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Published: February 26th 2007
Chiang Mai is Thailand's second largest city and is situated in the north. It has more than 300 temples, the oldest of which is Wat Chiang Man, which was raised in 1296, the same year as the city was founded. Incidentally, we lived just a stone's throw from this temple at the SK Guesthouse. It has near hotel standard rooms and a pool for the price of a guesthouse, and as such, we can recommend it. However, keep in mind that the excellent servicemindedness we received upon our arrival quickly vanished when the guesthouse realised we had book our tours from another agency instead of booking through them. According to the ever-helpful Lonely Planet, there seems to be a consensus in Chiang Mai that bookings should be made through the guesthouse where you stay. In fact, if you do
not book a tour, the guesthouse may not allow you to stay more than a couple of days!
Arriving from Bangkok, Chiang Mai provides a much more laidback atmosphere and we immediately felt at home with the medieval-style houses of the old city and the pleasantly cool temperature due to the higher altitude. The old city is a centre square bounded
by moats that were built to protect the city against attacks from Burma during the 14th and 15th centuries.
Day 1-2: Elvis impersonation Arriving in the afternoon, we only got a quick impression of the old city before going out for dinner at the Brasserie, which is beautifully located next to the river. The food was ok, but the real reason to visit the Brasserie is to listen the famous Thai guitarist, Khun Took, play! Although the dinner band was pretty good too, playing relaxed coversongs suitable for dining, we were completely blown away by the virtuosity displayed by Took! He started off by himself playing the acoustic guitar and some country tunes, but was then accompanied by the drummer, keyboardist and rhythm guitar for some amazing tunes. It turned out to become a late night, as we could not get enough of Took's music and leave. When the band finally stopped, we were so excited we immediately "ordered" a tuk-tuk driver to take us to another place for more fun. It turned out the only thing open was a karaoke bar. Not exactly the thing for us (I have never tried karaoke), we decided to sit down for
"just one drink." As you probably have guessed by now, we stayed for many hours singing duets of the all-time classic
California Dreamin', Elvis'
Blue Suede Shoes,
Jailhouse Rock, and
Hound Dog, as well as the perhaps somewhat less critically acknowledged
(Hit Me Baby) One More Time by Britney Spears. The audience seemed to appreciate our Presley performances, whereas Britney was less of a success. A happy night indeed, although it forced us to sleep away most of the next day.
We started our true Chiang Mai experience by spending a relaxed day just walking around in the old city and enjoying the ambiance; eating indeterminable exotic local food (I think we decided it was a cross between guinea pig, chicken, and street dog) and enjoying the canals and temples. At night we had an early one, as we were going on a trek the next day.
Day 3: Trekking Chiang Mai is also a starting point for hilltribe trekking, whitewater rafting, rock climbing, and lots of other wilderness activities. On Day 3, we went in a group of six on a day tour. We started off by a visit to an orchid farm, which also included a
small butterfly garden. It was a smooth start, but of course, not highest on our list of priorities.
Our next activity was elephant riding. We rode elephants for about an hour through a hilltribe village area until we reached a river. From here, we walked on by foot to a lovely waterfall. Unfortunately, our guide was too unclear about the fact that we needed bring our bag with swim shorts on this short hike, so we had to abstain from a dip while the others enjoyed the cool water.
Upon our return to the river, we had a thai noodle lunch before we went whitewater rafting. This was a fun experience, although it is probably better to do this during or just after rainy season, as the water level was very low. This meant that the ride was very calm (not much whitewater!) and also we often got stuck on rocks that popped out of the water. The experience thus is more of an option for families or elderly who might want to avoid the most thrillseeking experiences.
We continued the tour by a bamboo raft trip floating further down the river in very calm waters. This
was a nice way to relax after exhausting ourselves on paddling hard before to avoid getting stuck on rocks.
Finally, we went to an Akha hilltribe village. Some of the older women were wearing their traditional colourful costume (mostly blue with some red, yellow and green). Some in our group were surprised by the low standards of houses, or huts, rather, kids without shoes, and the like.
Our stop was just a brief one, where we quickly walked through the village and then were asked to buy some of their crafts/souvenirs. For a true hilltribe experience though, I would recommend doing a two-night trek where you stay the nights in villages, and get to see their way of life up close. I did just such a trip myself in the Chiang Mai Province a couple of years ago, and can highly recommend it.
At night, we once again went to the Brasserie to experience Took's guitar playing. And once again, we were stunned. We stayed through the entire show, after which Took and his friends joined us for some tequilas and a chat. Took revealed he is in the making of a record and also creating a website
Wat Chiang Man
The Chiang Man temple was built at the same time as the city of Chiang Mai was formed: 1296. for himself. It was a splendid night with splendid people!
Day 4: Exploring Chiang Mai in one day Two days earlier, we visited
Northern Sun Travel to arrange for the Day 3 trek as well as ongoing air tickets. At their office, we met an amazing woman, Sai, who helped us sort out everything in an extraordinarily effective way! I have never had such great service in a travel agency --- thinking
for us, she sorted out our tickets to Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam with a woman's talent for multitasking, as she at one stage was speaking in two phones, examining her computer, and talking to us, all at the same time. We were so impressed that we asked her the next day to be our personal guide for a Chiang Mai day tour. Luckily for us, she accepted!
Joining in on the tour was also Timmy, who is about to complete a tourism degree in Chiang Mai. He was our designated driver and guide trainee. Well seated inside Sai's airconditioned car, all four of us drove out of the city with the first destination being a monkey show.
The monkey show was quite funny. Various monkeys were presented
to the audience, performing different kinds of tricks. They all greeted us by the usual Thai gesture of putting the hands together. One monkey rode a bike around in circles, another monkey threw basketballs into a basket, yet another one were able to memorise 10 numberplates, and yet another one was able to dive to the bottom of a pool to pick up one of the audience's waterproof wristwatch! The show was kept alive by a hilarious ladyboy who were toastmastering. If you are entertained by watching monkeys perform humanlike behaviour, you should be entertained.
We followed up by going to a snake show. This is one of the best shows in any genre that I have attended. The performers played with two king cobras simultaneously in a snake pit only a metre away from the audience. They displayed incredible control of the snakes. Perhaps most impressive was the emptying of venom to prove the insanity of their performance. The show included a great deal of interactivity with the audience, which was probably the number one factor to its success. Luckily, I was videotaping the show, so the performers avoided doing their tricks on me. Remi, however, was not
nearly so lucky. Particularly funny, except for Remi, was when a performer were playing with the snake just in front of him, seated a metre away. Everybody had their eyes fixed on the snake and its head swaying back and forth towards the performer. The only thing to be heard was the background music theme of
Final Countdown... Suddenly the toastmaster cranked up the music to a near painful level while the snake performer literally threw the king cobra towards Remi! He, in turn, literally jumped from his seat towards the seat behind him. However, with a flick of his arm, the snake performer stopped the snake midair and jerked it back to the snake pit! The performers then proceeded to grab Remi's feet and, while trying to hold him still, moved the snake towards him at the end of a rod. A truly horrific movement and I suppose the snake performers knew what they were doing, however, I doubt that this would pass the Norwegian Snake Performance Council's guidelines! On the other hand, I suspect that the snake may not have been venomous, as we only saw them squeeze venom out of a single snake. Imagine the catastrophic result
if a snake manages to bite a member of the audience!
To follow up and top the show, the toastmaster later presented the 'jumping snakes' with lots of music and excitement. Two snake performers intensely tried to get some snakes out of their snakes' box, trying to throw them out of the box and into the snake pit, however, each time, the snake fell off the rod and back into the box. Everybody was paying intense attention when suddenly a snake came flying out of the box and in the course of a perfect parabola landed on --- guess who? --- Remi! The audience gasped and Remi frantically tried to get the 'snake' off himself, when a second later, we all realised the snake performers had just thrown a rope! How they got us! It was nothing less then an amazing performance.
Sweaty and with high pulses, we next went to a shooting range. Being very pricey, we settled on 30 shots with a 0.45 Magnum and 30 shots with a 0.38 revolver. I have not shot a pistol since firing the Glock 9 mm used in the Norwegian military and it is not something I particularly fancy,
Butterfly
In the orchid farm there was also a butterfly garden. although I had a certain talent for it back then, some 8-9 years ago. I started of by an exact bulls eye with the revolver, which was very easy to fire. The 0.45 was a lot harder, with much more recoil and a trigger that had to be squeezed all the way in before firing the gun. All in all, it was not that big an experience, but I imagine both Sai and Timmy, who had never fired guns before, and would never been able to pay the price at the shooting range, thought it was fun. We took some great photos though!
Later, we drove to a lake in the national park. There is a Buddha statue there, as well as lots of huts with small restaurants. On the water, there are huts where we sat on the floor, Thai style, and had a fantastic lunch meal for a ridiculously low price. It was a great moment, all four of enjoying traditional Thai food, looking onto the calm lake and beautiful surroundings.
We next drove to Doi Suthep, one of northern Thailand's most sacred temples. Situated on a panoramic hilltop, it provides a great view over Chiang
Mai and is well worth a visit just for this reason. But the temple itself is also magnificent, with the usual overusage of gold and ornaments.
To top off, we went to the most fancy massage place in Chiang Mai and nearly bankrupted ourselves, but it was worth it. We went for the two-hour Thai aromatherapy oil massage and can highly recommend it. I wonder where these small human beings get their energy to squeeze tissue for such a long time!
Our day was a very memorable one, not only because we did so many fun things, but also because of our great company. We felt like four friends on a trip. Sai and Timmy are both great persons, we highly recommend paying them a visit at
Northern Sun Travel next time you are in Chiang Mai!
A Thai night of friendliness When we were drinking tequila with Took at the Brasserie, two of his friends, Jenny and Amy, invited us to what we thought was a family dinner with Amy's uncle. The next day, they picked us up at our guest house and started driving out of the side. The light posts became fewer and fewer, and we
nervously started joking in the backseat that maybe they were taking us somewhere to slash our throats and rob us. Luckily, that was not what happened! After about 30 minutes, we arrived at a socalled homestay, run by a very friendly family. It turned out that the owner was a friend of Amy's uncle and it was not a family dinner, just a dinner for the two of us! Yes, the two of us, because Amy, Jenny, the wife of the owner and their daughters all stayed in the kitchen cooking! We insisted on them joining us, but this must be related to Thai customs or something, because they continued serving the most delicious course after the other, while not joining in until the final meal. It somewhat reminded me of my mother making pancakes to her husband and five hungry sons --- only when we were full would she sit down! Afterwards, however, with had a great time. We drank some tequila and socialised with one of the staff at the homestay, a hilltribe man with the name of Lame. He even managed to talk Remi into buying a kind of tribal sleeveless shirt for 300 baht! The man
was a walking smile for the rest of the night! Later, the owner made a kind of papermade warm-air balloon. To the bottom end, he fixated some candle lights and a string of firecrackers. We then proceeded to let the warm air from the candles lift the balloon away and some 50 metres up, the first crackers started to pop. It was a magnificient sight, being in the middle of nowhere, and watch the balloon slowly drift way.
After this, Jenny, Amy and the owner's two daughters proceeded to make
kratongs. Banana leaves were cut and shaped and placed on circular slices of banana wood to form something like a floating wedding-cake. In the middle, they lit candle lights and incense, and Remi and I then had to put the kratongs on a little pond while repeating some Thai phrases the girls spoke. This would give us good luck and joy, and it must have worked immediately, because we were filled by joy and touched by this great display of friendliness! A wonderful night indeed, that we will always remember.
Jenny is an artist in Chiang Mai, producing paintings, sketches and other pieces of art. Her artwork can
Robin and Remi
We were happily riding the elephants. be found in the Chiang Mai Art Gallery, where Amy works as an organiser and consultant. Unfortunately, we never got around to visit the gallery, however, if we are ever in Chiang Mai again, we will definitely drop in and buy a few things to bring back home.
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