We leave the South of Thailand to go to the North, in the city of Chiang Mai. Once again we choose to fly there from Bangkok, we have to say, the airfares in Thailand are really cheap.
Initially we wanted to do several stops on the way between Bangkok and Chiang Mai and travel by bus or by train. But Verdier only has another 5 days vacation left so we decide to go directly to Chiang Mai and skip the middle part of the country.
Chiang Mai is the capital of the North of Thailand and is very different than the crazy and agitated Bangkok. People come here to visit the many temples, walk through the night markets, go for a day or two in the nearby mountains, taste the amazing cuisine or simply wander around the residential streets reminiscent of a country side village.
We arrive in Chiang Mai late afternoon after a one hour flight from Bangkok. As soon as we get off the plane we notice the difference in temperature with Bangkok. It is a lot less hot and humid here, and boy does it feel great. Oh and we can also see the color of the sky, something that was really difficult these last few days in Bangkok (I am sure you heard about the crazy pollution peak in the city and the artificial rain they are using).
To get to the historical center, where we plan on finding a hostel, we have to take a cab from the airport. And it seems that the driver doesn’t understand at all where we are going, so Matt ends up showing her the route using our GPS. Pretty fun when you think that it is our very first time in the city and this is supposed to be her job… From the start we notice these cute narrow little streets, by the way we almost ran over a few motorbikes on the way…
After dropping off our bags, in a cute and very cheap little hostel, we decide to go walk around the city center, and get lost wandering along these little streets. The atmosphere of the city is so calm, it feels very relaxing, especially compared to Bangkok.
We immediately notice that this part of town is dominated by the many temples, with monks, dressed in orange, walking along the streets. This gives the city more a country side aspect, than one of a modern city.
There are several hotels and restaurants but it doesn’t take away the charm of the city. We stop for dinner in a small street restaurant near the Somphet market where we taste for the first time a regional specialty called Mango Sticky Rice. This typical dessert is made from sticky rice, fresh mango and coconut milk.
Discovering the Chiang Mai temples
The next day we start visiting the temples inside the historical center. There are about 50 temples inside the city center, and around 300 in the entire city. We will of course not visit every single temple, so we chose 3 main ones.
But we couldn’t go out and visit on an empty stomach, so we stop by a small bakery that had absolutely amazing pastries. We won’t lie, it feels good to have some Western food for breakfast…
But back to the temples…
The first one, Wat Chiang Man, is the oldest of Chiang Mai, and was built at the end of the 13th century.
Very few tourists here, and the entrance is free.
The second, Wat Phra Singh, is the most revered temple of the city.
This temple is dominated by a huge sanctuary, decorated by a beautiful mosaic. It is also home to many monastic symbols.
This one is a lot more touristic than Wat Chiang Man, here the Chinese tourists run all over the place with their selfie sticks.
Finally the last one, Wat Chedi Luang, with it’s pyramidal brick construction called a Chedi. Typical Buddhism construction made of 5 levels that represent important concepts of the religion.
This one is very different than the other ones, and we really liked it.
And because visiting temples is pretty tiresome, we decide to go try a typical Thai massage.
We get our first Thai massage at Chiang Mai’s women prison. Indeed, here, prisoners that have less than 6 months left on their sentence are able to give massages under the discreet surveillance of a few prison guards. We chose to come here because this helps the women, that were sentenced because of minor felonies, to learn the art of Thai massage, and earn a little money to help their reinsertion once out of prison. Also once out of prison they will be able to apply to the many massage centers of the city, the training they get in prison is apparently very intensive and very well regarded by employers in Chiang Mai.
Once we change in our cotton overalls, the massage can start. Off we go for a massage of the entire body in a little under one hour. The Thai massages are apparently known to use a very refined technique for the best results.
We had a great time, the massage completely relaxed us. Once done, we get offered a small cup of tea to show respect, but also to revive the body’s blood flow.
We took advantage of being there to grab lunch at the restaurant next door, also run by the prisoners. Once again the food was delicious.
We will spend the rest of the afternoon wandering around the little streets of the city center.
Before going to the night market located by the canal. All the food smells incredible and looks absolutely delicious. We stop at many different stands to try different types of food.
It’s hard not to stop at every single stand. Thai cuisine is an awesome discovery. Very rich and diversified, every meal is a great culinary adventure.
Kantoke dinner and traditional dances
The next day, while Verdier went to visit an elephant sanctuary, we decide to get some rest and work on the itinerary for our next few days in Thailand.
That evening we went to a Kantoke dinner. The Kantoke is a wooden tray where we serve several regional specialties : Thai curry, spicy salad, accompanied by sticky rice of course.
Originally people sit around a Kantoke only on special occasions like weddings, births… At the Old Chiang Mai cultural center it is now possible to eat around a Kantoke while enjoying a show of traditional Thai dances.
This is as touristy as things get, but we had a great time. The dinner was just delicious, shout-out to the amazing tasting curry. And the dances where slow but beautiful.
The different costumes were very pretty.
Thai cooking class
For Verdier’s last full day in Chiang Mai we took a Thai cooking class. And we had an amazing time.
We booked with Tom Yum Thai Cooking School, owned and operated by a Thai couple. We were 7 in total for the class.
The class starts in a local market where we buy the ingredients we will need for cooking today. Oun, our instructor, explains and shows us a lot of things. He talks about the different types of noodles that are used, and also shows us and makes us smell plenty of different veggies and herbs that are completely unknown to us. This visit is super interesting and we learn a lot about the different ingredients used in Thai cuisine.
We then leave the market and go to Oun’s house, where the cooking will happen.
Today, everybody will cook 4 different dishes that we will of course taste when done! We try to choose different dishes so we can taste different things. Maider chooses to cook a Pad Thai, a coconut with mushroom and chicken soup, spring rolls and a green curry. Verdier chooses to start with a spicy chicken with cashew nuts and then, like Maider, will cook a coconut with mushroom and chicken soup, spring rolls and a green curry. Finally Matt will start with a Pad See Ew (large noodles with green veggies), then a spicy shrimp soup, a spicy cucumber salad and finally a Khao Soi curry.
After a quick intro in his living room, Oun invites us to come over to the kitchen to start cutting our first ingredients. We each have our cutting board and knife and Oun starts to explain how we start our first dish.
Then time for the cooking to happen. Once again we each have our own wok where we each cook our first dish.
First dish is done, chicken with cashew nuts for Verdier, Pad Thai for Maider and Pad See Ew for Matt. All three dishes were absolutely delicious, granted we are biased, we like the cooks…
Maider, who usually isn’t very found of cooking, really enjoys it here. And she manages to make a perfectly delicious Pad Thai.
After we finish eating our first dish, we go back to the kitchen to cook our second one. Mushroom, chicken and coconut soup for Maider and Verdier, and a spicy shrimp soup for Matt. Another successful and delicious dish. We are only half way through the class and we are already full. Oun had told us to come on an empty stomach, and he was right!
For the third dish, Maider and Verdier have fun learning how to make spring rolls.
Whereas Matt is making a cucumber salad, and isn’t afraid to put plenty of spices. “More spicy, more sexy” as would say Oun !
Finally for the last dish, a Thai curry, we first learn how to make the curry paste. We start by smashing pepper, cumin and spices using and old fashioned mortar. Then we add in different ingredients depending on the type of curry we are making.
We then go to the wok station and add the curry paste to some coconut milk. After that we add the chicken and some veggies and finally taste our dishes. As you can guess, these were also delicious.
For dessert, Oun and his wife had prepared some Mango Sticky Rice that was the best we ever tasted.
We go back to the hostel early in the afternoon, completely full and dreaming of an afternoon nap. We absolutely loved this cooking class, we learned a lot about the Thai cuisine and culture. Oun and his wife Gay, were so energetic, very funny and willing to teach us their art. They even offered us a cooking book with plenty of recipes so we can reproduce what we did in class today. We enjoyed the experience so much that now we want to attend such classes in all the different Asian countries we are about to visit.
Thai boxing match
After a well deserved nap, we choose to spend Verdier’s last evening in Thailand at the “Muay Thai” boxing stadium.
The Muay Thai is THE national sport in Thailand, and is a more violent version of boxing. On top of their fists, the fighters can use their elbows, knees, feet and shins to hit their opponent.
The program for the night is as follows : 8 fights in total that should last around two hours. The fighters are all pretty young. Some are even just kids, we would guess that some weren’t even 15 years old… Before each fight the fighters are presented to the crowd before starting their 5 round match up. The fights are pretty violent at times, and as we are ringside we can see the fighters very well. Maider even looks away at times because the fight is a little too violent for her. At the end of the fight the winner gets a small trophy and gets immediately handed his winner’s bonus in cash. Matt and Verdier decide to bet on the fights, it makes things more interesting, and we will only say that Matt made a few better choices…
A nice last evening to mark the end of Verdier’s stay in Thailand with us. He heads back to France the next day, as we continue our stay in Chiang Mai for a little longer.
Saturday Walking Street
We are Saturday, and every Saturday in Chiang Mai is the Saturday Walking Street. This huge night market is famous among tourists and locals as well, and gets easily packed.
Sculpted soap bars, unusual dog collars, wood carving, Buddha paintings, small ornaments from local tribes, typical Thai musical instruments, tee-shirts, paper lanterns, umbrellas, silver jewelry or plant based remedies and of course plenty of food are some of the different things you can find on the market.
We get there a little before 6 pm and it is still pretty quiet, but after 7 pm it becomes unreal. The market is jam packed and it takes for ever to walk just a few feet.
We loved wandering around the different stands of this market. Too bad we don’t have a lot of room in our backpacks, otherwise Maider would have gone on a crazy shopping spree.
As we were at the market something unusual happened. At least unusual to us. We had been told that every day at 6 pm, there was a 5 minute anthem celebrating the king of Thailand that was played on speakers in the streets, and everybody stopped what they did, stood straight and sung along. For some reason we had never experienced it yet (we were either at the beach, or at the hotel or inside a bar drinking beer at 6 pm…). But this time we were out in the market when 6 pm struck. And the least we can say is that we were shocked. People literally drop what they are doing, stand straight, and don’t move for the entire anthem! And just resume casually what they were doing when the anthem stops. It is really a weird feeling to see it happen under our eyes…
Visit of the Wat Doi Suthep and Wat Pha Lat temples
The next day we rent a motor scooter for the next 6 days to do a road trip in the mountains North of Chiang Mai.
But before heading on the road trip, we spend one last day in Chiang Mai and go visit the Wat Doi Suthep temple, a little bit outside the city.
Almost at the top the Suthep, a summit at 5,500 feet above sea level, this temple is supposed to be the prettiest in Thailand. We get to the temple by climbing a never ending stair case of 306 steps. When we arrive at the top we are shocked by the number of tourists.
Even if the temple is really pretty, we have trouble enjoying it fully because of the number of people. We almost get hit in the face by selfie sticks at each turn. So we rush around the temple, anxious to get outside of the crowd.
On the way back to Chiang Mai, we stop at the Wat Pha Lat temple, also located up in the mountains, but this one is a lot less visited. And what a shame! This is certainly the temple we preferred.
In the middle of the forest, the temple is quiet and peaceful, with a nice garden and plenty of beautiful statues. There is even a nice little water stream where we can sit and enjoy the view.
The temple overlooks Chiang Mai, and the atmosphere is a lot more relaxed and peaceful. We ended up spending way more time here than in the Wat Doi Suthep temple.
Sunday Walking Street
To end our stay in Chiang Mai we went to wander around the Sunday Walking Street, another night market, a little like the Saturday one, but even bigger ! We find the same products and food stands. Once again it is hard for Maider not to buy stuff, but this time we won’t stay too long.
Indeed, the next day we are leaving the city to start a 5 day road trip in the mountains North of Chiang Mai and we will leave super early. See you in a few days once we come back from the road trip and tell you all about it!
We spent almost an entire week in Chiang Mai and we absolutely loved it. We could see ourselves spending way more time here. But it is time to go back on the road.