Our next stop in Thailand was a grueling 13 hour train ride north to the city of Chiang Mai. We didn’t really know what to expect and to be honest we chose it more as a convenient place to stop before making our way to Laos. We are super glad we stopped though because Chiang Mai was just the right amount of big city mixed with a small town atmosphere. We knew we were going to enjoy it when we were walking to our hotel and just a few yards away was their night market. This particular night market (Night Baazar) was aimed more at tourists, but it was super nice with live performances, beer carts, and a whole bunch of good and cheap food.
When it comes to sites and activities there are a few must-dos on the list when you visit Chiang Mai. The first is the Doi Suthep temple. This is located on top of a small mountain that overlooks the city of Chiang Mai even if the smog doesn’t allow for a totally clear view. There are a couple of ways to reach the temple. The easiest is obviously taking a tuck tuck, taxi, or the popular thing in this region are little red pickup trucks that take about 6 people anywhere they want. We decided to do the more challenging option of hiking to the top. The hike takes about an hour and consists mostly of steps so it can be a bit grueling especially in the heat. About halfway up there is another temple that has far less people than the top, but it is still a pretty cool site. Personally we weren’t super impressed with the temple itself at the top. It’s very small and very crowded but the journey and hike made it worth our time for sure.
Chiang Mai Old City is a huge square enclosed by ancient crumbling walls and is practically a museum in and of itself. Its streets are lined with restaurants, shops, historical buildings, and a lot of temples. The temples in the old city you should check out are: Wat Chedi Luang, Wat Phra Singh and Wat Phan Tao. There are several more within easy reach.
By far our favorite part of the trip was the elephant park we visited. This is a very popular tourist attraction in the area and it’s important to do your research before going, because while some outfits claim to be ethical-that might not be the case. There are still not a lot of rules and regulations surrounding these animals so these organizations are buying elephants that have been used in circuses, for riding camps, logging and other not so great things. We decided to go with the Elephant Nature Park which had the best reviews and award. Most importantly for us, there is no riding and no bathing. Bathing being that most of these companies sell the idea that it’s fun to get in the water and “help the elephants cool off” by throwing water at them from a bucket. It’s more of a photo op than anything, and from what we saw and learned from watching the elephants in the river at Elephant Nature Park, bathing is a fun group activity for the elephants who like to play around with each other and get a little rough, dipping all the way under the water and then popping back up again under another elephant. Some places don’t “allow” the elephants to do this when you’re in the water with them. Many times the elephants let it all loose in the water, peeing and pooping freely, which means on you if you’re in there with them. When we got there with our group of eight we were able to feed the elephants and the rest of the day our guide walked us around the park while we got to observe these awesome creatures in their habitat. Nothing was forced or rushed and we really enjoyed our experience.
Another fun thing that obviously only happens one time a year was a Super Bowl watch party. Chiang Mai is popular with tourists and expats alike, so naturally there were enough people interested in the big game to warrant a watch party. If you are traveling and events such as the Super Bowl come up, then use it as an excuse to have some drinks and meet some new people! This was fun because the game was at 6:30 AM, so we had some breakfast while watching the game. Another thing we would recommend checking out when you are in a place that is hot and you have a few extra days, is do a quick Google search for pools in the area. For example, we found a hotel pool (Lotus hotel) that allowed anyone to come up to their rooftop pool for $3 a person. Great deal and a great pool. In terms of food, it’s impossible to beat Bangkok. But you do have to try northern Thailand’s specialty called khao soi. We went to a place called Khao Soi Khun Yai and it was superb.
Overall, we really enjoyed our time in Chiang Mai and if you have the time you should absolutely make your way up north. I know that when you have a limited amount of time you’ll probably hit Bangkok and then go south to Phuket and Krabi, but it really was a cool city with a good vibe.