Advertisement
Published: February 12th 2015
Chiang Mai was absolutely delightful, slightly cooler than the south of Thailand, and a real charming Thai city. As we emerged from the airport to see more than a hundred newly arrived tourists waiting for the official metred taxis, we deviated off to the right to flag down a red songthaew (a pick up with two bench seats), negotiated a 100 Baht fare and were soon at our hotel. Not something we would have been brave enough to do a few months ago!
The old city of Chiang Mai is about one mile square and bordered by a wide moat which dates from 1296. There are ancient remains of the old walls in all four corners and large gates in the centre of each side of the square. The traffic runs clockwise around the outside of the moat and there are intermittent points where roads enter or exit the old city itself. This harmonious design enabled us to very quickly get our bearings and have a fairly accurate idea of where we were, even when we were hurtling through the backstreets on a tuk-tuk!
Exploring the streets of Chiang Mai was incredible, the elaborate and ornate architecture of the
The old city moat
Where we walked along under the trees.Buddhist temples or 'Wats' is everywhere. By day, calm and tranquil places for quiet reflection, at night some come alive with the bustle of noisy market stalls. A completely different 'must do' here is Art in Pardise; an interactive exhibit where we had great fun for an hour or so creating illusions with the art work. Also while we here the Chiang Mai Flower Festival was being held; we wandered across the opening ceremony complete with exotic Thai dancers and fireworks on our second evening and later in the weekend took time to admire the beautifully decorated floral floats. Yet another unexpected delight of this inviting city.
Apart from one day out of the city with elephants (more on that to come from Abby) we very happily spent our time here wandering along the canals and backstreets, gazing at yet another beautiful temple or jumping in and out of tuk-tuks. Come here if you can!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.137s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 9; qc: 51; dbt: 0.0524s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Mary Barlow
non-member comment
Fab picture of the girls
Perhaps a new business venture for your guys with "Art in Crediton" !