Thailand (pt. 2 Chiang Mai)

When we got to Chiang Mai at 5:30am, it was freezing (compared to the hot, humid air in Bangkok).  There were a few people wandering around the (much smaller) bus terminal, some people sleeping, and NO taxis to be seen.  There were even only like 2 tuk tuks parked outside, waiting to rip off some foreigners like us, I'm sure.  So we sat down, pulled out the guidebook and map and tried to figure out what to do.  Tony remembered reading that Chiang Mai had a third form of public transportation which we realized was the songthaew.  For those of you who don't know...

a tuk tuk

a songthaew

The tuk tuk is basically a glorified golf cart fitting a maximum of 5 people squeezed in there.  The songthaew is a converted pick-up truck which can fit tons of people and even has space for people to hang on to the back.  Songthaews can serve as a shared-taxi (picking up people along the way) or somewhat like a bus with a designated route (but you can press the stop button at any time) where you just pay a cheap base-fare.  In fact, in Chiang Mai, there were no taxis just roaming the streets.  Most locals just take the trucks because they're cheap and easy.  The only way to get a normal taxi (I think..) is to call ahead for one.  Anyway, back to the trip...

We walked outside where one lonesome songthaew was parked and told him to go to Thapae Gate.  We didn't book accommodation ahead of time, but luckily I had written down the name of the road where one of the nicer guesthouses I had seen online was.  Only 2 other Thai girls got on our truck and we were off.  It cost 30 baht each for a ride in the truck (roughly $1).  When we got to the guesthouse, they said they would have rooms available after 10am so we just left our bags there and headed to the McDonald's around the corner.  After filling up on breakfast sandwiches, we followed the moat surrounding the Old City for a while.  The weather was clear, cool, and beautiful, and the air was fresh.

Around 9:30am, it was starting to heat up so we made our way back to the guesthouse, where we found out we could only stay for 1 night (gutted..because this one had a pool).  We wandered around the area to find a new place for the rest of the time and then spent the rest of the day relaxing.  That night we went to the Sunday market, Chiang Mai Walking Street.  It was a huge street in the Old City that was totally blocked off for the market.  I sensed a major shift in the attitudes from the merchants in Bangkok (pushy and rude) to ones in Chiang Mai.  I ended up buying my only souvenirs of the trip at this market.

The next day, we didn't really have anything planned so we slept in, had a leisurely (western style) breakfast and booked trips for the next two days.  In the afternoon, we decided to take a short trip in a blue (bus style) songthaew to a nearby city called Lamphun.  We had met a nice old man at a temple the morning before who had told us about this place so we took his advice and headed there.  We visited a couple of really old temples and ate noodles at a local restaurant.

the river in Chiang Mai

Wat Phra That Hariphunchai

Wat Phra That Hariphunchai

Wat Phra Yuen

On Tuesday, we went to the Chiang Siam Mahout Elephant Training Lodge to train, ride, and bath some elephants for the morning.  In the afternoon, we went "trekking" to a waterfall and then bamboo rafting.  Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of the rafting because we were told not to bring anything with us, which was good because our raft ended up ramming into some rocks and flipping us off (curiously right in front of some locals hanging out drinking beer who jumped into the water to help us...was this planned??)  Also, I had imagined we would just be sitting on top of the bamboo which we kind of were, but we were also submerged in the cold water the whole time.  It was an awesome day.

our guide, Bang, who realized Tony was afraid of everything and messed with him all day

On Wednesday, we went ziplining at the Jungle Flight course!  Tony is afraid of heights so it was pretty awesome.

Tony holding onto the tree at every platform

our ziplining group

he was extra terrified of these swinging bridges..see the guy behind him taking his picture? hahah

we repelled from this 40m down

That's basically the end of our trip.  On Thursday, we had to leave so we checked out late, had another nice western breakfast and got some more massages.  Throughout the trip, I had 2 foot massages, 2 Thai massages, and 1 oil/milk cream massage for probably less than $50.  The prices were too good to pass up.  I love massages!

One last thing I want to mention is the Thai term, sanuk.  It basically just means to have fun in everything.  I didn't notice it much in Bangkok, but we definitely saw this all over Chiang Mai.  Workers and locals were always messing around and laughing with each other.  It was especially evident on our trip to the elephant camp and ziplining.  "Most guidebooks to Thailand will tell you about the Thai concept of sanuk which often gets translated as meanng 'fun.'  But sanuk is more than having fun; it's about striving to achieve satisfaction and pleasure from whatever you do.  Whether it's the office, the karaoke bar or working in the rice fields, Thai people will try and make it sanuk."


So, did I like Bangkok or Chiang Mai better??  I think this post speaks for itself.  Hands down, Chiang Mai.  If I were to make a recommendation, I would say that if you are flying in/out of Bangkok, give yourself 1 day to see the major sights in the city and get out as fast as possible.  If I had known this before going, I would have spent half the time in the south and the other half in the north.  Oh well..next time, I'm definitely going south to the islands!