Letter to Chiang Mai (how to discover the city)

Dear Chiang Mai,

I think we started off on the wrong foot. On the first two days we visited your crowded night bazar and headed out on a tour to one of your many silk factories, jewelry shops and an umbrella making ‘factory’. But this is not what Chiang Mai is really about and not what we were looking for. After these first days we fell into some kind of disappointment trap.

Luckily we got out of that trap after those first days and had a wonderful time! We discovered your great temple grounds with delicious food stalls, visited your Sunday market and found some lovely art galleries and restaurants. We also rode around town on rental bikes, had a powerful Thai massage next to a temple, spotted lots of monks and had a chat with them. We enjoyed a full day with a reliable elephant camp, feeding and washing the elephants.

Slow travel in Chiang Mai

But dear Chiang Mai, why do you think the only interesting activities for us foreigners are visiting the Tiger Kingdom (to play with tigers, right…), the Long-Neck tribe village, a Monkey School, Snake Farm, or yet another handicraft shop? Really, everybody in your city is offering these same kinds of tours. And I guess you know that some of these are terrible as they are only set up for tourists and authenticity is hard to find. You just look like one big attraction! Is that what you want?

You know Chiang Mai, after the first two days when we felt somewhat disappointed we already talked about leaving you again. But we didn’t. Our original aim was to travel slowly to really learn about a city and local life. So we didn’t pack our bags to travel further up north to your little brothers Pai or Chiang Rai. We spent 1,5 week with you and slowly discovered the hidden places that make you special. I have to be honest, you are certainly not the most sparkling or scenic city, but once we got to recognize some of your places and people, you grew upon us.

“I have been standing here on this temple ground for like 800 years, but this is the most ugliest view I have ever had!”

Your old town is lovely and different around every corner. I would advise others to not visit the night bazar but to head out into the old town where original markets (especially the Warorot market in China Town) and great food stalls are all around. I will also tell them to not let guides convince them to book tours immediately, but discover the city first and decide for themselves what they really would love to do.

We loved our slow time with you. No stress and no worries. The only worry we had was whether our clothes drying on the balcony would be soaked after another monsoon rain…

Now I will show you some of our pictures (but I guess you already know how you look!).

Bye bye Chiang Mai.

ALSO READ: 7-Eleven in Thailand: 8 reasons to love it.

“Big kiss from an elephant: sensation!”

“Don’t worry, they are not real. These are enlightened monks made from fibre…scary though!”

Devotion at the beautiful Doi Suthep temple

“Who says monks don’t work out??”

“Donald?? Wat the Duck!? [Wat means Temple in Thai]

Next stop: Koh Chang island.

ALSO READ: Sukhothai – on a bike