triciatyler.: Thailand // Day 7 - Clay Studio + Central Festival + Good View Restaurant

View of the Ping River

Today was a pretty chill day. Turns out we didn’t head to the village (sadly) but we roamed around Chiang Mai and I visited the Terracotta Arts Garden. It’s a small garden located in the heart of Chiang Mai filled with almost perfect imitation clay artworks done by local artists.

Although not as beautiful as I pictured it to be because the back area was still under construction, it still is a good respite from the sweltering heat. I got a rose lychee soda while my friend got a marshmallow soda. The rose lychee soda was refreshing and not too carbonated for my liking while the marshmallow soda was too sweet. The marshmallow soda even had whipped cream on top which added a (extremely sweet) vanilla touch to the drink.

My Rose Lychee Soda

We took a short walk to a restaurant we found on TripAdvisor quoted “one of the best Thai food” but meh I was pretty disappointed. We got the dry Khao Soi, soup Khao Soi (both beef) and a bowl of squid Tom Kha to share. Both their Khao Soi, whether soup or dry, tasted a whole lot like SG’s curry to me and did not live up to the reviews on TA. The Tom Kha was pretty good but a tad bit too sweet.

Dry Khao Soi

Soup Khao Soi

Tom Kha

With the intention of going to the Warorot Market, we continued down Ratchadamnoen Rd after lunch only to realise that Google Maps stated that it was closed. However, I just talked to my AirBNB host and she told me that it never closes and that it’s a 24/7 market!

Sadly, we didn’t know that earlier on in the day and instead, headed to Central Festival – a mall in Chiang Mai. It was the worst decision ever. The mall was boring and was basically like any other mall here in Singapore. If you’re from a city country like me, don’t even bother coming down.

For dinner, we took a song thaew to The Good View Restaurant. A restaurant strategically located by the Ping River to provide exactly what is stated in the restaurant’s name. Being so far off from the city, it is no surprise if your tuktuk/song thaew adds up to a minimum of 40B per person no matter where you are. The view was good, the service was alright, but the flies were not. So much so we didn’t even bother about the taste of the food and just devoured everything. We ordered a fish, grilled pork, vegetable and tom yam goong which added up to 880B. I wouldn’t say that it’s expensive if I were to compare it to Singapore but in Thailand, yes; for the ambience (minus the flies), not so.