My hotel of choice in Chiang Rai is the Luck Swan Resort, just out of town – not that that matters from what I could see there isn’t much of a town here. I got dropped by the tour minibus (I didn’t envy them their 3.5 hour journey back to Chiang Mai) at the main crossroads tonight as I fancied a Starbucks – but I lucked out there, not a coffee shop to be seen – so different from Chiang Mai. But no matter, it was getting towards 6pm so I decided to find a tuk tuk to the hotel. Still no luck – Chiang Rai seems to be tuk tuk less. I eventually find one of those bigger tuks tuks that act as buses to take me. Bit of an issue – even though I had the hotel card, it took questions to a number of people to identify where we were going. Finally I am convinced he knows so we set off – I hanging in the back as the rest was full of a tour group’s luggage…. Must have thought he could fit in a quick job before they arrived. Long story, but thank goodness I still have my sense of direction as the driver headed off in the completely wrong direction. Finally arrived and decided I had lucked in with this choice. A new hotel with 36 rooms, nice and new and clean with big grounds and a sparkly swimming pool. The room is good with a nice balcony to sit on whilst I use the free (albeit slow) wifi. Think it may be Chinese owned, the décor including the row of golden dragon/swans around the perimeter are a bit of a clue as is the Chinese martial music played loudly over the loudspeaker at 6pm. Also wonder if the y of lucky got lost in translation…. But it is like a ghost town, I get the feeling I am the only guest – will check behind the shower curtain tonight at thoughts of Psycho come to mind! And you can tell you are a long way from the average tourist resort, English is “very little spoken” by reception or anyone else. But a nice dinner at the restaurant and a cold glass of white wine is just what I need after my long day. The restaurant looked decidedly deserted – but as I arrived, lights were hastily turned on. I was told that only “instant food” was available – I had a vision of Pot Noodles. But a menu was proffered. Given the “instant food” quote I asked what actually was available. “You choose, I tell” was the response. I gave up after about six Thai staples – each was answered “we no have”. Finally I asked for the old standby of pizza and the waiter’s eyes lit up – “yes, we can send out”. Questions about the availability of white wine were equally tortuous – long story short, I am now sitting on my balcony in a deserted hotel eating delivered veggie pizza and drinking a fine Lychee Thai white wine…..But on balance, yes, so far I lucked in at the Luck Swan Resort – for the first time in a while, I am hitting my “budget” – I am paying the princely sum of £20 a night – and that includes breakfast – I just hope “they have”!
