Tuesday December 25
Happy Christmas to everyone back home from Chiang Mai, northern Thailand.
I'm writing this blog on Christmas morning by our hotel's swimming pool while Kelly-Ann reads her Kindle.
For both of us, this is definitely the strangest December 25 ever.
In a country where Christians are a very small minority, the day passes like any other for most.
Only the ghastly "SEASON'S GREETING" plastered on the top of the hotel and the garish Christmas lights outside tell you we mark Christ's birth today.
We have booked into a nice hotel for Christmas and are spending six days relaxing by the pool as a break from occasionally ropey hostels we have been frequenting in some of the noisier and dirtier districts.
On the sun lounger to my right lies a very large fifty-something Englishman and his much much younger and smaller Thai wife. Obviously this is a very funny sight, and the hilarity is not even slightly diminished every time I see another of these odd couples. If the man had his top on I'd post a picture of the pair. Unfortunately for us he doesn't.
Chiang Mai is a relatively small city largely used as a staging post for a variety of tourist activities.
Tour operators offer treks, days out to elephant parks, quad-biking
and cooking classes just a short minibus ride away. After a few days
relaxation, we are planning to dabble in some of the above.
The city has a night market and an array of restaurants who all offer stodgy English cuisine alongside a few Thai dishes.
After 12 days in Vietnam, we flew to Bangkok from Hanoi on December 18. However, we did very little in our first few days in the country because I was suffering from a tummy bug.
The sheer intensity of the heat in Bangkok is stifling - even if you venture out in the dead of the night.
Even in the day's darkest and coolest hours the temperature did not drop below 25C, and the humidity was intense. For the northern European used to rain and snow at this time of year, it quickly got too much.
The nearby air-conditioned MBK shopping centre filled with a treasure
trove of tiny Thai souvenir stalls gave us some much-needed sanctuary
from the heat.
Unlike the Communist and relatively closed shop that is Vietnam, Thailand has embraced foreign tourism with open arms.
In Bangkok I honestly think we saw more British people than Thai locals, migrating like birds for the winter.
Such is the influx of foreigners, it felt like we had accidentally got the wrong plane out of Vietnam and ended up in a Spain.
The Khao San Road area in the west of the city is lined with bars and restaurants who sell mainly pizzas, burgers and English fry-up breakfasts. Thai cuisine is on the menu but mainly as an afterthought and infrequently ordered.
British holidaymakers down beers and cocktails in the bars until the small hours as live bands play.
With the last of the drinkers departing so late in the night the breakfast is being served, this is a truly 24-hour place.
After four days in this intense Anglo-Thai enclave it was a relief to escape to the relative peace and tranquility of Chiang Mai.
Happy Christmas to everyone back home from Chiang Mai, northern Thailand.
I'm writing this blog on Christmas morning by our hotel's swimming pool while Kelly-Ann reads her Kindle.
 | |
| Happy Christmas: Kelly-Ann relaxes by the pool in the Empress Hotel, Chiang Mai, on Christmas Day |
 |
| Christmas swim: The water in the outdoor pool was freezing despite the warm temperatures |
In a country where Christians are a very small minority, the day passes like any other for most.
Only the ghastly "SEASON'S GREETING" plastered on the top of the hotel and the garish Christmas lights outside tell you we mark Christ's birth today.
We have booked into a nice hotel for Christmas and are spending six days relaxing by the pool as a break from occasionally ropey hostels we have been frequenting in some of the noisier and dirtier districts.
On the sun lounger to my right lies a very large fifty-something Englishman and his much much younger and smaller Thai wife. Obviously this is a very funny sight, and the hilarity is not even slightly diminished every time I see another of these odd couples. If the man had his top on I'd post a picture of the pair. Unfortunately for us he doesn't.
Chiang Mai is a relatively small city largely used as a staging post for a variety of tourist activities.
 |
| My view as I wrote this blog post |
The city has a night market and an array of restaurants who all offer stodgy English cuisine alongside a few Thai dishes.
After 12 days in Vietnam, we flew to Bangkok from Hanoi on December 18. However, we did very little in our first few days in the country because I was suffering from a tummy bug.
The sheer intensity of the heat in Bangkok is stifling - even if you venture out in the dead of the night.
Even in the day's darkest and coolest hours the temperature did not drop below 25C, and the humidity was intense. For the northern European used to rain and snow at this time of year, it quickly got too much.
 |
| Christmas dinner: Kelly-Ann eats her prawn and melon starter in the hotel restaurant. They served us a welcome dinner - it was a buffet with a series of bizarre extra courses they dropped upon us |
Unlike the Communist and relatively closed shop that is Vietnam, Thailand has embraced foreign tourism with open arms.
In Bangkok I honestly think we saw more British people than Thai locals, migrating like birds for the winter.
Such is the influx of foreigners, it felt like we had accidentally got the wrong plane out of Vietnam and ended up in a Spain.
 |
| Bangkok culture amid the Britishness of it all: We visited the Wat Arun temple. We got there via a very crowded water taxi |
British holidaymakers down beers and cocktails in the bars until the small hours as live bands play.
With the last of the drinkers departing so late in the night the breakfast is being served, this is a truly 24-hour place.
After four days in this intense Anglo-Thai enclave it was a relief to escape to the relative peace and tranquility of Chiang Mai.
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