Chiang Mai has been beautiful (and a little bit sweltering). This is the first stop on the journey where we are really slowing down and just checking in for a bit to enjoy ourselves. So, this post is going to cover the first few days only. Doing one photo album for Chiang Mai, so that link will be at the bottom of each of these posts.
Sunday: The overnight train got us in around 10am. Found a guest house straight away and got checked in and bags deposited after paying a bit too much for our tuk-tuk. Such is life, I’ll get my bargaining skills back in shape soon. The guest house is basic, but it looks nice and the guys who run it are really nice. Also, friendly dog to greet us, which seems like a good sign. Another bonus, place is only 250B/nt (around $7USD).
We walked into city center (about 1.5 miles) and got a chance to get some street food for lunch and get our bearings. There is set-up happening in the city for the Sunday Walking Street and also a celebration of “Thainess” which is showcasing the different regions of Thailand. We’ll check out more this evening when everything is up and going and the temperatures are better.
We stopped back in the guest house to cool off and shower (temps are pretty constant right around 100F and we’ve been walking around quite a bit. Room isn’t much cooler (did I forget to mention we got a room with a fan but no AC?) but the showers help and we get a bit of rest. Then back out to see the markets and “Thainess” celebration.
Had a fun time walking around in the evening and checking the night market and Thainess celebration; the best quote was ‘You don’t have to visit the rest of Thailand because you see it all right here tonight!’.
Monday we spent quite a bit of time visiting temples and generally having a great time, except for the heat. The decision was made that it was time to upgrade our lodgings while we acclimated to the heat and Southeast Asia started to move on from the hottest part of the year. So, after a bit of searching we found a place that was less than double what we were paying at the first place at 450B ($13ish US) which is still within our target budget. The rooms look great, are in the thick of things which will mean less trekking back and forth to restaurants and sights, have AC a communal kitchen and free drinking water. So, while those might not make up the differences in cost, the benefits to our sanity are probably completely worth it. Only downside is we paid for two nights at the first place, so we’ll be sleeping there tonight.
We celebrated our 1 month wedding anniversary at a restaurant called VT Nam Nueng; the food was excellent, there will be pictures.
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| Chiang Mai |
For Liz’s photos, see her post at Laying Low in Chiang Mai