Just a short flight from Bangkok, the city of Chiang Mai is situated in the mountainous north of Thailand, although it is not at any significant altitude. The area offers a distinct cultural experience as it used to be the capital of the independent Lanna Kingdom until a few hundred years ago. It also has quite a hippie vibe; think massages, yoga courses, meditation retreats, good coffee, juice bars and vegan food!

Chiang Mai is a fairly large and bustling city which centres around the fortified old town, which enclosed by a moat and wall. Some sections of the wall and gates can still be seen today. The area inside the wall is quite large, so it is sadly not pedestrianised, but some of the narrower lanes are fairly tranquil, and when the markets are on, parts of the city are closed to traffic.

Getting Around

The old city is walkable, but you’ll save yourself some time by renting bicycles or a motorbike, which your accommodation can usually organise. We were staying just outside of the city walls and were constantly hampered by the fact that you had to walk quite far to one of the entrances (across the moat) of the old city! There are also shared collective van taxis which you can hail down and see if they are going your way. For trips outside of the city, most are organised, so the transport will be included. This is usually a minivan or a modified van with an open back into which you are crammed like sardines!

New Year in Chiang Mai

After having spent a low-key Christmas in Bangkok, we headed to Chiang Mai for New Years 2018. It turned out to be a good choice, although we didn’t really know what would be happening when we set off out for the evening! We first headed for the eastern side of the old town, towards the Tha Phae Gate and moat. It was here that hundreds of people were releasing Lanna sky lanterns, some inscribed with messages of good will. The paper sky lanterns are actually quite large and are like mini-hot air balloons. There seems to be a certain knack for releasing them, but once they are up and floating away together in a long stream towards the stars, they do look impressive.

We decided not to buy and release a lantern as we are always conscious about the environmental impact of our actions. Lantern releases are actually banned in many countries around the world. Whilst being incredibly pretty, the lanterns are essentially airborne trash; they are made of paper, but also wire and fire. We saw some spontaneously combust shortly after take-off and can only imagine what can happen if these fall down onto people, livestock, wildlife and the surrounding environment. If you want to read further, check out this great charity; https://balloonsblow.org/flaming-litter/

After watching the lantern release for a while, we headed along Rachadamnoen Road into the walled city which had been closed off to traffic and filled with the most epic of night markets. The entire length of the street was filled with gifts, clothes, food and lantern lights. We definitely got caught up here for some time, just looking at everything that was on offer.

Towards midnight we found ourselves in an extension of the market inside the grounds of Wat Phan On. We noticed that the courtyard was set up for midnight in quite a peculiar way! A network of white threads was weaving its way out of the temple and forming a grid over a seating area. Here many people had wrapped the thread around their heads and sat down to pray. Inside the temple the monks were seated and began to chant in a hypnotic way. We’d never seen this before and assume that threads were providing a connection. It was a moment of peace and of course a unique way for us to spend the final moments of 2017.

What to see in Chiang Mai

Wats

Like most cities in Asia, Chiang Mai has its fair share of famous and historic wats (Buddhist temples). They are dotted around the old town, and most can be visited for a small fee. Of note are Wat Pra Singh where we saw lots of prayer flags for New Year, Wat Chedi Luang which has a ruined ancient stupa with elephant details and Wat Phan Tao which is made of teak.

At Wat Chedi Luang and Wat Pra Singh there is also the opportunity to take part in Monk Chat which is your chance to go and quiz a monk about his life, Thai culture, or anything really!

Markets

The night market that we saw on New Year’s Eve on Rachadamnoen Road was the regular Sunday night market, full of all sorts of goods, colours and light.

If you aren’t able to catch this weekly market, you can head to the Night Bazaar which is between old city and the river. It fills the street, but there are also various areas off the road where you can eat, have a massage and shop for souvenirs. We particularly enjoyed the area called Ploen Ruedee Night Market which felt bit East London with its funky bars and stalls in what looked like a car park! There was some traditional Thai dance being displayed and we even had our fortune told here by a half-Chinese-half-Thai tarot card reader! And guess what, we’ll live to 93, make lots of money and everything will be alright…how lucky!

Lifestyle activities

Chiang Mai had quite a spiritual and health conscious sort of vibe as its stuffed full of juice bars, vegan cafes and massage parlours and it’s easy to join courses in meditation, yoga and Thai cooking. These are mostly diversions for Westerners, but it has to be said that the massage is very much part of Thai culture. We made the mistake of trying traditional back and neck Thai massages and we were pummelled almost beyond repair by two very tiny, but very strong Thai ladies! We ached for days afterwards so we will be sticking to the gentle foot massages from now on.

Eating and drinking

Aside from leaning towards vegetarian and vegan food, Chiang Mai has it all in terms of eating and drinking out. We enjoyed lots of cheap northern Thai meals on plastic tables and chairs in our so Christened “easy Thai” stalls in the middle of the road. Make sure that you try Chiang Mai’s famous dish named Khao Soi which is a spicy coconut soup with crispy fried noodles.

Coffee

There is definitely a scene for specialty coffee in this area of the country. Coffee farming has taken root in the whole region and every South East Asian country prides itself with producing some of the most exciting brews available. In other words, no Starbucks here (well, we did see one), but lots of little independent shops serving their own roasted and blended coffees. Some (especially Italians like Alex) might find these blends bitter and quite acidic but after a few cups one start appreciating the subtleties and uniqueness. Of course Thais love their cold blend so all shops also offer a cold version of each product or coffee based frappes or shakes. Coffee lovers won’t be left disappointed or withdrawing from their daily coffee fixes here!

Elephant sanctuaries

When you arrive in Chiang Mai, you may feel overwhelmed by the amount of flyers and leaflets offering activities outside of the city. We certainly were, but we knew that we wanted to do one thing at all costs – visit an elephant sanctuary. Other activities on offer are treks to visit hill tribes and adventures into the national parks.

Choosing an elephant sanctuary from the myriad of places on offer wasn’t easy. In the end we went with the recommendation of our accommodation, the “Elephant Jungle Sanctuary” and were pleased with the quality of the experience and the welfare standards.

The reason why there are so many elephant sanctuaries is that elephants were used in the past for logging. As this is now forbidden, many elephants are now used in riding camps or are relocated to sanctuaries. Sadly the elephants can’t just be left to roam in the countryside as they are likely to destroy crops and be in danger of getting shot by an angry farmer.

It seems that most sanctuaries have cottoned on to the fact that tourists are starting to reject elephant rides and shows in favour of seeing elephants in a more natural environment. They have also realised that tourists do not like to see elephants being corralled with a bull hook, although our guide pointed out that without the hook the sanctuary is unable to take on elephants which are more difficult, aggressive and unruly. Sadly, if the sanctuary cannot utilise these elephants then they are likely to be sold to a riding camp.

The solution seems to be for tourists to be educated not to expect all elephants to be gentle and tame. Petting and feeding them is fun, but it’s not realistic to expect to be able to do that. Individual elephants are different and all come from different backgrounds, so in order to keep animals away from hard labour the public will have to accept that some need to be handled with the hook. It’s not ideal but it’s better than the harder life they have in a riding camp.

Our day at the sanctuary involved an hour of travel into the countryside, a brief introduction and then feeding the elephants, of which there were 6, bananas and grass. Tip – you cannot hide the bananas, that trunk will sniff them out! We then accompanied the elephants down to the river and those which wanted to bathe (both elephants and humans) could get in and get wet. Alex, who felt a deeper connection with the pachyderms jumped in. Jess stayed behind to take pictures and witness Alex almost being turned into a human burger when two elephants sat down at the same time and nearly squished him! A lunch was provided and there was an opportunity to purchase small gifts from the villagers.

Whilst the elephant experience was the highlight of our stay, we thoroughly enjoyed the historical city of Chiang Mai. It has something to satisfy every need; culture, nature, spirituality and good coffee and good food. We were sad to leave after our stay, especially as it was our last Thai stop (or was it?) before we moved on further east into Laos and Vietnam. This is certainly a must see Thai city, especially considering the relative proximity to Bangkok. Obviously, don’t head to Chiang Mai if you are a surfer or a beach bum, but otherwise, this city will cater for every taste!