Chiang Mai, THAILAND

January 12 - 16, 2010

Both Zack and I had to take flight a day earlier because Air Asia tickets for travel on the 13th. were sold out. In our quest for cheaper fare, we missed the flight with the rest of our group and ended paying more.

The flight was full, made up mostly of holidaymakers and golfers. On arrival, we took a cab to Imperial Mae Ping, our hotel. The cab driver was an old man, overly cautious and slow. He offered to take us to Mae Jo Golf Club for BHT1400. It was time for us to shop around. At the rate he was driving us it would be dark by the time we reach the golf club.

After checking in, we found a guy offering to take us to a golf course for BHT800. He recommended Gassan Lake City Golf Club. He said it was better than Mae Jo. We got ourselves a bargain. Boon Sung, our driver, was one happy and friendly guy. He understandably took us to Sophia Restaurant near the mosque for halal meals. We had our lunch there during our last trip and it was good. Somehow, it was disappointing during this trip.

Gassan Lake City is part of Gassan group of golf courses in Chiang Mai. We played at Gassan Khuntan the last time and thought it would be of the same standard. We were wrong. The course was poorly maintained. Even grasses grew in bunkers. Zack wanted to walk the course. It was mid day. Despite the temperature in the 20s, we could feel the heat. The caddies were old. After a few holes, Zack's caddy, Pim, booked by Boon Sung, gave up under the pretext of pain in the eye. I tought she just got tired of walking especially after caddying for 18 holes earlier. After the front nine, Zack also got tired of walking. We hired a buggy, finished our game around 4pm. I had quite a good round for my standard with 6 pars and a score of 92 on the card.

Boon Sung took us to a place called Chang Klan for a Thai massage. For BHT500, we had a good rubdown.

We had dinner at the night market. We did not actually spend time shopping or browsing the stalls at the market as we were tired. It was an early start from KL and sleep was definitely what we needed the most.

(There are no photos for this blog because they did not turn out ok. I suspected that the exposure was wrong)