Birthday Trip: 5D4N Chiangmai-Chiangrai (part 1/4)

I may not be an angel, but I am the best angel I can be

Last Sunday was my 35th birthday, and as usual, I always go somewhere around my birthday..

This year I decided to go Chiangmai & Chiangrai.. I've been to Bangkok 19 times, Phuket a few times, Krabi, Pattaya, Haadyai, Songkla once each, but I've never been to Chiangmai or north Thailand so why not..

The only airline that flies direct from Kuala Lumpur is none other than Airasia.. Much as I hate the airline, there's no other direct choice, and with a dirt cheap ticket (under RM250), I can't complain much.. I would not fork out RM1.5k to fly any way via Bangkok..

On arrival into Chiangmai, met up with friends and we explored the city with Uber.. It's easy and the roads are not chaotic and not jammed up.. We stayed in The Leaf Hotel about 4km away from the Tha Phae Gate & airport.. It's just a small property with about 19 rooms and streetside parking, which we parked our car..

Lobby and breakfast areaa

Reception

Coffee, tea and water

Some mall

Halal foodcourt

Suddenly I have a penchant of taking photos in the middle of the road (not the first time I did this, the first time I tried was in Paris)

When the sun goes down, the stalls go up

Another crossing-road picture

Stumbled upon a local foodcourt with okay food, located opposite Hard Rock Cafe

Dare to eat?

Exotic meat

View of the foodcourt

Some cafe with a rainbow signboard (too bright to be seen here)

Some restaurant that look quite atas 

The canal in front of Tha Phae Gate.. quite peaceful amid the traffic

A songtheaw, a public taxi 

Decoration outside a restaurant

So I selfie lor

I love mango!

The endless choices of smoothies!

Desserts time!

My travelling party this time

Mr Mango says hi too!

Tha Phae Gate

Another view of Tha Phae Gate

Next post...
The next day, we drove out to Doi Inthanon National Park to camp there for a night..

New year new damages

The new year didn't start off quite well..

My car had to be sent in to the workshop to undergo a complete makeover as it was soon discovered that there's water in the engine, but it wasn't due to flood or related..

Cylinder head bolts

The water came from the radiator tank.. Long story short, a snapped cylinder head bolt punctured one of the hose causing leakage of the water into the engine and air filter.. These things are huge, 15cm a piece and made of solid metal.. and my car engine has 10 of it.. so as a precaution, all 10 were replaced and it didn't come cheap..

The first step was to drain the engine and replace the air filter, then it was the tedious part of taking the engine apart - all of it - replaced what's damaged and dry out the rest..

All in all it took about 10 days.. during which time I was using the spare car the workshop loaned me but it was a very rickety old car that can't do more than 80kph, and plus, it's manual.. Imagine driving that in the traffic jams of KL!

Once it's all done, I realised the left mirror motor was short-circuited and the whole mirror had to be replaced as well.. and it comes in a complete set, original colour, so it had to be spray painted to match the car body colour..

All in all, it cost me over 3 thousand ringgit to fix it.. suffice to say, it is an overhaul.. well, I'm kinda relief because my car is now 7 years old which I will finish paying off the loan this year..

I'm depressed now..

And I have 7 FOC movie tickets that I need to use up by this month, minus the one week I'll be away for holiday...

First post of 2018

Haha I hope I am not too late.. this shall be the first post of 2018, 11 days in..

Well, I have been quite busy with work, a new jobscope, new duties and new things to learn.. challenging? Yes, definitely..

I spent my New Year's Eve with friends, at a friend's house for belated Christmas, countdown and then also triple up as his housewarming party..

I was on leave for the last 2 weeks of December, literally doing nothing, running some errands, find friends, rekindled friendships and all..

Relationship? Still single and available..

Other than that, nothing else changed much.. still the same old me in a new year.. But I have a new motto: Don't like me cos I don't even like myself.

Who's up for Gold Coast Airport Marathon 2018?

Who's up to run GCAM2018?

Team Malaysia will be sending a contingent and Holiday Tours is the official handler for this group, so please do sign up here before 27 April 2018 to be entitled for the AUD20 rebate per runner..


Runners DON’T need to make payment online thru this Group Registration.
Payment to be made to Holiday Tours. Register by 27 APR 2018, to enjoy AUD20 Rebate per/runner

Team members can enter at http://goldcoastmarathon.com.au/enter/ using the following details:
Team Name: GC-HT Malaysia 2018
Team Pin: HTMSIA

This time around, only ground package is available after this year's mayday incident with Airasia X (read about my experience here).. So runners and participants are free to choose their own airline, arrive either using the "recommended" flight time to make the free transfers or make your own way..

I am expected to escort Team Malaysia again this year, hopefully, and more hopefully they let me choose my airline of choice (since the escort's flights are fully sponsored), however, since not many airlines fly to Gold Coast, that will leave AirAsia X as the choice..

Open the below image to view in larger sizes..

See you in Gold Coast, if I go hahahaha....

Switching Insurer

LIFE & MEDICAL INSURANCE
After 12 years with my former life insurer, I decided to switch to another insurer..

The decision wasn't without much thinking, after all, I have saved up significantly quite a fair bit of money in the investment-linked account but it will be December 2018 before I can withdraw it..

It's not to say my former insurer is not good, but there are better ones out there and my former insurer cannot meet my needs any longer..

I've also made a couple of insurance claims over the years due to the surgeries and hospitalisation that I had, resulting in a diminishing lifetime limit, yes, there's such thing as a lifetime limit on my medical plan, which I've calculated that if I just make one or two more surgeries or claim for anything while still alive, I would've completely used up whatever limit I have..

That's pretty sick, considering that I still have like 35 years to maturity! I didn't know that 12 years ago, this was considered pretty sufficient! How costly have medical care become, and there our Government was saying this and that bla bla bla.. fuck you Najib.

So I did look around, considered some options and finally, settled for one..

MOTOR INSURANCE
Likewise, I did the same for my motor insurance too, but as the liberalisation of motor tariffs hasn't brought about much change into the benefits and coverage, I decided to stay one more year with my current motor insurer and see how that would change next year..

TRAVEL INSURANCE
As I travel quite a fair bit, I usually buy annual plans.. I've also switched my travel insurance to another insurer, offering greater coverage and benefits for lower premiums as well..

Key takeaway >> 
In short, shop around and don't stick to just one insurer, especially life insurance, as you know, the money would really be handy when you kick the bucket, anytime, that is..