Chiang Mai

Many people come to Thailand to visit Bangkok and the beaches in the South around Phuket. We opted to explore Northern Thailand using Chiang Mai as our base of operation because it is much closer to the elephant nature park.  It was once a walled city surrounded by a moat. 

Old wall and moat

Thapae Gate

There was an entrance gate on each side for entrance into the city. Only a few remnants of the wall remain and the Eastern gate, Thapae, has been rebuilt. Our hotel was in the “old city” which is the part of Chiang Mai that was once surrounded by the wall.

When traveling I am often amazed at the design of the hotel rooms.  

My room

This one had two windows in the bathroom. One opened to the bedroom and the other opened (although there was a sign saying don’t open the window, which of course meant I had to open it), to face a wall about 6 inches away. The nice thing was they painted a mural on the wall so you weren’t looking plain brick. But the other interesting feature was the shower floor .It seemed the floor didn’t really slant towards the tiny drain and at the entrance to the shower, the tile which was supposed to hold back the water from entering the bathroom proper, didn’t span the entire length so when you took a shower, the water ran into the bathroom.  I had to put a towel down to keep the bathroom from flooding. Why not add the last 2 inches of tile?

Our hotel

Named for the sound you make after tasting

Our hotel sat at the crossroads of the Sunday Night Market.  Every Sunday the streets are filled with vendors hawking their wares, live entertainment and food. Each of the two streets are about a mile long and packed shoulder to shoulder with people. If you are claustrophobic this might not be for you. Any and everything can be found for sale here. The sights, the sounds, and the smells are  pleasant assault on your senses. I tried some of the street food, but alas I was too full by the time we reached the dried insect stall.

Yum!

A must when coming to Chiang Mai is a visit to the temples, and there are many. I’ve heard numbers from 100 to over 300, but it depends on if you’re talking about the old city itself, the entire city of Chinag Mai or the province which is also called Chiang Mai. 

A temple

Another temple

No matter, there are a lot and we visited quite a few.  They are all similar in many ways, but yet each is distinctive. Most use gold in their color scheme with one exception,  Wat Sri Suphan, the “silver temple” .  

The silver temple

 With few notable exception, the other temples blur together, but the silver temple was unique with its’ intricately carved panels.  As is the case with many of the other temples, women are not allowed to enter the silver temple.

Detail on silver temple

One of the more interesting things you can do at some of temples is called monk chat and as the name implies, you can sit and chat with monks. It helps them improve their English language skills and you can learn about Buddhism and the life of monk. We stopped to chat for a few minutes with a young, 21 year old monk. Very interesting. If you are ever in the area, I highly recommend it.

Street laundromat

Monks robes drying

Eerily realistic wax figure of monk

As we walked around the city we saw many, many westerners; families on vacation, young backpackers, and few lost souls which made me wonder what circumstances brought them here.  I think part of the reason is cost. Chiang Mai is inexpensive. Individual rooms with AC, WIFI and breakfast can be had for less than $10 a night. We paid $5 for lunch with drinks, and that was for the both of us. And if you like massages, there are hundreds of places. You can easily get a Thai massage for $6-$10 an hour and that’s not at some fly-by-night operation. 

Chiang Mai marathon 2014

Never having had a massage I did not try any, however I may by the end of our trip. We found the city to be clean and safe wherever we wandered. So if you’re looking for a cheap vacation, Chiang Mai may be the place for you.

At this point we only stayed in Chiang Mai for 2 nights because are going farther north on a 3 day tour of the area around Chiang Rai (Chiang means city). This will include of course more temples, the “Golden Triangle”, and a boat ride on the Mekong river where we will briefly step into Laos. We will be returning to Chiang Mai, only this time staying outside the city, to take in some other activities.

A Buddha

Tuk-Tuk

Next stop: Chiang Rai