Visa day…..

Today we hired a scooter from Peter. it cost 250 baht, as we were already staying there they did not ask for a deposit or passport. We made our way to Bosang and then on to find the Indian Consulate of Chiang Mai:

Indian Consulate of Chiang Mai
33/1 Thung Hotel Road
Wat Kate, Muang
Chiang Mai 50000

Open Mon – Fri 9am to 12pm

How to get to there:

You can take a Songthaw or TukTuk from anywhere in Chiang Mai. If the driver does not know exactly where the consulate is, he might know Thung Hotel Road at least, and you can look out for the white sign with plain black letters. If not, ask him to bring you to the railway station – it should only be a fifteen-minute walk from there. Alternatively, you can rent a bicycle and cycle from the Old City in 25 minutes, or walk in about an hour.

The Indian visa application is fairly straight forward. The form has to be completed online in advance at
http://indianvisaonline.gov.in/visa/

On the top of the electronic form you choose where you would like to present the visa application ‘Indian Mission’, once completed you are given a time and date for an appointment at the chosen consulate after which you print out two copies, take these along with your passport, a photocopy of your passport, photocopy of the departure card and immigration stamp of Thailand and a completed reference form available on the Indian high commission website to your appointment together with two passport sized photos and the visa fee (charges vary and are related to what passport you hold, whether it is a business or personal trip and the duration off the trip) we paid 2170 Thai baht. The longest visa you can get at Chiang Mai is 3 months. For a 6 month visa an application in Bangkok would be necessary. So, the following need to be taken to the consulate ;

Passport
Two passport photos
X 2 copies of visa application form
x 2 photocopies of passport, Thai visa / immigration stamp and departure card
Reference form
Visa fee

At the ‘interview’ which basically means handing your form to the receptionist and her looking through them we waited about 30 minutes for the lady to call us, take our money and tell us to come back a week later. She could have been quicker but I think she wanted to show us she was very busy. Also whilst we were waiting we could hear an Indian official just continuously shouting on the phone. Annoying Indian just wanting to show his status by shouting. The whole process was quite relaxed and easy.

Afterwards we had lunch at

Taste From Heaven
237-239 Tha Pae Road,
Chang Klan (at Muang, opposite Krung Thai Bank)
Chiang Mai
Thailand 50100
T: +66 53-208-803

Where we booked a day at the Elephant Nature Reserve.

Later, we rode to the bus station where we booked tickets for Pai, going tomorrow. There are various operators going to different destinations, it can get rather confusing especially when most signs are written in Thai. Luckily the operators are very helpful and can direct one to the correct operator. Later we visited the train station and made enquiries about trains to Bangkok.

Bus terminal

Inside there was a information booth, where the lady old us which bus terminal we should buy the ticket from

Walking towards the correct terminal

The train station

On the way back to Secret Garden we stopped at Tesco Lotus where we tried to find some vegetarian snacks.

Having a wander at Bosang

Then back to Secret Garden to relax use the wifi and have some soft drinks. We said goodbye to the amazing staff at Secret Garden and got the courtesy bus to

Baan Chonpakorn
122 Charoenrat Road
T Watket
A. Muang
Chiang Mai 50100
Thailand
T: +66 53 2401612
E: [email protected]
W: www.baanchonpakorn.com

In the end we got the room for just over £17 per night!

Room and hotel

The hotel is next door to the Gurdwara, here is the Gurdwara lit up at night

Now as I was running of my favourite ritz lemon crackers we headed to Tesco Lotus, I had forgotten how far it was. On the way we came across vicious dogs and people performing Thai karaoke, not sure which was worse the dogs or the people singing! On the way back we headed down the west bank through local fruit markets (not a tourist in sight!) where we bought satsumas and mangosteens. We walked through various other markets including the beautiful flower market. Then we went down Tae Pae Road, popped in to Taste Like Heaven for drinks and food and then went to search for the night bazaar. Well stocked and lively but not as lively as the Sunday Night ‘Walking Street’ market. After a LOT of walking, headed back to Baan Chonpakorn.