Enchanting Chiang Mai

Hello from Chiang Mai!

We hope everyone is doing well at home! We are now just north of Chiang Mai at Elephant Nature Park and we are absolutely loving it! Today was our first day so this post is to update everyone on what we were doing in the city of Chiang Mai the past couple days!

We flew into Chiang Mai Saturday afternoon from Bangkok's international airport via Bangkok Airways. After a smooth check in and a breeze through security, we were upgraded to the private lounge where we enjoyed free wifi, popcorn and other snacks and beverages! Our flight was delayed,  but only by 30 minutes and we were pleasantly surprised when they served us lunch! Our flight was only an hour long... Air Canada could certainly take a hint from theses guys!

We then caught a taxi to our hotel which was located about 20 minutes from the airport. Our hotel in chiang Mai was called Pat's Klang Viang and was very nice and vey clean! We really really liked it! Our breakfast was included and we enjoyed sitting on the patio in the morning before starting our day and of course, everything was delicious.  The women running this hotel were extremely sweet and polite, saying "please" before asking us of anything. We were also situated in a great location- just past the end of the Sunday walking market on Prapokkloa Rd. and only 7 minutes from the Elephant Nature Park office!

Saturday evening we started off by walking to the night bazar- a giant street market open every night selling all kinds of goods. Silk, spices, leathers, bags, suitcases and knock-offs are the main items you'll find and at incredibly low prices! We all bought stuff there and will definitely be going back in 2 weeks when we return to the city for a night. We found the market to be much nicer than in Bangkok. The people here are very friendly and are more willing to bargain. There is also a  lot less yelling and people trying to sell you tours and tuktuk rides!

Night Bazaar in Chiang Mai 

Wat Chediluang

Yesterday we had our day to explore chiang Mai and we definitely accomplished a lot! We woke up around 9 and had breakfast before heading up the street to see 2 wats- Wat Chediluang and Wat Phan Tao. We also looked at the 3 Kings Monument and went through the Chiang Mai Arts and Cultural Center, which was nice and had AC :) Then we walked quite a ways through town to the Raming Tea House where we had lunch and a cold tea-superdelish! Then we went even further to another wat and to a popular desert store in the middle of nowhere called Love at First Bite. They have tons and tons of pies and cakes so we shared 3 pieces- coconut cream pie, red velvet cake and Oreo cheesecake.  It was incredibly delicious and certainly made us feel better after so much time on our poor feeties. We decided to take a cab home since we had walked quite far and we were all very  hot and very tired- still only costing 150 baht or about $4 CDN

After a quick siesta (you definitely need that time to regroup before dinner) we headed back to another wat called Wat Phra Singh. Earlier in the day a student at the university told us another initiation ceremony for the monks would be happening that evening at 7pm- the same one we somehow missed while on our boat tour in Bangkok! Well, despite getting to the wat on time- there was no ceremony to be found and we were again left disappointed. Fortunately we were then right at the beginning of the Sunday walking market on Rachadamnoen road. We grabbed a quick bite to eat and tried the Koh Soi, as recommended by a friend. It is a northern Thai dish made with hand cut egg noodles in a creamy, spicy sort of broth (sort of like curry) with onions and chicken and deep fried egg noodles. Then we headed down the busy streets and looked at all the handmade goods for sale from the local Thai people! It was a fun night, finished off with the young Thai girls dancing and singing on a stage right outside our hotel!

Overall chiang Mai is much quieter and cleaner than Bangkok. I think we all really like it a lot, so if you are ever traveling here, don't let Bangkok turn you off if you go there first!

So far everything has gone pretty smoothly and we have felt pretty safe and non-threatened the entire time. The scariest thing is actually traffic. We have discovered that cars rarely stop for pedestrians- even at designated pedestrian crosswalks when they have a red light. We have been pretty cautious about looking both ways, crossing in smart areas and sticking an arm out to make sure they see us. 

That's all for now! Our next post should include some amazing elephant photos and details about our first days here at ENP so stayed tuned!

Cheers,

Lauren