Sunday 22nd November
So we arrived in Chiang Mai late, we had been warned about the Thai railway’s lack of punctuality! Our lateness therefore meant our ride to the hostel was not there. So we rang them and waited outside the station. It struck us immediately, what a different city this was to Bangkok. Although it was Sunday, the people were more laid back and there was less of a rush about things (and much less traffic).
We got to our hostel, and at $1 a night, we couldn’t have asked for much more. It was exactly what we expected. What we didnt expect was how few people there were, and the crazy dutch man that had taken up residence there. We went straight to our room, and proceeded as usual to have an afternoon nap (oh the life lol).
Mid afternoon, we headed out for our first proper look at Chiang Mai and our earlier thoughts were confirmed. Chilled, relaxed, and just a nice city. In the centre of town was the Sunday market where they shut off all the main streets and all the locals and hill tribes sell their wares. Oh my gosh, could have spent a fortune. The goods were all locally made, and at such cheap prices. Chris was very happy as he found a cream cake stall!!! The general consensus is, when we eventually get a place to live, we will fly back to Thailand and dec it out with all thai goods!!!
The moat around Chiang Mai old town and the Sunday market
We sampled some food from the food stalls of the market then headed to a bar/restaurant to discuss the next day.
Monday 23rd November
After much discussion the previous evening, it was decided that life would be easier if we hired a moped for the day. So at 9am our beloved moped (with two very fetching helmets) turned up. We had much planned for the day so we set off straight away into the wind!
Our plan was to head into the mountains, Chris as navigator (with his police raybans) and his handy navigator sidekick Naomi (with her pigtails)!!!
Getting to the mountains was the easy bit, once on the mountain road, we realised having 20 stone of english muscle on the back of the moped was gona help us in no way whatsoever. So we slowly made our way up the winding mountain, enjoying the views and just generally having a laugh till we got to our first destination, Doi Suthep Wat Prathat, one of northern Thailand’s most precious temples/buddha statues.
Leading up to the temple was a very steep staircase lined by a ceramic dragon banisters. A tough old trudge for the both of us, but well worth it when we got to the top. The views were amazing and the actual temple was beautiful. The only down side was the amount of souvenir shops and buskers within the temple walls. The temple was built there as a white elephant heralding a famous relic climbed its way to the top of the mountain and allegedly died when it found the perfect resting spot for the relic.
The 306 steep steps to the top
After the leaving the tourist trap of the temple we headed on up the mountain to the next village which housed the winter residence of the royal family and its beautiful gardens. Naomi’s pashmina was deemed as not a suitable cover up (much to her dismay) so we both had to put on some very interesting attire to be accepted into the palace gardens. Although most of the flowers were out of season, it was still beautiful and the views and landscape were breathtaking.
Some of the stunning flowers
One of the royal residences in the grounds
The stunning water reservoir
A massive bamboo plant
Outside the garden grounds
The fun ride back to Chiang Mai
On our way back we went to see one of the many waterfalls that are in this mountainous region, Montharat Waterfalls. It had 9 levels going from level 1 at 100m to level being 1900m above sea level. Unfortunately, due to Chris’s inadequate footwear, the dwindling light and just the shear scale of the mountain, we only made it to level 3. But it was still just as impressive.
During our day, we had decided that we were not very keen on our hotel and that we would look elsewhere for accommodation and thought of going to a hostel that was suggested to us in Bangkok The hostel was renowned for its treks and was a much bigger place than ours. So we headed there before heading to ours. Immediately, the difference was obvious and so money in hand, we decided to book our jungle trek with them and then stay there after the trek. As we would be leaving the next morning for the trek, we had to stay for a trek meeting, here we met some great english guys. One of them mentioned he was going to muay thai boxing that evening, so we all decided to meet up later on and make a night of it.
The boxing was an experience. Seeing 9 year olds beat the living day lights out of each other was something you just wouldnt see in Europe, not without the proper head gear anyways. We were all enjoying our 6.7% Chang beers and the good company. The good fights were left to the end and the skill and speed of the fighters left the crowd wanting more. The best fight had to be when four large thai lads were blindfolded in the ring and let loose on each other (and the ref). Pure carnage!
Young lads boxing
The epic blindfolded match
Chris and Nay x
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