EXPLORING CHIANG MAI – SAME SAME, BUT DIFFERENT

DAY 1 – HEADING TO CHIANG MAI FROM SUKHOTHAI

I figured that getting to Chiang Mai would be as simple as heading to the bus station and purchasing a ticket for the next bus. It had seemed to work ok for me so far.

Fortunately, over breakfast, a couple of guys who were heading that way too said they’d thought the same but had spoken to the hostel reception and had to book a bus in advance as everything was really busy and totally booked up.

I promptly spoke to the guys at the hostel and they called up and managed to book me onto the next bus that was available. This wasn’t until 6 pm though, so I had some time to kill.

I checked out of the hostel and hung out in Sukhothai for another few hours, grabbed some late lunch and then headed to grab a tuk tuk to take me to the bus station.

The bus cost 237 Bhat and was scheduled to take around 6 hours to get up to Chiang Mai. Unfortunately the bus was a little delayed, but only around 30 mins and then I was on my way!

I got chatting to another traveller on the bus and we shared our stories of travelling so far, as we headed on the long journey. I managed to get a bit of sleep on the way, but as we got closer to Chiang Mai, the roads seemed to get more and more bumpy, up to the point that it felt about as comfortable as I imagine taking off in a space shuttle would feel.

We arrived in Chiang Mai around 12.30 am and shared a tuk tuk to take us to our respective hostels.

I was staying at a place called ‘Haus hostel’ for 2 nights. I checked in and creeped into bed in my shared dorm room, trying hard not to wake up the other guests.

I had a top bunk. It’s always a lottery, but a bottom bunk always feels like a small victory.

 

DAY 2 – THAI COOKING

I took a walk around Chiang Mai the next morning, to try and get a feel for the place.

First impressions were instantly that this was a really vibrant city with a much more relaxed vibe to Bangkok, but offering so much. There was an interesting fusion of old and new, with many Western and modern influences, but yet with traditional Thai temples dotted around the town.

There were still remains of some of the walls of old town and this was sectioned off into a perfect square mile in the centre of town.

 

After a couple of hours of walking around the town, I sat down in a cafe to grab a bit of lunch and got in touch with a guy I’d met previously in Bangkok, who was in town.

I met up with him shortly after and he mentioned about going to do a Thai cooking course that night. This led to another dice roll – see here!

Anyway, off we went, with 4 of us squeezing into this:

 

The course itself lasted around 4 hours and we learned to make some incredible authentic dishes such as Papaya salad, vegetable spring rolls, curries, pad thai, mango sticky rice.

Here’s some of my work. I rule.

 

 

I’d certainly recommend the course. Great tuition. Great fun. Awesome food and all for 900 Bhat. If you’re in town, make sure you check it out!

 

DAY3 – NIGHT MARKET & KARAOKE

After a couple of nights at Haus hostel I decided to check out and move to another hostel. I wasn’t done with Chiang Mai, so I booked myself a further 3 nights at a place called D-well hostel.

I packed up my things and made my way over to D-well. This was a fantastic hostel. Great communal area. Outside terrace. Nice bathrooms and bedrooms. Also, the staff were some of the most friendly and helpful that I’d met.

And the best part? Bottom bunk! Winning.

The worst part? There was a weird girl who seemed to stay in her bed all the time and kept the remote control for the air conditioning in there with her. Bizarre.

After spending a little time at the hostel, I went for some lunch and to see the main temple in the centre of the town, Wat Chedi Luang Worawihan:

Some friends were heading to visit the Saturday night market on Wua Lai Road, so after leaving the temple I decided to meet up with them.

This place was crazy!!

This market went on for what seemed like miles and was rammed all the way down. As I walked through I noticed that I was surrounded by people from so many different races, heard so many different languages being spoken at once and smelt so many aromas from street food of different origins.

We paused to try some of the street food, which was incredible and being so cheap we moved from stall to stall sampling many different cuisines.

Aside from the food, there was such a variety of different wares on offer, all handcrafted and so detailed:

And… there was this dude:

 

As we were nearing the end of the night market, I heard from some friends that I’d made in Sukhothai who were in town and heading to a place called Fat Elvis’ for drinks and karaoke.

We headed there and absolutely smashed it:

 

 

DAY 4 – DOWNTIME

Not much to report!

Feeling a little worse for wear on day 4, with a croaky voice from both the karaoke and a sore throat that had been affecting me for a couple of days, a cough and a hangover, I decided to have a fairly chilled out day.

I relaxed in a cafe for the afternoon and headed to see some of my friends I’d met in Sukhothai at their hostel in the evening.

 

DAY 5 – MUAY THAI!

Waking up feeling a little fresher, but still with a sore throat and a cough, I decided to try going for a run to clear the lungs a little.

A friend and I ran the perimeter of the old town. This worked out to be a 6.5km circuit and involved; dodging scooters, jumping kerbs, veering around street vendors and swerving around many tourists.

Quite intense, but fortunately, no dog chases this time!

In the afternoon I grabbed some lunch and wandering around the back alleys of Chiang Mai, I found this awesome street art:

In the evening I met up with my friend I’d met in Bangkok who’d just arrived in town and we, and three others he was with, agreed to go and see some Muay Thai.

We headed to the night market for a bite to eat and then jumped in a cab to take us to the Chiang Mai Boxing Stadium.

There were three different options for tickets when we got here:

1. Sit in the stands – 600 Bhat
2. Sit ringside – 1,000 Bhat, including a drink
3. Sit in a VIP section of the stands – 1,500 Bhat and unlimited drinks

If you ever go – and I recommend you do – don’t go for the VIP package. You sit further away than the ringside seats and don’t get a much better view than those with a 600 Bhat ticket. Also, there’s no way you’d get your money’s worth on the unlimited drinks. The only options are water (10 Bhat), coke (20 Bhat) and beer (50 Bhat). Unless you’re feeling particularly thirsty and think you can sink 15 beers or so.

We settled on ringside tickets and it was ace!

 

 

 

We saw 7 fights, the weirdest of which was a match with 2 kids who couldn’t have been more than 9 years old – and it was vicious!

I also got in the ring. Check out that wife-beater top!

 

DAY 6 – CHECKOUT

Having spent 5 days in Chiang Mai I decided to move on. There was definitely more to see in this town though and I know I’ll be back soon.

An incredible city and by far my favourite place in Thailand so far.

Time to head up to Pai!