Chiang Mai – Matt

Since Kylie posted such a fantastic recap of our time in Chiang Mai, I’ll be posting a condensed version with some of my photos.

We arrived zombie-eyed from our night bus in Chiang Mai early in the morning. We grouped together with a band of other backpackers from the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, and England, and shared a taxi into the old town part of Chiang Mai where all the hostels are located.

We got a sweet deal on Expedia for a hotel with a pool, so we didn’t do much on the first day except swim and chill by the pool. We relaxed, blogged, and searched what to do! Luckily we had arrived on a Sunday and were able to catch the Sunday Night Market, our favourite market yet! So many different food options for a great price. I stuffed myself for under 100 baht (less than $5).

The next day, we did a trip to Doi Suthep, where we did the Monks Hike and received some gorgeous views of Chiang Mai. We continued on to the second part of the hike (through a construction area! Shhhh)… and it was gruelling! Both of us were drenched in sweat and sucking for air. We finished the hike, even though the end was not the summit. We hiked back down and made it back to the hotel in time for a swim and to check out. We ate a delicious lunch at ‘Taste from Heaven’ a vegetarian and vegan restaurant. I had Khao Soi, a classic Thai dish of noodles in a coconut curry with crispy fried noodles on top. So good!!!

We then went back up to Doi Suthep to the summit, where there was a gorgeous temple and even better views of Chiang Mai. Here are a bunch of photos of the temple.

Next day, we sought out Doi Inthanon, the highest peak in Thailand. We eventually made it to the top, and hiked a small nature trail at the summit. We were in a cloud forest, a very unique ecosystem, which made for some cool insect finds, which will be posted in a separate post.

There was a really beautiful temple up top, but we decided not to go in because 1. We already paid a steep entrance fee of 300 baht each, and 2. We were short for time since it took us so long to get there!!! So we admired from a far, but on the way down we stopped at the second largest waterfall in Chiang Mai, Wachirithran Falls. Stunning views!

We missed the biggest waterfall in Chiang Mai, Mae Kon (wrong) falls, but little did we know was that we would be able to experience it on our journey to the elephant sanctuary the next day. 

Later that night, I ate a meal to remember. I ordered the seafood dish, and was very surprised to receive an almost entirely intact squid in the bowl. Although I made a huge mess trying to eat it, it was super tasty.

That’s it for my recap of Chiang Mai. Our elephant sanctuary post will be up soon!

– M