Buzz Buzz Buzz. 05:45. A new day begins. This time with a bit different yoga experience.

The yoga is supposed to start at 06:30, but when we arrive five minutes early they’re already moving. We join in and quickly realize the instructions are in Thai. Right! If not the Sanskrit terms are hard enough for a rookie, the whole details about how to do it is lost on me. But it turns out the instructor it’s damn good at showing so I follow to the best of my abilities. That doesn’t really say all that much, but it’s all I have to offer.

It’s a multi level class and some of the twists and moves the instructor pulls off should land him a job at Cirque de Solei. He’s flexible to the point of ridiculous and moves very graciously. All in all its a good class and I can check of my to-do list “a yoga class taught in Thai.”

Well back at the hotel we do breakfast before packing up everything. Now that we’ve sent away a lot of stuff it’s easier and lighter bags.

A taxi tour later and we’re at Don Mueang airport. Check in is a breeze, so is security. Domestic flights makes a lot less fuzz than international.

We get picked up at the airport in Chiang Mai and driven to the hotel. This stay is the one, our faithful readers might remember, we won in Bali. Seven days at a resort in Chiang Mai.

The hotel seems deserted when we arrive. It’s huge and bears a ghostly resemblance to a Norwegian «Høyfjellshotell». I guess any Norwegians reading it immediately can picture it. To the rest of you, think about The Shining with the hotel in smaller pieces.

As we spent an hour in the room we heard someone pulling a suitcase outside. Apart from that we’ve not seen or heard anyone but staff. On the other hand, there’s plenty of staff. The one taking us to our room said the restaurant had received complaints from other guests that it was “not so good” and expensive. There’s a place just s town the road that is better. OK, a deserted place, forty minutes outside of Chiang Mai itself, looking like hotel from the Shining, with no other guests, and a crappy restaurant. What not to like?

We walk around on the property to check out the pool and restaurant before going out to dinner. We find the place down the street and order a noodle dish each. We need to get a motorbike. It as edible, but we can’t eat this for a week. We joked about the guy at the hotel being the cousin of the guy running this place and using the hotel as a scare to lure people to this place. A motorbike will give us flexibility and freedom, so we’ll go into town tomorrow and hire one for the stay.

After dinner we ordered coffee and split as piece of carrot cake. This was surprising good and this little joint might be our new coffee place.

We walked back while the rain started dripping. It’s hot season here now and the rainy season is to start in June. There might be showers though, so we better be prepared for that.

We booked us seats on the shuttle bus into town and went to the room to relax. The air condition is not working all that well as you probably figured. It’s colder inside now than when we left, at least it feels that way. Might be that this part of the hotel has been unused for some time and thereby needs lots of cooling down. Hopefully it’ll be alright to sleep here.

You think I’m complaining too much? It’s a free stay after all, but remember they tried to sell us a twenty five year contract for access to places liked this for a mere 20.000 US $. In addition to a service fee that added up to the same amount over the years. No wonder there are lawsuits about this kind of stuff.