Chiang Mai's many temples

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Sat at the bus station in Sukhothai, we breathed a sigh of relief as the rickety old bus pulled away without us on board. We had paid extra for the first class option with air conditioning and a toilet. When it eventually arrived 20 minutes late, we were horrified to discover the toilet was out of order and the air conditioning was set to arctic levels! The seven hour journey to Chiang Mai wasn't so bad though as there were several comfort stops along the way. On arrival we were herded into small red cattle trucks, one of which took us close to our hotel.

The Rita Hotel turned out to be a great place to stay if you excuse the drunken backpackers who returned at 2.30am with loud music blaring out. They were asked to leave the next morning. Sadly we had only booked in for two nights and they were fully booked beyond that so we had to change. We moved out of the old town to Tadkham Village which was wonderful. We could easily have stayed there longer but five nights was enough in one city on this trip.

So, what did we do in Chiang Mai? Well, on the first day we walked around the old city, demarked by moats and ancient walls on all four sides. There are innumerable temples to explore and we certainty visited a fair few of them. The amount of gold on display inside was a little overwhelming at times, especially when you see such poverty around. After a while one temple begins to look like another and then, no matter how spectacular the next statue of Buddha or an elephant is, it's time to call it a day.

The next morning we changed hotels then took a tuk tuk to Chiang Mai University. You can pay a small fee to go in but that's not why we were there. No, we were there to catch a red cattle truck up the nearby mountain to visit another temple! The truck wound it's way slowly up the serpentine road and dropped us off in the middle of mayhem - the approach to Wat Doi Suthep. 360 steep stairs lead to the top, or you can pay extra like we did and queue to take the lift! At the top the only way to describe it was tranquility denied. Don't go there expecting a peaceful hilltop temple or you'll be bitterly disappointed. Visually the whole thing was stunning and had the weather been better, the views back over the city and the airport would have been equally impressive. Battling with the crowds we did our best to see the whole temple but it was a very frustrating experience. Even some of the monks began to look a little agitated. Eventually it was time to go back down. This time we took the crowded stairs and were met at the bottom by a handful of adorable little girls in traditional hill tribe costumes whose only goal was to get a few baht from tourists wanting photos. Another cattle truck took us back to town.

On another day we did a trip on the River Mae Ping (which didn't pong too much!) with Scorpion Tailed River Cruise. There we were entertained by our guide who was as mad as a hatter. He told us all about the history of the river helped by a series of amazing vintage photos. It seems amazing today that it used to take weeks to travel down to Bangkok. At the northern end of the trip we stopped for a while at his family's small garden farm. There all manner of plants are grown using a novel system of recycling plastic bottles. Of particular note was the orchid which smells of poo, a disgusting change from the normal sweet aromas emanating from everything else we were shown. After a delicious snack of sweet sticky rice with mango, we headed back to the boat where we were treated to an enthusiastic if not very accurate Elvis impression before disembarking.

Being in Chiang Mai at the weekend means you can experience the overcrowded Walking Market at night. Again they are visually stunning but the crowds mean it is very difficult to browse which surely cuts down on the amount of goods sold. It's a shame as some of the handicrafts are amazing. It's not just the sights though - the smells are truly wonderful coming from the huge variety of food stalls. There were no crispy fried crickets here, but spring rolls, pork ribs and succulent local sausages to snack on. Noodles and rice were easy to find too, but not as easy to eat as you squeeze through the crowded streets.

Our last day was something of a domestic day. Washing had to be collected, we went to Tesco (!) and we got our hair cut. It was only £2 each and she certainty didn't rush. Indeed it would have been quicker to trim each hair individually using nail clippers!!

We also took the chance to meet up with some fellow bloggers. Aylsha and Jarred run www.nomadasaurus.com which we have been avidly reading for some time now. They are taking some time out in Chiang Mai and were happy to meet us. We had some fabulous pumpkin curry in their favourite vegetarian restaurant, Taste From Heaven.

No matter where we ate in the city the food was good, but we're only going to highlight two places. The traditional khao soi curry with noodles, both fried and boiled, blew us away in French colonial style in Bon Ca Va. The iced mochas were unbelievable in Woo cafe, and although we didn't eat there, every dish we saw served was a true work of art.

There's so much to see and do in and around Chiang Mai, but the volume of travellers in the city left us keen to move on, so on we went to Chiang Rai.

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[D MJ Binkley]

Thailand
Love this photo