We left KLIA at 8.50am on board Air Asia flight AK896. The departure was on time. It was about three quarter full and this was supposed to be a low season. Zack, Datuk and I managed to find seats next to each other. The flight to Chiang Mai normally takes about 2 hours and 50 minutes. This time, we arrived 20 minutes earlier.
The Custom and Immigration clearance at Chiang Mai Airport was a breeze. I spoke a bit of Thai and that went well with the officers. We boarded our waiting transport and went to check in at the hotel first. The driver’s name was Num. Our hotel, Central Duangtawan was a reasonably good hotel. This 4-star hotel is located next to the night bazaar. After changing to our golf attire, we went to have lunch at a Muslim’s restaurant in front of the mosque. It was just ordinary Thai food.
Then, we left for Highlands Golf Club. It took about 40 minutes’ drive to get to the golf course. I noted that the area was dry and very hot. Even the grass by the roadside turned brown. We happened to come to Chiang Mai during its hottest month of the year. Highlands GC was Chiang Mai’s latest addition. This new course was well maintained and a nice course. We walked during the 18-hole game and it was really hot day. I played a round of 98. My caddy was a young girl and new to the job. She was not of much help other than carrying the bag. The club house was huge and nicely built. The driver, Num told us that the golf course belonged to Thaksin’s sister.
This new course was a pleasure to play. From left, myself, Datuk and Zack.
We decided to go for a massage and asked Num to take us to a good massage. He took us to a place called Sawasdee something. The entrance to the place had running water at the entrance. You had to walk on steps surrounded by this water. Good idea for an entrance. The place was run by middle age masseuses and I had quite a good 2-hour massage. By then, it was already late and we went for late dinner at a restaurant located next to a river. It was a nice restaurant and we settled for sea food.
After the meal, we went back to the hotel. Zack was tired and went straight to the room. Datuk and I decided to check out the night bazaar. We bought shirts and I bought some CDs. The bazaar stretched along the street in front of our hotel. It branched off to other streets. There were a lot of stuffs on sale, mostly Thai stuffs like shirts, souvenirs, the things you could find in Thailand. There were vendors wearing hill tribe costume selling souvenirs. I bought 2 bracelets from them. By the time I reached my room, Zack was already asleep. I had stomach trouble and spent quite a while inside the toilet. I went to bed at almost 1am.
Day 2 (4 April 2007)
We woke up quite early today. I didn’t have much choice. Zack was up by 5am and the TV was turned on. We had breakfast and by 6.30am we were ready to leave the hotel for Gassan Khuntan Golf Resort. The journey to the golf course took about one hour, enough for me to catch forty winks. The golf course was situated in a valley about 50 km south west of Chiang Mai.
That's me at Gassan's final hole (18th). The club house is at the back.
The fairways were long and narrow. Water was everywhere. Every hole was unique and offered a different challenge. Some common features included teeing off over water, island greens, narrow and elevated greens and severe doglegs. Even the bunkers were distinctively Gassan’s, 3 small and deep fairway bunkers with similar rounded shapes. After nine holes, Zack was asking everybody to tee off from the white tee boxes as the fairways were too long for comfort. I played a good round of 88. Gassan Khuntan now ranked as one of the best golf courses in South East Asia that I have played.
Zack and I (right) from the club house with a view of Gassan's 10th. Hole.
After the game, we asked Num to take us to a better Muslim restaurant than the previous day. He brought us to a nicely furnished place called The Whole Earth. Sure enough it was a pricey place. We paid about 10 times the price of yesterday’s lunch. Then, we dismissed Num as he would charge extra for taking us to dinner or any other place. We figured Chiang Mai was not big enough for us to need a guide. Then we walked around the night bazaar and had dinner at the place called the Market. It had 2 Muslim restaurants. We tried out one of them that looked a bit more Thai than the other which looked more of an Arabic one. The food was just ok but the price was reasonable.
After dinner, we went around the night bazaar and bought a few things. We went to look for a place to have a good massage and ended up next to our hotel. The massage was not that good but enough to ease the muscular pain. It was already late. I had a drink at the hotel lobby and went back to sleep.
Day 3 (5 April 2001)
We left at about the same time to play at Chiang Mai Lamphun Golf Club. It was more of a trip down memory lane for Zack and I. About 7 years ago, when we first started to play golf, Chiang Mai was our first golfing trip outside Malaysia and Lamphun GC was one of the two courses that we played. The club house was not as grand as Highland or Gassan. The changing room looked more like high school locker room. Every body was a bit tired after 2 days of golfing so we decided to take a buggy each this time.
Lamphun golf course was quite an old and matured course. The fairways were narrow fringed by tall trees. Having the buggies enabled us to finish the game in a very short time. I was not hitting well and lost a lot of balls. I decided to quit the game and not continue with the remaining one hole which we skipped because of slow walking flight of golfers at that hole. The rest decided to join me at the club house. It was there that we met the club sales lady named Khuon. She was quite friendly and we took photo with her and exchanged business cards. After shower, we drove back to Chiang Mai looking for a place to eat near the mosque. We had lunch at a restaurant called Sophia and Sophia happened to be a lovely Muslim lady. The food was surprisingly good and the price was reasonable.
After lunch, everybody decided to go for another 18 holes at the nearby Green Valley Golf Club. The golf course was surprisingly well maintained but it was more of a flat layout. We truly enjoyed our rounds here better than Lamphun. After the game, we had completed 4 rounds of golf in 3 days, quite a fete for a bunch of old men. I wasn’t even feeling tired.
We decided to go back to Sophia for dinner but Sophia was not there. We had good meals anyway.
My stomach was already in trouble. I got back to the hotel room just in the nick of time. After spending quite sometime in the toilet, I got an SMS from Zack to see whether I was interested to go for another round of massage. I said ok, after I settled my trouble first. We had another massage at the same place near the hotel. I retired immediately after the massage, getting ready to leave Chiang Mai the next day.
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