Saturday, 23 May 2026

Short trip to Chiang Mai 清迈行

Attended a symposium on Infant Nutrition organized by MJ milk company in Chiang Mai from 13-16 May 2026. Took the opportunity to explore Chiang Mai city and surrounding old town at the same time. My wife tagged along for the short trip. We stayed in Marriot Hotel @ Chiang Mai - the night market bazaar is just immediate adjacent to the hotel, and Warooroo wholesale market is about 10 minutes walk from the hotel. The old town with its multiple temples was within 15-20 min walking distance away. Other tourist spots (eg. elephant sanctuary, traditional villages) are 2-3 hours away - since I only have about 3-4 hours free time after the morning symposium - we can only explore the night market, wholesale market and old town (with temple hopping).

Chinatown

Special Service as advertised


Impressive Wat Chedi Luang





Firstly, the symposium was very educational - learnt some useful health information from the session.

Old town in Chiang Mai did not offer us any surprises - it resembled any old villages in Malaysia. There are many temples around - they look about the same to the disenchanted tourists like me....

Glimpses of the old town of Chiang Mai






Among all temple, the one that leaves a striking impression is Wat Chedi Luang - an rather massive towering temple. It also happened that there was some ritual celebration going on when we were there. The other interesting place is the historic Tha Phae gate that leads to old town.

Temples and more temples in the old town....










Tha Phae Gate


The river near Tha Phae Gate


impressive city view from our room

the other side of city view from common lift corridor

My wife and I were not particularly impressed with the foods - we took some in the night market, shop houses, hotel and restaurants. (somehow, not as impressive as those we sampled we were in Bangkok a few years back).

Night Bazaar


上个星期飞往清迈小住4天三夜。因为时间急促,只能在酒店附近逛逛- 浏览了旧区,夜市,批发市场,随怕了一些照片。

也就是休闲的住了几天,清迈小镇,似乎没有什么特色。(不过,也许是因为我们没有到其它郊区的旅游景点的关系)。感觉比曼谷逊色些。

古镇(旧区)的寺庙很多。一时我无法分辨个别寺庙的特征。每一家咋看之下,都仿佛一样。


久违的信箱,应该是只是装饰品,没有操作了。

错杂的电线与整齐摆列的电单车。。。似乎就是泰国的标志。


等待那一碗面

文艺表演





Thursday, 12 March 2026

周末晨运 Weekend morning exercises

有好一段时间没有在周末往公园晨运。最近连续在武吉支马自然保护区 (Bukit Timah Nature Reserve),温莎公园 (Windsor Park),万里木板走道 (Mandai Boardwalk)走了一圈。

万里木板走道是个新景点,它毗邻动物园 (Zoo),飞禽公园 (Bird Park),以及河川生态园 (River Safari),入场免费。哪里设有多层停车场 (收费),停车还蛮方便。如果运气好的话,可能会看到一些野生小动物 (如松鼠,乌龟,蛇,猴子, 及一些不知名的动物)。


万里木板走道沿着综合公园的外围延申,一边是翠绿的湖泊,另一边则是围墙。。。景观还蛮不错。






There was a period of time when my wife and I frequented many of the parks on Sunday morning. Then we paused for over 2 years (unable to wake up in early morning, and/or due to catch up with works). After the recent Chinese New Year, we started to explore the nature parks again.

So far, we have visited Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, Windsor Park, and newly minted Mandai Boardwalk. 

Windsor Park trail

During our morning walk in Windsor Park, we chanced upon a mousedeer...

can you spot the mousedeer?

And as we were exploring Mandai Boardwalk, we saw this marsupial attaching himself on the tree "motionless" with eyes wide opened.




Wednesday, 11 March 2026

Chinese New Year Lights up in Chinatown 牛车水农历新年灯饰

 I have missed out the light decoration in Chinatown during Chinese New Year the past 2 years.

This time, I managed to take some snap shot of the light decor during the 2nd week of Chinese New Year.

This being the year of horse - hence it is inevitable that horse will be the protagonist.





香味肉干,是过年必备的零食之一



往年我都会去捉拍牛车水农历新年的灯饰;但是过去两年我却错过了佳节时分的灯饰。

趁着马年,我在农历新年的尾声,赶紧到牛车水去逛一逛,顺道捉拍了一些灯饰。

马-冲劲十足!灯饰也中规中矩。

这几片竖着的画像,是已经停业的戏院正门的标志。能否保存下来,没有人能保证!