Chiang OH Mai

What a breath of fresh air! Seriously though. The air quality was noticeably much better than in Bangkok. We arrived into Chiang Mai at 6am after a 10hr night bus from Bangkok. My first night bus experience wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be! We got a few little snacks, a neck pillow and a blanket which was a pleasant surprise. For me, the hardest part of the night bus experience was trying to get comfy enough to sleep, the chairs hardly reclined and leg room was non-existent. Not an easy task.  Eventually though, I did manage to drift off and when I woke the sun was beginning to peak over the mountain tops and we were close.

We check into the Eurana Hotel for our first night. Yes, that’s right, we finally splurged on our first hotel stay of the trip for a whopping $22 a night. They let us check-in early and we immediately b-lined it straight for the rooftop pool. We swam and lounged by the pool for most of the day, trying to recover from the overnight bus trip. Then, we spent our first evening in Old Town Chiang Mai walking around their famous Sunday night market. Every Sunday night the main roads are shut down and local vendors take to the streets selling handmade trinkets, clothing, jewlery, and (my personal favourite) homemade local food.

Over the course of the evening, I spent about 65Bhat (approx. $3) on food and tried a handful of mouth watering dishes. Sushi, deep-fried banana and vegetarian dumplings were a few of my favs 😋. Mmm I’m salivating just thinking about it! Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures of the street food but I DID remember to snap a pic of an amazing lunch Matt and I had while in Old Town. We went to a local vegetarian restaurant called ‘Taste From Heaven’. It was unreal…

On our second day in Chiang Mai we woke up early and went for a hike. I had heard of a few great hikes around the city and really wanted to do one. We settled on the Monk’s Trail, a moderate 8km hike up Doi Suthep (doi translates to mountain). Within the first few minutes of the hike, both Matt and I were drenched in sweat and breathing heavy. Hiking in the jungle is definitely different from hiking at home which I wasn’t expecting. The trail was quite steep and we gained elevation quickly.

About 4km into the hike we came to the first point of interest, Wat Pha Lat (Wat translates to temple).

A noteworthy point about the hike: As we trekked along, I kept noticing orange pieces of fabric tied to a lot of the trees beside the trail. This sparked my interest because at first I thought they were just trail markers but as we went along, there were just too many of them for that to be the case. I knew they must mean something and it became my mission for the day to find out why. Later I was informed that the Monk’s were the ones tieing them to the trees! Orange bands meant that the trees were off limits so to speak. It’s thought that if a tree has an orange band, it will bring bad luck to whoever dares to cut it down. He then went on to explain that there are few people who would cut down a marked tree because if they did, they would be cursed by evil spirits. As a result, the orange bands have become a tool for forest conservation. I found the whole ritual intriguing and beautiful. Since the hike, I’ve noticed these sacred trees all over the place! Good work Monks 🧡

We nearly made it to the top of the hike when we started running low on water and snacks. Not ideal, so we ended up making the call to turn back around at the 7.5km marker. We didn’t want to run the risk of getting caught without food or water as we were quickly feeling the effects of the heat and the elevation. Overall it took us about 4.5hrs round trip. We also had to make it back to the Eurana Hotel for check-out at noon.

We stayed in a more affordable accommodation for the next 2 nights – the Smile Robotist hostel. After some much needed chilling in our air-conditioned, 6-person dormitory, we decided to mission up Doi Suthep again, but this time by car. We made it to the top in just under 20 minutes. Driving is definitely the more popular option and now I can see why. We explored the top of the Monks trial which is home to Doi Suithep Temple. It was definitely worth a second go around as it had great view of Chiang Mai.

It was neat to explore the temple however one thing that bothered me was how our fellow travellers weren’t abiding by the standard dress code of temples. Temples require knees and shoulders to be covered yet to my dismay, there were thighs and shoulders everywhere!! I found it ignorant on the part of my fellow travellers, especially since there were local vendors everywhere outside of the temple selling sarongs and long pants. I left feeling a little discouraged. The temple really wasn’t asking for alot and as visitors, I strongly feel we should make an effort to be respectful. It’s not hard. Anyhow, I guess the take away is that it’s important to learn about and in turn, respect the local culture of the places we travel. Live and learn…

On our final full day in Old Town Chiang Mai we visited Doi Inthanon National Park which is home to the tallest mountain in Thailand. The park is 2hrs from Chiang Mai but well worth the trek, and the 300Baht per person entrance fee. We picked a sunny and clear day so the views were unreal.

Doi Inthanon is home to a variety of ecosystems, the top being a cloud forest. We stopped quite a bit along the 36km road to the top. 

We also stopped at a waterfall

Our 3 days and 3 nights in Old Town Chiang Mai were absolutely amazing. I know it may be too soon to say but…this has been my favourite city of the trip so far ☺️

Also, Matt and I have been working hard on a collaborative post about our experience volunteering with elephants in rural Chiang Mai. Check back soon for more adventures!

-K🌙