Sà-wàt-dee khrap. My name is Satria Aji Wicaksana, and now i am participating in the SEA-Teacher project batch 6. It's been a honor to be a part of the SEA-Teacher program. But now, i'll tell you about my first 24 hours in Chiang Mai. (Actually it's 30 Hours) I arrived at the city at 19.30 pm after a long 6 hours flight from Jakarta. It's been a wonderful journey, Thai Airways flight attendant is so friendly and the v.o.d keep us entertained at flight. Too, i met Mr. Latif from Sri Lanka, he is an importer. He is a very wonderful and friendly person, i learned a lot from him, especially that we should remember god for whatever we do, that god is the one who permitted us on this journey.
Exploring Chiang Mai
When we are arrived at the airport, we are picked up by friends from CMRU (Chiang Mai Rajabhat University), Prem and Bom. Then, they are showing us the 7/11, most popular convenience store in Thailand, there are one i think, every 200 meters. For information, i recommended to go to the convenience store for all of your needs, it got everything you need to survive, very convenient. After going to 7/11, we go to the university where the International house was and part ways, sadly we didn't take any picture.
The next day, we decide to explore Chiang Mai, but we aren't going to far, we only see the market near Chang Puak, looking for mosque to pray Jumu'ah and breakfast. We finally met a restaurant that sells Biryani, it's a malaysian food that i think become the standard of the Halal food in Thailand, because i was eating it at the plane too.
Biryani
There was a problem communicating at first and course we can't read the menu, when we ordered the food. But eventually it's alright and we get our Biryani, อร่อย! The food taste delicious, the spice was just fine and aromatic, the chicken is tender and really easy to eat, and when eating, sometimes we can get free flow of water for free! Really great! Definitely worth try! Here's a photos
Mobike
Oh, i forgot to tell you about our choice of transportation. We choose to use 'Mobike', a bike sharing up when you can rent a bike that's close to you just by installing the apps and scanning the bar code. It's really cheap for about 125 baht for 90 days paid by debit/credit card with visa or master card. you get 2 hours per ride, so make sure to lock the bike before 2 hours, it can be scanned again though if you want to continue your journey.
Here's a photo of Mobike (and me lol):
Kunnun Mosque
At 11.30 am we decide to go to the mosque, Kunnun Mosque which located in Chang Puak Market, 2 KM from our dorm, we go there by bike. The actual mosque is big, but it's currently renovated. People there are friendly, and after Jumu'ah the give you longan fruit for free!
Definitely a reference for moslem who wants to pray in mosque. There is a halal food restaurant near it too.
Thai Specialties
Fortunately, at 16.00 pm, we met our new buddies from CMRU English Ed. Program, and one of them, Song is kindly gives us a tour to find a Thailand specialties, and Halal. We find a restaurant near Campus, i ordered Tom Yum Kung and on the way i ordered a Thai Tea. Two of them are very delicious, the Tom Yum Kung seafood broth is so thick and delicious, i eat it with rice, and the harmony of the flavour is so excellent. It is taste sour and spicy, but you can order it not too spicy if you don't like spicy food.
While the Thai tea is, well, normal, it is the same with the indonesian one if you bought it at Mall, so.... not much to tell, sorry. I pay 70 baht for Tom Yum Kung with Rice, 60 baht for Tom Yum Kung and 10 baht for rice. And 25 baht for the Thai Tea. So far so good, great taste, love Thailand!
I think, that's all from me, tomorrow maybe we will take a look at the campus and the others. Like what Louis Rossman says, that's all for me, and as always i hope you learn something, see ya!