A pleasant 3.5 hour bus journey from Chiang Rai, we arrived at Chiang Mai bus terminal 3. Another GRAB taxi was booked who took us to our hotel which was situated right next to the popular night market. The hotel was a new build that turned out really comfy with plenty of English channels on the TV for a change. Except when we took a shower we found out that the shower leaked from underneath and flooded the whole bathroom in dirty water. A complaint to the reception got numerous unintroduced people coming into our room with a bit of head scratching going on and Thai jibber jabber being exchanged but nothing was progressing so we insisted on a room change. This turned into all sorts of commotion as they had no more double rooms left as fully booked so we said we would take a twin room so Kathy could have a reprieve from my spicy noodle farts but they insisted on moving the mattress and make up a double bed for us. This scenario took all morning as things got heated between the maid and some boy manager on whether we should get an upgrade. We were shown a better room but then the offer was quickly withdrawn for some reason that was explained in Thai so we had no idea why. After all the hassle of moving our stuff to the new room in the afternoon we treated ourselves to a massage for an hour for a bargain £3.70 each. Dinner was at a local Indian and then a stroll around the night market which was huge.
We came here 12 years ago on our last world tour and found Chiang Mai a nice destination where we had good memories of meeting up with my brother Tristan and his misses Toni in a hippy style eatery just off the main square sitting on floor cushions and munching hippy food. But now it has been over developed with Starbucks and MacDonald's replacing all the quaint Thai places, a road full of go go bars (real sleazy) and way too many tourists. The night market was so big now it would take you 3 nights to visit every stall and all the stuff was mostly same same but not different. The food was good though. It has just become another non authentic western hotchpotch of the Lonely Planet tick list of 'must see' destinations.
Next day we decided to break out of the city and collared a scooter from across the road and decided to hit the mountain that towered over Chiang Mai to the north-west called Doi Sup which had (surprise surprise) a temple on top. Just as we started to climb the mountain it started pouring with rain, so we descended and hit the 7-11 for shelter and coffee. Eventually we made it to the top which was a hard climb for the little bike through the dense mist that ascended on us as we climbed above the cloud line. At the top we found a dodgy looking shack which was serving food and had lunch hoping that toilets were not too far away by the looks of the lack of hygiene. Kathy peeled off and went shopping and I hit the temple for curiosity and found half of Chiang Mai up there as it was thronged. The mist had cleared by now and it had nice views but a very average temple which wanted 30 baht to go in (tourists only mind) so sunglasses down , tan topped up, I just strode in and pretended to be another skinny Thai and got away with it. LOL! That's an extra 30 baht for Kathy's shopping budget.
We tried to see some other stuff like water falls and jungle trekking but they insisted on charging loads of entry fees to see the 'national park' on each location (foreigners only!) so gave it a miss.
On the way down which was really steep all the way with a procession of hairpin bends we turned off the engine of the bike off as it went faster in this mode and got enough speed up to overtake 4 cars and 4 motorbikes on the way down.
We then tried to find the hotel that we stayed at 12 years ago but with so little landmarks remaining from that period we were unsuccessful so gave up and headed to our favourite past time ......monk chat. What happens here is you go into a monastery and find a monk who speaks English or your chosen language and have a good old chin wag about what ever comes up. We had a very plausible 24 year old monk who spoke good English and chatted for about 90 minutes on life and Buddhism. It was a great insight to the workings of Thai life and the way the monk system worked. We really enjoyed quizzing him about life's dilemmas and how Buddhism would benefit mankind. It was a very convincing sell by the young monk but to a couple of hardened cynics like Kath and I we weren't going to be sucked in to shaving our hair off (well I had a head start on that!) and wearing orange robes, using our day to beg for rice and meditate.
After that it was another night market visit for grub and retail therapy where we again bought nothing(except beers) but had fun pretending to buy anything we liked the look of.
Overall disappointed with Chiang Mai, often touted as the jewel of the north but it's overblown by mass tourism and just feels so forced and fake. Still, if this is your first time in Thailand it makes an easy introduction. It is just easy street for the masses. Each to their own though. Next we are moving back into the mountains onto the infamous traveller nirvana called Pai.
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| Temple dragon loved a good fisting. |
We came here 12 years ago on our last world tour and found Chiang Mai a nice destination where we had good memories of meeting up with my brother Tristan and his misses Toni in a hippy style eatery just off the main square sitting on floor cushions and munching hippy food. But now it has been over developed with Starbucks and MacDonald's replacing all the quaint Thai places, a road full of go go bars (real sleazy) and way too many tourists. The night market was so big now it would take you 3 nights to visit every stall and all the stuff was mostly same same but not different. The food was good though. It has just become another non authentic western hotchpotch of the Lonely Planet tick list of 'must see' destinations.
 |
| Kathy volunteered as guinea pig for tasting the botulism soup from the shack. |
Next day we decided to break out of the city and collared a scooter from across the road and decided to hit the mountain that towered over Chiang Mai to the north-west called Doi Sup which had (surprise surprise) a temple on top. Just as we started to climb the mountain it started pouring with rain, so we descended and hit the 7-11 for shelter and coffee. Eventually we made it to the top which was a hard climb for the little bike through the dense mist that ascended on us as we climbed above the cloud line. At the top we found a dodgy looking shack which was serving food and had lunch hoping that toilets were not too far away by the looks of the lack of hygiene. Kathy peeled off and went shopping and I hit the temple for curiosity and found half of Chiang Mai up there as it was thronged. The mist had cleared by now and it had nice views but a very average temple which wanted 30 baht to go in (tourists only mind) so sunglasses down , tan topped up, I just strode in and pretended to be another skinny Thai and got away with it. LOL! That's an extra 30 baht for Kathy's shopping budget.
We tried to see some other stuff like water falls and jungle trekking but they insisted on charging loads of entry fees to see the 'national park' on each location (foreigners only!) so gave it a miss.
On the way down which was really steep all the way with a procession of hairpin bends we turned off the engine of the bike off as it went faster in this mode and got enough speed up to overtake 4 cars and 4 motorbikes on the way down.
 |
| Ghost rider emerges from the fog up on Doi Sup mountain |
We then tried to find the hotel that we stayed at 12 years ago but with so little landmarks remaining from that period we were unsuccessful so gave up and headed to our favourite past time ......monk chat. What happens here is you go into a monastery and find a monk who speaks English or your chosen language and have a good old chin wag about what ever comes up. We had a very plausible 24 year old monk who spoke good English and chatted for about 90 minutes on life and Buddhism. It was a great insight to the workings of Thai life and the way the monk system worked. We really enjoyed quizzing him about life's dilemmas and how Buddhism would benefit mankind. It was a very convincing sell by the young monk but to a couple of hardened cynics like Kath and I we weren't going to be sucked in to shaving our hair off (well I had a head start on that!) and wearing orange robes, using our day to beg for rice and meditate.
 |
| Buddha distorted the faces of the non believers. |
After that it was another night market visit for grub and retail therapy where we again bought nothing(except beers) but had fun pretending to buy anything we liked the look of.
Overall disappointed with Chiang Mai, often touted as the jewel of the north but it's overblown by mass tourism and just feels so forced and fake. Still, if this is your first time in Thailand it makes an easy introduction. It is just easy street for the masses. Each to their own though. Next we are moving back into the mountains onto the infamous traveller nirvana called Pai.
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