Day 25 to 28 Mae Jo Golf Resort and Spa

Having 'done' city life in Chiang Mai, my wife and I retired to the serenity of the outlying countryside to take in the air. Ang is gradually taking on a bronzed hue.

In reality we booked initially for 3 days in town and although its enjoyable its all hustle, bustle, noise and dust. So we looked for somewhere out of town to relax. Play golf and as a base to go to the elephant park. Mae Jo is a 40 bedroom golf resort and spa about 15 miles outside town. I tried to book directly with the hotel and they were offering £60 a night, so tried the Internet and got it for £40. The hotel still wouldn't match the price even when I told them.

The hotel pool looking towards our room

From our balcony early morning - 7th green in the distance

The hotel was lovely and sadly for them very quiet. Ang and I had our own private pool most of the time. There was only 1 restaurant on site, at the golf club. Again we had our own restaurant as there was no one there most of the time when we ate. Can't say the food was up to much though.

I don't think the hotel is making money but the golf course is. Green fee for residents is £40 plus another £20 for caddie/ buggy. I played on Saturday at 6:50 just as it got light. The course was pretty much booked up until 2pm with Thais, Koreans and Japanese.

A very good golf course again in a typical US resort style. Water on 11 or 12 of the holes and heavy green side bunkering. It is taking some getting used to as the greens are fast and firm yet the fairway is very soft - so pitching and running is hard. Flop shots onto the green are also hard without lob wedges.

It's a course that you need a stroke saver on as there were 9 ish dog legs and it wasn't easy to work out where the corner was and how much to cut off. My caddie was a nice lady and a good buggy driver but not too helpful on course navigation. But it was great fun. Hire clubs were still regular stiffness but better quality so I gradually got used to them. I shot 87 which included 5 doubles ( water shots mainly ) so I was ok with that. Target is 82-84 for the Angkor Course - Siem Reap Cambodia.

 

So here we are in Don Muang airport, Sunday morning 9th December, heading for Phnom Penh. 3 weeks in Thailand and 1 week in Laos over and we are really enjoying it ( although it won't surprise you to know that Ang gets annoyed with me at times. I can be annoying at times AND Ang has low tolerance levels for most things ) . We've now settled into travelling mode.

And it does not feel like Christmas is on the way. Besides the odd Christmas song in Starbucks and a few Christmas decorations, we are oblivious to it all.

Hope you are all enjoying the build up and chilly weather

 

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