Chiang Mai - Quaint but Touristy

After bustling Bangkok, it was nice to take a break in Chiang Mai. We knew that the city was smaller, and it catered to tourists who wanted a little more space and scenery. The center of the city definitely caters to tourists, as we saw many foreign travelers walking and riding motorbikes throughout the streets. Most everyone speaks some English, so it made eating, communicating, and traveling very easy! The buildings are only 1 story, so we could see blue skies all the time. It also seems to be a spiritual place, as it has almost as many Wats (temple) as Bangkok, but at 1/5 of the size.

Quick Tips:

EXPECT TO PAY: Because it is primarily a tourist destination, expect to pay for transportation to major sites, such as Doi Suthep and the train station/airport. We took the train in, and while the ride was very short to our hotel (about 10 min), we still had to pay 80 Baht, and 120 Baht for the taxi called by our hotel. We read in Lonely Planet that we could hop on a “son-tao” which is a red truck with two rows of benches in the back, that would take us up to Doi Suthep for 20 Baht. However, to actually hire one to take you up there (without having the wait for other passengers) was about 500 Baht.

TRAVELING WITH ASIAN WOMEN: If you are a Caucasian male traveling with an Asian female (girlfriend, friend, wife, mother, or other), guesthouses/hotels will be wary and assume that you paid for her “services”. Make sure she is registered as a guest of the hotel and let the staff know that the two of you are traveling together. Sex tourism is especially prevalent in Chiang Mai and I was actually shocked by the lack of discretion by both the male tourist and the Thai women.

TOURS: There are tour packages abound in Chiang Mai. Most of them can be pricey, but they seem to be very well received by the guests. You can also considering hiring a private car for more flexibility in your schedule, which can be affordable.

Best Way To Get Around:

GETTING THERE BY OVERNIGHT TRAIN: We took the overnight train from Bangkok for the experience, as we wanted to see some of the scenery of the country side during the trip. The overnight train costs about 1300 baht per person in first class. First class is a private cabin with two beds and a sink, sharing a toilet with 6 other first class cabins. There is an opportunity to order breakfast and dinner. Highly recommended is the breakfast, not recommended is the dinner. The train is not the fastest way to get there, in fact, it’s probably the slowest! However, the timing works well because you get a night’s sleep without paying for a hotel room, and you get in at 9am. The train is quite old, however and the floor can be dirty. This is not advisable for germaphobes!

We had two different experiences – on the way to Chiang Mai, the service was impeccable and the food was good. The guy working our train car was very engaging, and helped us assemble our beds, and made small talk with us. On the way back from Chiang Mai, we were constantly given the hard sell to buy juice, snacks, and beer the whole time and when we didn’t buy anything, they gave us attitude! We ordered a dinner, and it was not very good.

Raming Lodge was a very good choice for us – it was about $28USD/night, which was a discounted rate that we found on Agoda.com (normal price at $55/night). The room was very spacious and clean, and we even had a television with cable, as well as a mini-fridge. The AC worked great, and the bathroom was large and luxurious! The only problem was that the only window in the room faced another building, which made the room very dark without lights. The service was decent and the staff was friendly.

The location was also very good - it was right on the outside of the center square, and a 10 minute walk to the night market. There were plenty of restaurants, cafes, and tourist agencies practically next door.

There was a free breakfast buffet every morning, and I thought the selection was quite nice. There were western style options, like an omelet station, fried eggs, toast and sausage, as well as Asian options, like rice porridge (which I love), soup, stir fried vegetables and meat, and fried rice. There was also a nice selection of fruit, cereal, and beverages.

The only issue I had was the internet access in the lobby – it was 75 baht/hour, when other internet cafes charged just 30 (some even 20!). Also, the power went out one night, and there was no explanation, so we had to the leave the room and the hotel. Somehow, mosquitos got into the room because we had left the door open a few minutes for light, and we were bit pretty badly that night. Lastly, it does sit on a block with lots of seemingly cute bars during the day, but at night, there are lots of young Thai women waiting outside for foreign men to hire them for their company. It’s not dangerous, just a little strange.

Another strange aspect of the hotel was that it seemed like everything in the room was for sale. There was a price list for every item in the room, and the prices were probably 20 times what you could get them for out in the night market. Not sure if this was to prevent guests from stealing stuff, or if guests actually requested to buy stuff!

We were recommended to take a 1 day course at the Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School, which is run by a chef named Sompon Nabnian, who had a cooking show on BBC, and on other Thai channels. The day we chose included six dishes and a tutorial on how to make curry paste. When we went in to book it the day before, they said that we could actually choose a visit to the market if we wanted, which we said we wanted, but the next day, the choice was not actually available to us. I think they use it as a ploy to get you to commit!

Nevertheless, it was a great experience and waaaaay too much food. The day started at 10am, which was nice because it wasn’t too early. We met at the offices near the city center, and then 2 vans took us further out to the actual cooking school. There were about 20 people in our class.

We first did the curry paste making tutorial and then we went to work. There were 7 young women giving the tutorials, and walking around, making sure we did everything right. There was no room for error! The process was as followed: 1) go into the class room for a tutorial on the ingredients (the types of chilis were especially interesting), where to get them, substitutes, and how to prepare the dish. 2) taste the dish that the instructor made 3) get your ingredients 4) make the dish 5) eat the dish!

The portions that we made were small, but after 2 dishes, I was already getting full. After six dishes, and four hours later, I was stuffed to the brim and felt bad for not being able to finish what I made!!! The lessons were very easy, and we were given our own cookbook so we could recreate the meals at home. There were also beers for sale during the eating periods, so that was nice as well. We actually had two tutorials taught by Sompon himself, which I understand is not always the case and quite special.

We were also given some time after one of the meals to wander the premises, where the school actually grows its own produce, and I believe also own chickens! It was a beautiful setting for a cooking class, and really fun. It was also a great opportunity to meet some interesting people from all over the world. There was a caterer who was taking 5 days of cooking class, a couple of solo recent college graduates from England, four women who were all related, two of which were living in Chiang Mai, and several older couples.

The six hour course, which included all the ingredients, rice, cookbook, and transportation cost 900 baht/person.

We were told that it is best to visit the mountain temple early in the morning before the crowds. We were leaving in the afternoon, so we made sure to get up extra early (6:30am). In Lonely Planet, it said that we could catch a son tao (which is a truck with two benches) for just 20 baht all the way up the mountain. Unfortunately, this was not the case, as all the son taos wanted to charge us 500 – 600 baht. Finally, one took us to the "bus station" for Dot Suthep, which is just a holding area for more son taos. The fare was 50 baht per person, but the truck wouldn’t leave unless there were 10 people on board. This was frustrating as we were the only 2 passengers at 7:30am. We waited 10 minutes, and finally, we decided to just bite the bullet and pay the money to get up there. Our driver said he would take us, round trip, for 500 baht.

It is quite a ride up there – the drivers will say 45 minutes, but it’s actually around 25-30 minutes. The mountain is quite steep and curvy, but offers a great view of the area. Once up there, the entrance was crammed with cheesy souvenir vendors, as well as vendors of flowers to take up to the temple.

You will have to climb up approx. 300 steps to get up to the temple – take your time! Once you get in, you’ll see that foreigners need to pay, and Thais do not. The view from the top is really breathtaking, and the flowers that they’ve planted on the premises were very vibrant in color. Within the temple itself, there are lots of different donation boxes on display (for the blind, disabled, children, etc), as well as several interesting buddhas. There is a ritual you may want to take part in, requiring you to purchase some flowers and incense from a vendor within the temple (20 baht). Take the flowers and walk once around the temple. Afterwards, light the incense and place them in the receptacle. Lastly, there are candles for you to light and put in a different receptacle. It’s a pretty spiritual experience, and there are lots of people doing it, so if you want to take part, just follow those who seem to know what they’re doing.

Other interesting things to look at are the marble plates that are like gravestones for loved ones, and there are some giant bells. There is also a coffee shop so you can enjoy a beverage up there. Please remember to wear temple appropriate clothing – long pants and shirts with sleeves. The whole visit took about 1 hour and we enjoyed a waffle wrapped hot dog afterwards from one of the street vendors!

We had originally wanted to go to the Elephant Conservatory Park for a less touristy experience, but it was too far and too expensive. We hired a private taxi – a man named Boonmee who had actually picked us up from the train station – for the entire day for 800 baht. He picked us up at 8:30am and we set off to Mae Sa Elephant Park.

The elephant park is about 40 minutes away from the center square. You can see the elephant show for 250 baht, or you can combine it with an hour long elephant ride. For two people – elephant ride and show – the total bill was 1440 baht.

The show runs every 1.5 hours, approximately, and when we got there, it was 20 minutes before the 2nd show of the day. When you walk in, there is a gaggle of women screaming for your attention to buy souvenirs for yourself, and bananas and sugar cane to feed the elephants. Luckily, they are behind tables, so they don’t run up to you and invade your space, but it is shocking when you first walk in. We bought a bunch of sugar cane and bananas for 20 baht.

The elephant show was about 1 hour long, and it was actually pretty amusing. There are about 20 elephants who walk in and do various tricks, like throwing darts, playing soccer, performing Thai massage, and performing logging duties. The most interesting part was when they started doing art work. About 8 elephants are put in front of easels, and a handler gives them the paintbrush and paint. After 10 minutes, 8 works of art are produced! The artwork is for sale, but it’s not cheap.

After the show, the elephants are led up to the audience (although there is a fence separating the audience and the elephants), and there is an opportunity to feed the elephants, and pet them. They are VERY eager to eat. Some enterprising handlers will drop some bills and ask the elephant to pick them up – which is a signal to drop some bills to tip them!

We then went on our elephant ride and it was typical. Two of us sat on a bench, which rested on top of the elephant’s back. A handler sat in the front and led the elephant. Halfway through the trip, the handler got off and took photos of us on the elephant. It was a nice but pretty slow ride through a path and jungle, but it’s not like you got a lot of contact with the elephant. Our elephant’s name was Poo Banyam, and he was 49 years old.

Afterwards, we took around the premises, since we heard that there was an elephant nursery. The tour groups probably do not take you to the nursery because the path was completely deserted (but the show was completely packed with people). We passed the elephant art gallery and then made it to the nursery. I think there were 2 newborn elephants, but we didn’t see them. We did get to interact with three or four elephants that were there, and the handlers made them do some tricks for us for photo ops. That was probably the best part of the visit.

If you want to see elephants, you won't be disappointed. Is it a tourist trap? Maybe, but it's pretty fun nonetheless.

Everyone claimed that the night market was a really fun part of Chiang Mai nightlife. While it is astounding the number of vendors that populate the night market, it got somewhat repetitive after a few blocks.

If you're in the market for inexpensive tees, designer knockoff bags, luggage, and dried fruit, then this is definitely a must-see. However, if you're just walking through before or after dinner, then a few blocks should be enough. It is a great place to get some souvenirs, and if you're good at bargaining, you can get a great deal.

Chiang Mai is known for its temples! With just 1/5 the population of Bangkok, the city boasts just about the same number of temples. If you have a free morning or afternoon (although the afternoons can be HOT), take a stroll through the city center and visit some of the temples that are on display. Some of them are difficult to find since some of the maps we were consulting didn't show all the little alleys. Truthfully, we visited so many one afternoon that we couldn't get them straight in our heads.

However, all of them are lovely, and unique in their own way. There are typically monks wandering around doing various jobs and upkeep of the premises. Pick up any map from your hotel and the temples will definitely be labeled.

At one of the temples, we saw a sign for "Monk Chat". Unfortunately, it was too late for us to take part, since we were walking through at 6pm in the evening. However, the sign states that there are monks waiting for people to come by and ask them questions - any sort of questions! I've heard that it is a great opportunities for monks to practice their English, particularly with the tourists.