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Published: February 7th 2011
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Chaing Mai is a city of 180,000 people in the Northwest part of Thailand about 12 hours train ride north of Bangkok. We took the one hour plane ride with Air Asia instead. I think we are getting lazy.
We decided to go to Chiang Mai since we heard it was a beautiful city and quite different than Bangkok. It has a quaint old section that is walled off and filled with temples. There are about 300 temples in Chiang Mai so you can imagine it has quite a sacred feel to it. One temple we visited was prayer time for the monks who where young boys all with their orange robes on chanting.
We stayed in a Budget hotel called CH Hotel near the night bazaar. It was about 40US a night. That included breakfast. Breakfast consisted of rice, pork, salad, and an assortment of other Thai food. Oh yes, there were some undercooked eggs and white toast as well. The beds were comfortable. The air conditioner was broken so it was leaking water on the floor. But... the price was right. Just so you get an idea, I am figuring our entire trip here in Thailand for 28
Chaing Mai Elephant Park
Mother and baby elephant with founder of Chaing Mai Elephant Nature Park days came to about $2,500 US. Granted, we weren't in high class hotels or eating in fancy restaurants but I feel we experienced more of the real Thailand, especially the bungalow we stayed in in Koh Chang. We also had the luxury of staying with my cousin Robin, her husband Jonathan and son Win for about one week. They were the best hosts ever and I will miss them when we leave for sure.
So our 6 days in Chiang Mai were packed full. We did so much. We went to markets and learned how to bargain. We found a great cheap Indian restaurant at the outdoor market we kept going back to and became friendly with the staff. We got some massages. I have to say massages in Thailand can be quite an experience. There are the fancy resorts with the massages geared to tourists that can cost a lot of money or you can go for a Thai massage with Thai people. I found a place near our hotel that costs 150 Baht for an hour, thats about $5.oo. It is actually quite a social event getting a massage in Thailand. People all talk to each other throughout.
There are massage places everywhere.... I read somewhere "every Thai person is entitled to a good massage" Even at the markets, there are places set up lined with people all getting massages...its the strangest thing.
Another highly recommended thing to do in Chaing Mai is to go to the Elephant nature park just north of the city. This is an unforgettable place. One local woman had a mission to "save the elephants" in Thailand. Elephants are on the endangered list now. Not long ago there were 100,000 elephants here. Now there are 5,ooo. She goes and rescues elephants that have been abused or decommissioned from logging and tourist industries. You can walk right besides the elephants, feed them, bathe them in the river or even get an elephant kiss. Saskia did.... It is a sanctuary for elephants that is unforgettable.
We are now back in Bangkok and we leave tomorrow after our last dentist appointment. Dentistry in Thailand is comparable to the US and a fraction of the price. I figure with my filling, my replaced old silver fillings and my daughters gum surgery I am sure we saved a few thousand dollars. That would pay for the tickets here
alone. So if you need any extensive dental work, buy a ticket to Thailand and you can have a great vacation as well.
Thailand... what can I say. It is an amazing country to visit. If you want to step out of your box (we all have a box we live in) and experience something very different, this is the place to go. We came with no set plans, no reservations, and that was the best idea of all. Come to experience the people, the beaches, the cities, the culture, the religion... the list goes on. One of my family members commented to me before I left, he was not worried about me loosing my passport, he was more worried about someone finding me in a ditch somewhere. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I feel less safe in many American cities including the capital in Albany NY on the street I used to work on. Of course you need to pay attention to your surroundings but I must say I felt very safe here.
Oh yes , one last thought. We ran into very few American tourists here. Tourists from eastern Europe, Germany, Australia, England. Talking to other
tourists, you realize how much vacation time people get in other countries throughout the world. They save up their time so they can go on long trips. Americans? 2 weeks? 3 weeks? I had to resign from my job to go on this adventure. Something is just not quite right here.
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Louise
non-member comment
Thanks for sharing!
Hi, Dianne, Wish I could have been with you-especially at the elephant park. Since I'm getting nowhere with VESID on help for a new van, could I adopt an elephant? Where are you going next? Hello to Saskia. Peace, Louise