Chiang mai old city is surrounded by walls and a moat, and appeared to be the epicenter for all things tourism. There were a couple Mexican restaurants near our hostel and a place called "Fat Elvis Hamburgers".. Lots of places geared to the visitors, for sure! It is a pretty cool city despite all the t-shirts, massage parlors, and hawkers selling stuff.. There are loads of little alleyways and side streets lined with cafes, restaurants, bookshops, and other cool little stores to explore. We only had 2 nights in Chiang Mai before heading off to our next destination, so we didn't get to see all of the city.
Our first night we were greeted by a very intoxicated British lad who summoned us to join he and his 7 closest friends for a beer at the hostel.. Being polite, we obliged and soon learned that earlier I the day he had completed a "Neck Nomination" and was feeling the effects of a pint glass of vodka and a large beer... He was toasted. We also met a few other travelers who gave us tips on where to go and what to see in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia... Including the trek through Sapa, a place on the Chinese border, which I have since booked up for us to do! Hostels are cool by that you can meet fellow travelers from all over and save tons of money, but bad if you have a bunch of "Bro's" staying there that make an embarrassment of Americans everywhere... Nuff said about that. So. Embarrassing. Yuck.
There was a big flower festival going on during our stay, so we went and checked it out. There were huge floats full of Buddhist and Hindu gods made out of flowers... We didn't get to see the parade, but the floats themselves were worth seeing.. Very pretty.
This guy wouldn't move out of the picture. His friends were trying to take an action jumping shot of him like 20 times and failed each time. So now he's in my picture.
There were also tons of street food stalls, and since we are loving the street food here, we explored and tried some different treats.. My favorite being the papaya salad.. Yum!
Paul's favorite, meat in tube form.
Mango and sticky rice with coconut sauce!
We spent the day walking around and trying out local fare.. It was super hot during the day, but cool at night which was a nice change. The afternoon heat was pretty killer though, so I had to take a nap (mostly because I love naps). Our last meal in Chiang Mai was at the local Irish pub, where Paul had his fix of home-ish food with a Steak and Guinness pie and chips.. I guess when you are eating foreign foods all the time, coming across a place like chiang mai can be good to have a bland meal..haha! I love Thai food, it will be hard to eat it back in the US because I've had the real deal.. Like most other foods we have eaten, the ingredients make such a difference.. Eveything here is so fresh and simple yet soooo delicious.
We walked around after dinner, but it was mayhem because of the flower festival. We walked through the infamous red light district where we saw our fare share of ladyboys calling at people, and attempted the night bazaar but there were so many people you couldn't even move.. We decided to try our luck at a night market in another place, because it was just too mad! We had an early night, and had to pack for our departure for Pai the next day, which I was fine with.. An early night allowed me get up in the morning and "run the moat" before heading off.
I see why the taxi driver laughed when we said we were heading to Chiang Mai.... Because everyone there was from out of town! I think had we spent more time there, we would have gotten a better feel for the place. A few people we met loved the city, but had spent over a week there. Had we rented a bike or a scooter and made our way around town, I'm sure we would have had a great time.. But, Pai was next on the list and was one place we heard raving reviews about! The next post will be all about our Pai adventure.... And it was action packed! :)
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