How to visit Chiang Mai

My reason for choosing a Chiang Mai holiday were very unscientific. I read an article in an in-flight magazine. I heard there were mountains. I love Thai food. I live very close, relatively speaking. Thus, an irrational and instant attachment was formed to the idea. I must travel to Chiang Mai.

I choose one of the most inexpensive methods to achieve my goal; sale tickets on a budget airline to Bangkok, followed by an overnight train to Chiang Mai. Overnight is a stretch...more like overnight and half a day, but you arrive, tired and hungry, but alive and well and happy not to repeat the trip back home for a good five days.

Chiang Mai holidays occurred with my dear friend Kelly, Assuie and a fellow Phnom Penher. We are friends because she loves adventures like myself. Kelly was later joined by her cousin Dave. As a trio, we set out on our adventures, constantly whining paradoxically that nothing is as good as in Phnom Penh, and everything is so much better that Phnom Penh. We maintain that Thai tuk tuks are terrible. On this point, Cambodia excels. 

In short, while it’s still Asia, I loved Chiang Mai. It was the perfect respite after a few too many difficult weeks at work. It’s a place you go to relax, to shop, to enjoy a slightly cooler climate, to eat, and to have an adventure.

Mountains: Chiang Mai did not disappoint on its main draw. There are hills and they are green and lush. Coming from flat arid Cambodia, it was soul-reviving. One day we even ventured up the mountains and enjoyed the views and the breezes, praising the preservation of nature and wishing to never return home.

Markets: Chiang Mai has plenty of shopping! There are night markets, Saturday markets, Sunday markets and then the shops. Everything comes alive at night in a colorfully and lively display of life. Many of the products and crafts we saw were uniquely different to others spotted around Southeast Asia, and we enjoyed the creations from a vibrant arts scene. We stayed out very late at markets, a treat when everything shuts in Cambodia at 7pm.

Food: Thai food is amazing. I went to Thailand for my favorite food in the world, Thai green curry. A lasting impression of Chiang Mai was the food scene as well as how cheap it is! There is an abundance of tasty and tantalizing street food. We also did the rounds of Subway and Starbucks, because we could. We went hours in cute cafes with our books with our smoothies and coffees.

Temples: Chiang Mai is famous for its beautiful temples with the intricate gold eves like gingerbread houses, brass bells, and gold domes and umbrellas. We made it one day to the famous Doi Suthup temple located slightly outside town in the trees and hills. Artistically, Thai temples have done very well.

Motos: A new favorite activity when traveling is to rent our own mode of transport. Kels and I rented motos one day and drove around down and through the hills. I do begrudge Kelly for making me do a u-turn on a highway, and for driving on that highway in the first place. At least I can now say I have driven a moto on a highway. We also spent a long time convincing the rental people that “I drive one just like this in Cambodia! I know how to drive!” A short road test eventually proved our point and we were vindicated. 

Tesco: Tesco is basically Wal-Mart. This is the reason we ended up on a Thai highway, to find Tesco. Wandering through a warehouse like store, spotlessly clean, almost every product you could want…a small reminder what America and Australia are like...imagine our jaws mopping the floor in overwhelming awe.

Lanterns: I chose to visit Chiang Mai late November because it fell over a three-day Cambodian holiday granting the maximum time off. This amazingly coincided with the Thai “Festival of Lights.” Paper lanterns are lit with candles and floated into the night sky by the thousands with accompanying fireworks. It was magical and something I know which I’ll never forget. We even launched some of our own.  

Tigers: Kelly wanted to pet a tiger, and because I couldn’t think of a good reason why not to (I’ve done way worse), I did too. And so we went to pet massive tigers. They were quiet and didn’t mind us, though clearly we were extremely careful not to upset thing.

Drunk French tourists: On the train back, we ventured into the dining car where we encountered multiple drunk French tourist dancing down the middle of the car to the Macarena and Mambo #5 which was blaring loud enough to wake the entire countryside and so loud we could barely place our drink orders. That was worth every cent of the train fare.