We land at Chiang Mai and the isolation of this city, 700 kms north of Bangkok, is immediately palpable as we take in the high mountains and vast green fields that surround the airport.
Chiang Mai City
Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/doiboipete/ via Flickr CC 2.0
Heading to our hotel, I manage to communicate with ease with Shangri-La Chiang Mai’s limousine driver, and my concerns about language barriers is alleviated. We are led on arrival to the Club Lounge, where afternoon tea is being served, and I waste no time filling up my plate with food from the buffet.
Selection of delectable Thai teatime bites from the Shangri-La Club Lounge buffet
I meet with the marketing team and Georg the Executive Chef to discuss tomorrow’s video shoots, and then we head to China Kitchen, the in-house Szechuan restaurant. My only exposure to Szechuan food is Szechuan Chicken which I’ve tried once or twice. I’m not sure what to expect but am ready to give it a try – with my only request (when asked) being that I don’t eat pork. No probs at all – the kitchen is only too happy to substitute with chicken. Here are some of the dishes and the food is so sensational I make a mental note to visit again before my trip is over.
Szechuan food from Shangri-La Chiang Mai’s China Kitchen
We’ve been travelling all day and baby Noah is out of mango lassi. I’m a little concerned as I haven’t seen any mango juice since our arrival and it’s now night time. I will find out later that mango lassi is unheard of in Chiang Mai, and mango juice is a luxury and rarely available, certainly not at your local 7-Eleven (unlike in Malaysia). We retire to our room and I count on other fruit juices keeping Noah hydrated until this can be sorted in the morning. Noah has other plans and refuses all drinks. By morning he’s developed a temperature.
(to be continued)
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