We got onboard with our flight to Bangkok and sat down. We got good seats on the middle row, close to the bathroom. Aeroflot plane was fairly new and all around neat. First they gave us slippers, blankets and eye patches for sleeping (they are now inseparable part of Xie Xie).
Next came warm meal which was very good, I think we had fish and chicken, can't really remember, we were so tired already at the time. We desided to watch four episodes of The Walking Dead that we had saved for the flight. It's a great series, we highly recommend you watch it if you've never seen it before. Milla fell asleep, but only for like 15 minutes, sleeping it the plane is not our thing really.
We got served refreshments and breakfast too on the flight.
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| Milla took the controls for a moment! |
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| Buckle up, we're heading to Afghanistan airspace! Might get a little turbulent ;) |
An hour before landing we started to get ready, I think we finally made it!
After the plane landed people started rushing out. When we finally got out of the plane, the heat wave hit us with all it's humidity. I had already braced myself because I've been here before, but for Milla it came as a shock, even tho she had already changed in to summer clothes in the plane's bathroom.
When we headed towards the immigration, there was an ebola checkpoint where you had to walk through thermal scanning without a hat. Weird...
After that we went to look for Lax, once again. Well it was suprisingly easy, all we had to ask was for a big dog, I don't think a kennel that size is seen very often at the airports. Lax seemed well and was happy to see us, no wonder, it's been a long flight for all of us!
Next stop was the Animal Quarantene Station where we had to show import permit from Thai officials, export health certificate from government veterinary of Finland, pet passport with all the required vaxinations and rabies antibodies. We will do a post about travelling to Thailand with a dog later, with all the current requirements etc.
At the quarantine station we met a finnish man who had came to Thailand with his english mastiff, and was denied acces to Thailand (he had been there two times already with the same dog).
He was told mastiff is a fighting dog, and therefore banned for entering Thailand. The man had an old lady with him, his mother I suppose, and they were meaning to spend two months here, but had no other choice than to fly straight back to Finland, at least as far as we know, we had no problems there, and after signing a few papers, paying 100TBH (2,4€) import fee we was in and out in 15 minutes.
From there we went to the customs where we had to pay 1000TBH (24€) and were ready to go.
We almost tripped the whole kennel and the roller with all our baggage when lax started turning in the kennel, us and few customs officers nearly had an heart attack!
It was time to find bathrooms and water for the dog, and finally maybe well earned cigarettes.
Our friend Make called us and we met near the next check in. Milla started to feel the exhaustion from the travel, the heat and the sleep deprivation and nearly passed out and had a panic attack from all the people in the airport. We desided it was about time to get the hell outside and finally have them cigarettes.Then we went to eat and have a few beers, 0,63liter Chang 6% went to my head like a log! We left Lax in the kennel next to our baggage close to our table at the passage and had to assure Milla that it's ok to leave all our stuff there. Soon she saw how much police, security and other officials there were and got an ease of mind.
Lax got a lot of positive attention at the airport, I don't think many farangs (westerns) travel with a large dog, or with a dog at all, and everybody wanted to peek in the kennel and asked a lot of guestions. German shephers are known in thailand almost purely as police or military dogs, so they were exited to see one in "civil use". So if you want to get to know locals, get a dog, or borrow one!
It was about two hours left to our next flight when we started to check in Lax. Customer service at the Bangkok airport was superb and everyone wanted to take it as their matter to check the papers and the kennel, Lax never fails ;).
One hour left to boarding and we were feeling totally drained, we just wanted to get off the airports, away from all the people, somewhere with just us, pillows and a blanket. No dice, so we went to eat before we had to board. Milla ordered a burger and us guys took a few beers. At the counter the employees giggled for us for not speaking thai, even tho Milla obviously looks thai origin.
Will propably happen for many times more. Well fuck them right?
While waiting at the gate to board the plane, we changed a few words with an english middle aged man, he was also flying to Chiang Mai. He co-owned a big house there with his thai friend, and lived there 6 months every year. You can't own land or an apartment in Thailand as a foreigner and the thai friend couldn't affor the house for a year around. So it's a good deal all around.
When we finally got to the plane, the beer did it's thing and us guys passed out, Milla tried hard to stay awake. About 20 minutes before landing we could see giant mountains that had a lightning storm on top of them, it was funny to see how it could be sunny the one second and big storm the next, right below you. It was also kinda scary.
After we land we could easily find Lax, CNX isn't too big airport. All we needed now was a big taxi to the hotel. Airport taxis wouldn't take Lax, even tho she was still in the kennel. So if possible, try to arrange a taxi ready from the departure airport.
We talked with couple of the drivers who said they'd help us get a songthaew, a pick-up truck customized for personel transport, they are common ways of transportation in Thailand.
Finally we got ourselves a songthaew driver who understood where we wanted to go, we only had our hotel name and address in latin alphabets, so if possible try to always get your addresses on paper written in thai, saves you a lot of trouble.
We got to the YAK Guest House and the owner was behind the counter, we checked in and took all our stuff upstairs to the 1st floor. The room seemed ok, not bad, not good. It had a bigger room with tv, fridge and one fan, the next room where Make slept had a desk, a bed, a celing fan and the A/C.
We just chilled for a bit but all of us were too eager to finally see Chiang Mai.
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| Xie Xie with the Aeroflot eye patch, BADASS! And at the bottom our sponsor's patch. Go check them out at www.mokkimies.com |
It was time to find bathrooms and water for the dog, and finally maybe well earned cigarettes.
Our friend Make called us and we met near the next check in. Milla started to feel the exhaustion from the travel, the heat and the sleep deprivation and nearly passed out and had a panic attack from all the people in the airport. We desided it was about time to get the hell outside and finally have them cigarettes.Then we went to eat and have a few beers, 0,63liter Chang 6% went to my head like a log! We left Lax in the kennel next to our baggage close to our table at the passage and had to assure Milla that it's ok to leave all our stuff there. Soon she saw how much police, security and other officials there were and got an ease of mind.
Lax got a lot of positive attention at the airport, I don't think many farangs (westerns) travel with a large dog, or with a dog at all, and everybody wanted to peek in the kennel and asked a lot of guestions. German shephers are known in thailand almost purely as police or military dogs, so they were exited to see one in "civil use". So if you want to get to know locals, get a dog, or borrow one!
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| Bangkok the lower red circle and Chiang Mai the upper one. |
It was about two hours left to our next flight when we started to check in Lax. Customer service at the Bangkok airport was superb and everyone wanted to take it as their matter to check the papers and the kennel, Lax never fails ;).
One hour left to boarding and we were feeling totally drained, we just wanted to get off the airports, away from all the people, somewhere with just us, pillows and a blanket. No dice, so we went to eat before we had to board. Milla ordered a burger and us guys took a few beers. At the counter the employees giggled for us for not speaking thai, even tho Milla obviously looks thai origin.
Will propably happen for many times more. Well fuck them right?
While waiting at the gate to board the plane, we changed a few words with an english middle aged man, he was also flying to Chiang Mai. He co-owned a big house there with his thai friend, and lived there 6 months every year. You can't own land or an apartment in Thailand as a foreigner and the thai friend couldn't affor the house for a year around. So it's a good deal all around.
When we finally got to the plane, the beer did it's thing and us guys passed out, Milla tried hard to stay awake. About 20 minutes before landing we could see giant mountains that had a lightning storm on top of them, it was funny to see how it could be sunny the one second and big storm the next, right below you. It was also kinda scary.
After we land we could easily find Lax, CNX isn't too big airport. All we needed now was a big taxi to the hotel. Airport taxis wouldn't take Lax, even tho she was still in the kennel. So if possible, try to arrange a taxi ready from the departure airport.
We talked with couple of the drivers who said they'd help us get a songthaew, a pick-up truck customized for personel transport, they are common ways of transportation in Thailand.
Finally we got ourselves a songthaew driver who understood where we wanted to go, we only had our hotel name and address in latin alphabets, so if possible try to always get your addresses on paper written in thai, saves you a lot of trouble.
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| Songthaew, use the red ones, they are cheaper. |
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| Songthaew from the inside, pretty confy. |
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| Finally a place to sleep! YAK Guesthouse at Chang Moi Kao Road. |
We got to the YAK Guest House and the owner was behind the counter, we checked in and took all our stuff upstairs to the 1st floor. The room seemed ok, not bad, not good. It had a bigger room with tv, fridge and one fan, the next room where Make slept had a desk, a bed, a celing fan and the A/C.
We just chilled for a bit but all of us were too eager to finally see Chiang Mai.
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| CNX airport at the lower left, YAK Guesthouse the red dopped pin in the up right. |
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| Our room. Finally a shower and a new pair or clothes! |
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