I have been told innumerable times that I absolutely must go to Chiang Mai before my time in Thailand is done. From people who know me well to people I have just met, the underlying sentiment of "You will love Chiang Mai!" has been pretty much constant whenever this city comes up in conversation. So, I finally did it: I went on a solo trip to northern Thailand, all for the purpose of going to the ever-renowned and beloved Chiang Mai! My verdict?
All of those people were right. I loved Chiang Mai.
Read on to find out why!
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I spent five days in Chiang Mai in late October. In this time, I visited eleven temples, spent an incredibly special day with elephants, trekked in the highest mountains in Thailand, and learned about the 700 years of history and culture imbued in this city. This post will document my first two days in Chiang Mai.
I knew I liked Chiang Mai from the moment I looked out the plane window as we prepared to land. Seeing rich green mountains instead of tall buildings and smog was my first indication that this place was very different from big cities I am used to.
This remains one of my favorite airport views that I have experienced, to date.
I stayed very close to the city center in a perfect little family-run guesthouse called The Ghee House.
I got my own ensuite room with AC, a big bed, and a private bathroom for 729 baht ($24) per night.
The shower was even in a separate enclave than the toilet and sink!! This is rare for Asia!
The price of the guesthouse was absolutely fabulous, especially for how comfortable it was, how kind/helpful the owners were, and how close the location was to everything I wanted to see in the city. I would stay here again if I return to Chiang Mai.
After settling in for a little bit, I went for a walk to explore the surrounding area.
I didn't make it far before I found what would become one of my favorite places in the city: Wat Buppharam.
Originally built in 1496, this temple is a perfect example of the historically rich nature of Chiang Mai.
Wat Buppharam is less than a 2 minute walk from the Ghee House. There is even a secret entrance to this temple from the sidestreet the Ghee House is on! I stumbled upon the temple by accident through this entrance.
In the main temple building, there is a library and museum section, built in the 20th century as an act of merit for the past king.
I enjoyed looking around the artifacts and special books preserved in this room.
The statuary outside was glorious, too.
I ascended the stairs to the top level of the temple to find a triple shrine: buddhas in jade, gold, and alabaster.
Thoroughly excited to already have experienced such a beautiful temple on the first ten minutes of my walk, I made my way to the old city walls to explore the Sunday evening market I had been told to visit.
The city walls of Chiang Mai are remnants from when this city acted as the capital of the Lanna Kingdom from the 13th to 18th centuries.
Tha Phae gate is perhaps the most famous portion of the old wall. I went through this gate something like half a dozen times over the course of my stay in Chiang Mai, and every time, there were people waiting to pose with the sign above.
Once inside the old city, I understood why the guesthouse staff had told me to come here. It was 5 PM and the Sunday night market was already in full swing.
Vendors were everywhere, selling anything and everything quintessentially tourist Thai that you could think of. Clothes, jewelry, journals, carved figurines and cutlery, and much more.
I got myself a refreshing dragonfruit/mango smoothie to quench my thirst while I walked around.
The roads of the market went on for many kilometers. The main road branched off into side streets too, like this one, which is actually a temple!
This was my favorite street of the market. The colorful lanterns with the ornate temple were just so pleasing to the eye.
On this street, I found a vendor that made something that I had been wanting for awhile: a personalized passport holder!
I chose a cover, a charm, and gave her the name I wanted punched into the leather. The result is exactly what I hoped for. $5 well spent!
I continued to peruse the streets of the market, thinking surely soon I would reach the end...
...an hour later, I finally did! This market was massive, way bigger than any night market I've ever been to before. It was a great way to pass the entire evening.
Now, I was quite hungry, so I began the mission of acquiring food as I made my way back across the old town. First, I made a $2 box of sushi to eat later on.
I then found something that made me actually shriek with delight: khao jee!! These are my favorite food from Nong Khai, where I lived for a year. They are Esan food, so they usually only exist in the northeastern region of Thailand. They are essentially sticky rice patties repeatedly dipped in egg and grilled.
I of course had to get one. It wasn't the same as an Esan khao jee, but it made me happy anyway.
I wanted to get one more snack on my way home, as I knew there would not be a comfortable spot to eat my sushi until I got to my guesthouse. (These night markets do not have anywhere to sit.) I decided on a super yummy veggie spring roll.
I then treated myself to a $2 half hour foot massage! Perfect for my tired feet after walking around that huge market.
It was so nice to be back in a place where the prices were more akin to what I was used to in Nong Khai. After my recent travels in Bangkok and the southern islands, my threshold for what was expensive had shifted a lot. I didn't expect that Chiang Mai would be as affordable as it was, so this was a nice surprise!
Between the Bangkok/Chiang Mai airports and my night market adventure, I'd gotten quite a few steps in this day! I absolutely love walking as a way of exploring a new place, as you can really get a feel for the town and see things that you wouldn't if you were on a faster mode of transport, like a motorbike or car.
Back at the hotel, I got to relax a bit with sushi and Netflix before I hit the hay. Day one of Chiang Mai was a success!
Day 2
The wonderful woman who checked me in at the guesthouse the day before did not lead me wrong with the evening market, so I followed her advice again by checking out a local market in the morning.
What I had not realized was that this market was in the Chinatown district of Chiang Mai! This was exciting for me, as I love exploring Chinatowns all over the world.
I first found a Chinese-tyle Daoist temple.
This reminded me of temples I have seen in China, Chinatowns I have seen in the US (Los Angeles, Chicago, New York), and Chinese temples in Nong Khai and Mukdahan in Thailand.
After a bit more wandering, I noticed the sign I had been looking for - see the yellow sign for "Waroros Market"?
It was well hidden, but I found it!
This is clearly a spot for locals, as I didn't see a single foreigner there, and Chiang Mai is full of foreigners.
I found some coconut pudding treats, so I bought a sack of them for $0.60.
This market was a great insight into the local culture of Chiang Mai.
Eager to see more of the city while there were less people on the street than the night before, I continued my walk through places I had been to yesterday. Hello again, Tha Phae Gate!
I again visited the temple with the glorious lanterns, where I enjoyed a coconut treat.
On my way out of the old city, I got the ever-rare snapshot of the Tha Phae Gate sign with no tourists posing underneath it! (I had to wait for a bit until the people who had been taking photos moved, haha.)
I was now warm, hungry, and wanted to do some blogging. I went back to my guesthouse and grabbed my laptop, and then I decided to try a place across the street, called Plum Coffee and Smoothies. I got an iced Americano and a dark chocolate peanut butter acai bowl. It was so. Dang. Good.
I stayed here for a few hours, listening to good music and blogging about Koh Lanta.
This was the view from my table! Hello, Wat Buppharam.
Finished with my coffee and ready to move along, I did another jaunt of walking, and then was hungry again. It was late afternoon now and I had plans of doing some night touring, so I decided now would be a good time to get some food. I brought my laptop to another restaurant, where I got fish and chips and finished up the first Koh Lanta blog post.
I wanted to go to Doi Suthep, a famous temple atop a mountain outside Chiang Mai. The main method of public transportation here is called the red car, which I had been told to take to get to the temple. Fun surprise for me: because I was a solo traveller and it was not high season, every red car turned me down and would not take me to the temple, simply because it was not worth it for them to go all that way for only the fare one person would provide! So, I went back to my guesthouse, dejected and thinking I would not get to go to the temple. My wonderful guesthouse owner was not about to let that happen! She called her daughter, who is a taxi driver in town, and set up a night tour - just for me - to Doi Suthep. What wonderful ladies to do that for me so last minute!
Nui picked me up at 5:30, and we began our adventure. She informed me that we were going to make two stops, because there was another site I just had to see: a temple built into a system of tunnels in the mountainside on the way to Doi Suthep. I said an emphatic "heck yes" and we were on our way!
We arrived at Wat Umong Suan Phutthatham after sunset. Nui told me that this is her favorite time of day to come to this temple, because after the sun sets, the tunnel lights come on, and the tunnels are illuminated from within rather than from outside when there is natural daylight
The tunnels are tall enough to walk within them comfortably. We were there at a great time; there were a couple of tours, but according to Nui, there are many more people than this during the day.
We ascended the stairs and then promptly turned the other direction...
...and suddenly, we were alone with the tunnel temple Buddhas.
The shrines within the tunnels were beautiful, and even had a tinge of spookiness about them. It was simply so quiet, and every tiny sound echoed.
You couldn't even see the ends of the tunnels when you looked down them. I was grateful to be with a tour guide who knew the place like the back of her hand. I think I would have gotten lost here by myself.
The quiet peace was an unexpected feature of visiting such a normally tourist-packed place.
Just before this photo was taken, a bat flew above my head! This made me happy. I really love bats.
Finished in the tunnels, we left this temple and drove 40 minutes up a mountain.
We arrived at our final destination: Wat Doi Suthep.
We had to climb over 300 stairs to get to the temple.
We got to the top and entered the main temple complex, and I could see right away why so many people proclaim this a must-see destination in Chiang Mai.
The central pagoda is simply stunning. It sits at the very top of the mountain, and at night, it is lit up in glorious gold.
According to legend, this temple was built in the year 1373 by the sixth king of the Mangrai Dynasty. Its rich history makes this an important pilgrimage site for Buddhist practitioners.
I felt so fortunate to get to pray and pay my respects to Buddha at this sacred site.
In Buddhist art, images of the Buddha laying down signify his final nirvana (i.e., his death in this life form). I learned this day from a monk walking by that, when Buddha is shown laying down with his head propped up like this, he is just relaxing! So laying all the way down means final nirvana, but a statue like the one above is just showing Buddha chilling out. I loved learning this!
The monk who taught me this is pictured above (dressed in an orange robe).
After we walked around the entirety of the pagoda, we got to see monks performing ceremonies in the main temple rooms.
This nun was praying so peacefully at the other side of the pagoda.
Now, for the other reason people come to Doi Suthep:
The view.
At an elevation of over 1,000 meters, or 3,450 feet, this temple has one of the best views in all of Chiang Mai, or perhaps even all of Thailand.
It was so fun to visit this place with someone who is basically an expert on it! I also enjoyed making a new friend. If you are reading this, thank you, Nui!
The lanterns accompanying the view made this feel like true, quintessential Chiang Mai.
We descended the hundreds of steps and left Doi Suthep to return to the city.
When we got back, I went for yet another walk, to visit the weekday Night Bazaar.
Found it!
There were tons of vendors lining the streets - ample opportunities for shopping!
I was a bit hungry, so I got something small from a food stall I found, called Khan Cuisine.
I got the Chapati Avocado, which was essentially a warmed naan with avocado inside. It was the perfect size to satisfy my hunger.
The grand total of the day was over 10 kilometers walked! It was quite late at this point, so I was ready to hit the hay. Plus, I had a very exciting plan for the next day... I was off to an elephant sanctuary to spend the day with ELEPHANTS!!
The next post will be all about my day at Elephant Nature Park. Get excited!!
I hope you enjoyed exploring Chiang Mai with me! More to come soon.
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