CHIANG MAI pt1

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Tuesday 22nd February

Chiang Mai is the largest and most culturally significant city in northern Thailand with a population of nearly 150,000. It is located 435 miles north of Bangkok, among the highest mountains in the country. As we flew into the airport we could see the mountainous region in all its glory.
We negotiated a taxi to take us into town and we are quickly reminded of the Thai way of things as its not long before we're wrestling with hundreds of mopeds for space on the roads. The center of old Chang Mai has a ring road that encompasses the town center and its roughly about 8m around the road. We cut through the traffic and dived down a side alley barely wide enough for our taxi.
We eventually arrive at the All in One Hostel which is a French owned hostel and its cheap and cheerful so we pay an extra pound a night to have a deluxe room which means we have aircon! Not much to do for the rest of the afternoon apart from get our bearings and unpack.
We eat out at a local bar for dinner and cant wait to get some decent grub down us as we were hard pushed for a decent meal in China the last couple of weeks. The lane where our hostel is has many bars and restaurants along it and its quite nice as theres no traffic bar the odd slow moped and the sounds and smells reminded us of why we like Thailand so much

[h3Wednesday 23rd February
We decided to hired a bike and head for the hills. Theres a place signposted along the way call the Phuping palace, yes its the pooping palace if thats the way you say it. 😊 We're just going to aim for Phuping and see where it takes us.
Once the helmets are on and bike checked over we are off and scooting along the busy streets around Chang Mai. The roads are quite easy to negotiate among the hundreds of mopeds and you only have to be switched on a traffic lights as red and green are easily mistaken in Thailand. Its not long before we have left town and heading uphill on some very windy roads with the sun beating down on our backs.
We stopped briefly at a waterfall where we took the short walk past food stalls selling insects such as Crickets, crabs and even deep fried frogs if you fancied it. We passed up on the offer and settled for a safe can of pop. We got to the waterfall which was hardly flowing as it should due to the drought so we jumped back on the bike and headed towards the summit of the mountain via the steep winding road.

We stopped by a viewpoint where we we took some more fluids on and admired the lovely views of Chiang Mai city while a street busker played on his guitar beside us.
Another twenty minutes of sunny motorcycling we find ourselves at the Phuping Palace. Bhubing Palace is a Royal Residence built in 1961 to accommodate the royal family during state visits to the north of the country. The gardens and pathways are nice here and we enjoyed the ten minute walk through the estate and although theres not much to see we were just glad to be off the bike for a short while. We had almost reached the top of the mountain and are now looking forward to the 20km scoot downhill.

As we arrived back in the city through the West Gate we stopped at the beautiful Wot Mok Molee temple. It was built around the 15th Century and has some great statues of dragons adjourning the door along with elephant and Bhudda statues located within the grounds.
There are 300 temples in Chiang Mai and judging by the map we have we can pass a lot of them by and gaze at them from the bike while doing so.
We stopped Wat Chiang Man where we bought a basket of little birds and set them free into the trees. We're not sure why but it seemed a good idea at the time. The two temples here are decorated with gold dragons and emeralds are are very pretty with the gold dragons and shrines within the walls.
We visited a few more temples along the way and we are in dire need of some inspiration as we've seen a lot of the same style of temples so we not disappointed when we arrived at Wat Chedi Luang.

Wat Chedi Luang is a Buddhist temple in the historic center of Chiang Mai. The current temple grounds were originally made up of three temples and construction of the temple began in the 14th century. It took until mid-15th century to be finished and was then 82 m high and had a base diameter of 54 m. In 1545, the upper 30 m of the structure collapsed after an earthquake, and shortly thereafter, in 1551.
The temple has large Elephant statues at the corners an some are still intact. Its plain to see that the reconstruction has been done recently but it does the place no harm as its still a very impressive structure.
Monks of all ages are walking around within the grounds here as nearby is the Mahamakut Buddhist University and many of the younger monks live within the walls of this temple. Its quite funny as we walk past some of the accommodations where the monks live as there's Manchester United stickers and posters on the doors and walls inside.
There's a few chapels by the main Wat Chedi Luang Temple along with an impressive Prayer hall and City Pillar so we spent a fair bit of time here just walking around before we headed off out into the streets

Later on in the evening we took the moped and went searching for the Night Bazaar and its not long before we are lost and aimlessly scooting about trying to find the markets . Traffic is as usual all about chaos and disorder so its best to just keep the speed down and follow the person in front without touching wheels, if you can!
Chiang Mai Night Bazaar should be located in the heart of the city, on the Chan Klan road, between Tha Pae and Sri Donchai roads and we did eventually find it. It is famous for its handicrafts and portrait paintings. There are also jewelry, toys, clothing and high tech items such as, CDs and DVDs. The market is one of the biggest tourist attractions in Chiang Mai and it become obvious as we got closer and closer.

We someone managed to drive down a one way street the wrong way and park in a space 4 inches wide outside a hotel before tying up the helmets and setting off in the general direction of the stalls. Job done!
We walked the markets many times as its got an electric atmosphere as people barter for gifts and trinkets. Competition is fierce which helps drive the prices down so we haggled for a few things and spent a small fortune. Its worth visiting the markets for the evening as theres plenty of eating places and bars in and around the area.
We spent the rest of the evening biking it around the city aimlessly scooting about until we decide to call it a night and head home.

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Comments

[Fred]

The French eat frogs don't they?
It's been a few days since your last update so nice to have this one. Glad that Japan was not on your list our hearts go out to them, how many miles do you estimate that you have travelled I tried to work it out roughly but gave it up as impossible. Chiang Mai looks lovely and would tempt me back as well as the tailoring! Good photos, try a few close ups such such great bone structures and those smiles. We will be off in a few weeks

[leonandjill]

hi
I dont think i could even try to calculate the mileage yet Fred. It will be something ill do when i get home to the warmth of home and with a decent cup of tea in my hand... We had penciled in Japan for around mid february and changed our minds due to costs. chang mai pt two coming up in a few hours.x