Chiang Mai - Northern Thailand

Trip Start May 01, 2007

Trip End Mar 02, 2008

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Flag of Thailand Chiang Mai, Thailand
Tuesday, June 5, 2007

My next stop in Thailand was Chiang Mai. I arrived in the late afternoon on Tuesday, 5th June and set off to explore the city. The old city of Chiang Mai is a square section surrounded by moats and remnants of a brick wall. Some of the brick wall is no longer standing, since it is many centuries old. There are four gates which enter into this old section of the city.

I found a tour office the next day and booked a trekking tour into countryside. It is popular to do treks to see the hilltribes in the area. I decided to go on a two day / one night trek which would take me north into the hills and allow me to sleep one night at a homestay in a village. The trek also included an elephant ride, whitewater rafting and bamboo rafting.

Another activity I signed up for was mountain biking

Buddhist advice

. The big joke amongst my friends in Bermuda is my beautiful Cannondale - made to measure road bike which I have never used, due to my fear of Bermuda's roads and traffic. Despite my lack of recent biking experience I decided that intermediate level was best for me. Hmmm, maybe I was a bit over confident in my abilities.

Although Chiang Mai is much smaller in size than Bangkok, it has even more temples, more than 300! I spent some time wandering around visiting as many of them as possible (not all 300). They were all unique and beautiful. At first I was quite intimidated by the monks and not sure what to do when I saw one but I learned that most are friendly and smile and say hello when I make eye contact.

Had I been in the area longer I would have liked to sign up for a cooking class, which is a popular activity.

My guest house was okay, nothing special but comfortable enough. It was on Ratchadamnoen Road in the center of the old city. The street is closed on Sunday for a market. I encountered my first stomache problems on my last night there, after eating at the street market. I bought a shredded papaya salad and after the first bite saw some squid in it so threw it away. Later that night I was sick every half hour for five hours but I was actually grateful since the next day I had booked a ten hour bus ride back to Bangkok, so I was glad to be sick that night and fully recovered by the next morning, in time for my bus trip.