So my first stop in Thailand was Chiang Mai. I stayed a few days in Amsterdam and then flew 11 hours to Bangkok before immediately hopping on a flight to Chiang Mai. I was lucky that Eva Air and Bangkok Airlines were partner airlines because they checked my bag all the way to Chiang Mai. Not so lucky that we had a one hour delay so when we got off the 11 hour flight, we had a woman waiting for us to run us through the airport in order to make our flight. We weren’t as concerned as making the next flight as she was, but she made sure we pushed through customs and made it just in time for the next flight. If I had to do it over again, I would probably book an extra hour or two between the two flights so that we wouldn’t be rushed for time. Our bags actually didn’t make the flight even though we did (I will go into that a little more later). I also scheduled my time in Chiang Mai a little weirdly (you can see the exact break-up in days in my itinerary). Basically, I was trying to plan my time in Northern Thailand to break up the driving, so I spent two nights in Chiang Mai, then three nights in Pai, then came back to Chiang Mai for an additional two nights. I stayed the first two nights at the Shangri-La, as it was really comfortable and a good place to relax after the long flight, plus it was in a pick-up area for our Elephant excursion. It was expensive for Thailand standards (about $150 a night) but that same hotel in the US would probably got for about $500 a night. The second hotel we stayed in, Rim Resort, was located in the Old City, so it makes it really convenient to explore all of the temples. That hotel was about $90. I really liked the way I broke it up, but obviously you could do four consecutive nights. In that case, I think staying in Old City is best because of the proximity to the temples.
NIGHT MARKETS
Okay so I’m going to be honest and say I didn’t really find any of the night markets I went to in Thailand that great. First, people kept saying I was going to find so many cute dresses I’d want to buy, but, y’all, most of them wouldn’t fit over my chest! I was just hanging out everywhere. Second, most of the things they were selling just looked like cheap knick-knacks. And third, I wasn’t really down to eat the street food. I didn’t get the typhoid vaccine before I went and I am generally pretty germophobic. So I’d watch the vendors handle the money and then touch the food. They would sneeze in their hands and then go back to making food. They would be texting while cooking. There were a few places I did eat street food but generally, I wasn’t feeling it.
Buuuttt, as I mentioned, my bag did not make my flight to Chiang Mai. It was still in Bangkok. We were assured they would get it to us as soon as possible, but I really doubted I would have it before my elephant excursion in the morning and really needed something to wear for that other than leggings and a dirty t-shirt I had already worn for 20 hours. So off to the night market I went! The Shangri-La was right next to Night Bazaar Market. It was very lively, so that helped distract me from being awake for pretty much 30 hours. Most places would not let you try on any of the clothes, but one shop let me go into a little corner with a curtain and try things on. I managed to find a dress I didn’t hang out as much and some flip flops for the next day. It was definitely cool seeing the night market, but just nothing special in my opinion. This was the only night market I visited in Chiang Mai, but have a list of other recommended ones on my itinerary.
So guess what? Our bags were delivered to our hotel 11PM that night! How awesome is that! I have never had my bag not arrive, so I just assumed no one would really care enough to make sure we got it but they did. So happy I didn’t have to wear my random fresh-off-the-plane night market purchase.
ELEPHANT NATURE PARK
This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. When I was in South Africa last year, I really wanted to do an elephant interaction, but couldn’t find any that seemed humane. Elephant Nature Park is the only elephant experience in Thailand that I haven’t heard anyone complain about in terms of being inhumane. Some “elephant sanctuaries” still chain the elephants up at night or even actually have elephant riding. In order for an elephant to let you ride it, the elephants have been beaten into submission and are given negative reinforcement if they refuse. Their backbones are also not developed for the added weight of a bunch of humans and those disgusting thrones people put on their backs. The founder of ENP gives positive reinforcement to the elephants so that they associate people with positive experiences so that’s how they can interact with people. Most of the elephants have been rescued from either elephant riding places or the logging industry. Although its been awhile since elephants were used in the logging industry in Thailand, they are still used in neighboring countries like Laos and Myanmar.
There are several different options to choose for the ENP. There are several “saddle-off” excursions that exist in jungles outside ENP and several different excursions at the actual ENP. Doing research, it looked like you get more interaction with the elephants with the “saddle-off” project over actually visiting the ENP. The saddle-off projects have very small groups (ours had a total of 8 people) with a handful of elephants (ours had 5 elephants). ENP can have something like 20 elephants but a couple hundred tourists. Also, I really wanted to get in the water with the elephants, but it was recently banned at ENP because the owner felt like it forced the elephants to get inside the water several times a day even if they didn’t really want to. I think they kept the washing elephants part for the “saddle-off” program because it is only offered to a small group once a day, so the elephants seem happy to cool off at the swimming hole. The excursion I chose was called “elephant freedom.”
So for any of the excursion options, you are picked up from your hotel around 8AM, as long as you are not too far from their main office in Chiang Mai (otherwise you would meet at the office). They drive you about an hour and a half to the jungle (or ENP if you go with that option) while playing some videos that show you the history behind ENP and some stories of the rescue elephants. Our guide told us about one elephant that was completely blind because it was working in the logging industry and refused to work because it had just given birth to a baby who died. So the handler used a knife to poke both of its eyes out ☹ Lots of sad stories for the elephants who were rescued.
I mentioned to our guide that it was my birthday, but didn’t really think anything or it for the rest of the day. We started the day with cutting up sugarcane, bananas and making “elephant vitamins” to feed them. They normally just eat plain food and various leaves, so the sugarcane and bananas are part of the positive reinforcement for the elephants and that makes them like when tourists come to feed them since they associate the tourists with the special treats.
After that, they take the elephants to an open area for them to play and run around. Sometimes when the elephants are just chillin, the handlers will touch the elephant to make sure they are okay with it and then they will have different people come next to the elephants for pictures. Although when the elephant starts walking away, the photoshoot is over. I liked that they didn’t force the elephants to pose or try to keep them still.
After that part of the day, you come back and get a vegetarian lunch, which is mainly different rice, noodles and vegetables.
The final part of your interaction with the elephants is walking with the elephants to the swimming hole. Its probably about a 20 minute walk and the handlers will walk with the elephants and try to keep them from getting too off track. They did stop to let one of the babies feed from its mom along the way.
The elephants were all super excited to cool off in the swimming hole. You can get in with them and splash buckets of water on them, but they do a good job of cleaning themselves off. We spent about 15 minutes in the water with the elephants. The guide and handler let the elephants decide when they are finished. They will show you they are finished when they get out of the water and start covering their bodies with dirt to keep themselves cool.
Then we had a truck take us back from the elephant hole while the handlers walked the elephants back. After we cleaned up, I came out and saw that my guide had someone drive 20 minutes to a market to bring me back a birthday cake! How sweet is that?? Then they all sang happy birthday to me before we left. Seriously one of the best birthdays. Really loved this experience. Also, when I got back to the hotel, they also had a birthday cake for me.
DOI SUTHEP
So one of the main reasons to go to Chiang Mai is the temples. The most famous one is Doi Suthep, which is a temple outside of the city up on the hill. It was established in 1383 by the king to enshrine a piece of bone said to be from the shoulder of the historical Buddha. It remains one of Thailand’s most holy sites. It also is supposed to have the best view overlooking Chiang Mai. Of all the places I went in Thailand, I felt the crowds the most over here. I’m not sure if it was in fact more crowded than the Grand Palace and temples in Bangkok, but it certainly felt that way. There were Chinese tourists all over the place, bumping into you, getting in front of you, and one even accidently hit me hard in the face. I heard many times from people in Thailand how they really don’t like the Chinese tourists because of this. So I definitely didn’t love this place. Definitely worth seeing and you can get blessed by monks (which we did), but not my favorite. Also, when I was there, it was the day before it was reported Chiang Mai had the most air pollution in the entire world! To be fair, it hadn’t rained for 3 months, and I didn’t find the pollution to be terrible, but you definitely notice it at the viewpoint. From the city, it takes about 45 minutes to drive to it since its up the mountain with a narrow road. We drove up ourselves and they have a large parking lot. A lot of people take buses up from the city.
OLD CITY
The Old City in Chiang Mai is where most of the temples are. The most popular ones are Wat Phra Singh, Wat Chedi Luang, Wat Sri Suphan (made of all silver), Wat Rong Khun, Wat Chiang Man (the oldest temple), and Wat Lok Molee. Most people spend about a half day visiting all of them, but I was basically fitting temples in where I could in between other things, so I only made it to the first two.
Wat Phra Singh is one of the most beautiful, with all of the gold, and is known as “The temple of the lion Buddha.” It dates back to the 14th century when Chiang Mai was the capital of the Lanna Kingdom and is one of the finest examples of classic Lanna style temple architecture.
Wat Chedi Luang was once the home of the emerald Buddha and remains one of the tallest temples in the city. You can also find an infamous temple that forbids women from going in, as we apparently would destroy the vibe since we menstruate (for real).
They have monk chants here where you can sit in and watch all of them gather. That was a lot of fun to do.
DOI INTHANON NATIONAL PARK
The Doi Inthanon National Park is about a two and a half hour drive from Chiang Mai so it doesn’t have as many tourists as Chiang Mai and the surrounding area. It’s usually very green, but since I was there during the dry season I didn’t get to experience that. But its apparently way more crowded during high season so I was glad it wasn’t crowded and happy to be away from the pollution from Chiang Mai, however. The National Park is known for different waterfall sites, the royal twin pagodas, and for being the highest point in all of Thailand. There are also a couple of tribe villages to visit. Since we got a late start driving to the park, we didn’t have time to do everything. My main thing I wanted to see was the royal pagodas so we spent a couple hours there.
The pagodas were dedicated to the king and queen’s 60th birthday anniversaries and built in 1987 and 1992. Known as Phra Mahathat Naphamethanidon and Nophamethanidon, Naphamethinidon, meaning 'by the strength of the land and air'and Naphaphonphumisiri. They are surrounded by beautiful gardens and you can go inside the stupas.
We also took the Ang Ka Luang Nature trail to reach the highest peak in Thailand. There wasn’t an actual viewpoint up there, which I was surprised about, but I found a viewpoint a little bit further down.
I would have liked to go earlier and visit all the waterfalls. I have a lot more recommendations for the national park on my itinerary.
FOOD
As I mentioned before, while I did have a lot of recommendations on foods and restaurants (which you can see on my itinerary), it wasn’t really worth it to me to go out of my way to different restaurants since my days were pretty packed, so I mainly ate whatever was close to what I was doing. I did try khao soy in Chiang Mai, which is recommended to eat, and a loooot of mango with sticky rice. Buuuut my favorite restaurant was definitely “Phuffin in the Lake.” We stopped there on the way back to Chiang Mai from Doi Inthanon National Park. We were basically just trying to go somewhere with a good ambiance and this was on my extensive list of recommendations and we were going to be passing by it more or less. It’s about 20 minutes outside of the old city of Chiang Mai. To get to the restaurant, you go through tight roads and a residential area and the restaurant is located next to a pool. Before going in, I thought maybe I was mistaken and this was just some pool bar but it turned out to be awesome. We were the only people there and got to sit outside with hammocks overtop the water. It was such a chill atmosphere and they were playing an Ed Sheeran album on repeat so that was kind of fun. And the food was sooo good. We ordered fish and it came out so fresh and delicious. And then the mango sticky rice was the best I had on the whole trip. Such a great place!
Overall, I really liked Chiang Mai. My favorite parts about it were the elephant excursion and the national park. I would definitely recommend renting a car (or scooter) and visiting places outside of the city like Doi Suthep and Doi Inthanon National Park. I was surprised that the best things to do weren’t actually inside the heart of the city itself, mainly the old city temples and night market. A lot of people also really like taking a cooking class in Chiang Mai and going to a Muay Thai fight. While in this area, I think driving up to Pai in the mountains is a must! My next blog post will be all about Pai.
