Finally, vacation time…
On 22nd December, the six members of the combined Farid and Salahuddin families packed up their bags and trucked all the way down to Karachi airport to catch a plane to Thailand. Despite an empty flight and Thai’s silky smooth service, the flight was an interesting nightmare on account of one simple fact. It was the first time, our three year old, hyper active miracle (Baby Boy Salahuddin) was confined within six seats of an economy class cabin. Salwa, his elder sister dropped off as soon as the aircraft took off. Amin his elder brother took a little convincing but was snoring away by the time we crossed into Indian air space. However, Taha Ahmed Farid, the little terror at thirty thousand feet, was finally shot down and detained by sleep on the Thai, Burmese border, 90 minutes prior to landing, much to the relief of the entire economy class.
Two days in Bangkok to recuperate from a four and a half hour flight, and we were off to Chiang Mai. This was our second trip. The first happened when 7 members of the Alchemy team flew into Chiang Mai to participate in the APICTA ICT Awards, circa February 2005. Three years earlier we had checked in Viangbua Mansion, which in the midst of its soft launch was advertising 17 dollars per night rates (with breakfast) and allowed easy access to everything Chiang Mai had to offer.
This time we decided to splurge a bit and picked up Baan Deva Montra, an out of town piece of paradise at the base of the northern mountains, in the midst of a teak wood forest.
Enough from me let the pictures do the talking…
The villa and the entrance walkway…
The view from the balcony…
The backyard…
