Massages and markets

After a fairly good first nights sleep with jetlag, we woke up early at around 6am, thinking it would be perfect to have a wander around before going for our 2 hour massage (although it may no be that easy as we were not aloud to eat anything until after the massage). But we all fell asleep again and woke just in time for a speedy shower and race down to meet Alila at 9am. Alila asked us to follow her on the motorbike down the little lanes to the temple, and Olivia was invited to hop on the back, which she did so with a massive smile

Olivia off to the temple massage with Alila

Olivia off to the temple massage with Alila

Alila left us at the temple massage room, and we changed into our 'massage outfits' - this was a Thai massage rather than oil massage.
Olivia got a smiley young girl, Carlos got a rather camp guy, and I got the original lady with 100 years experience and one leg.

The massage was a good one, supposed to fix all ailments and aches and pains. They were two intense hours, with moments of relaxation and moments of holding your breath to fight the pain barrier. 550 baht each later, we came out feeling quite floaty and in a little more pain than when we went in. Olivia loved it! Not quite the memories of the rather painful but still very enjoyable Thai massage we had in the School of massage in Bangkok in a Wat on the Chao Phraya river, where my masseur had 6 fingers on each hand. I came out of there as though I was floating on a different planet.

Massage comming to an end

All floaty after a 2 hour Thai massage

View from the massage room

After the massage, we wandered around the temples and the little quiet roads, and then went off in search of a place to have some late breakfast. We found a nice looking restaurant with just a few tables. Olivia had a fresh mango shake and Carlos and I shared a massive bowl of Tom Ka gai (my favourite) a spicy sour soup with chicken, vegetables and coconut. It was out of this world.

Tom ka gai

Lime leaf heart at the bottom of my bowl

After a wander around some temples, we made our way back to the hotel for a swim in the pool. Carlos went for a siesta and I caught up with a bit of work and then went up to the hotel roof terrace to relax and play with Olivia.

Olivia taking a moment with Buddah

Chillaxing and playing on the hotel roof terrace

Olivia driving a tuc tuc home... well nearly

In the evening, we walked down to the Sunday night market, a very large market that sprawls across the old town, selling handmade products, new factory produced stuff and some things that you couldn't really tell if they were second hand or not.... and of course not forgetting the food stalls. We had some weird mushrooms wrapped in ham and grilled, served with cabbage and a spicy-ish sauce, then we sat with the locals for our first try of the local noodle curry 'Khao soy' - very nice.

Sunday market Chiang Mai

Enjoying our first try of the local speciality Khao Soy

Olivia thought these mushroom parcels were yummy

Buddah and Incense at the Sunday market