't have to suffer at work for a long time until I can have a week long holiday in Seoul. I'm really excited about that! 

A drink with whipped cream FINALLY!

xoxo, Elina