"A Chiang Mai Family Adventure " a Chiang Mai Travel Page by BorderHopper

There are many reasons to come to Chiang Mai, and suspect you already have yours, but for me, my family, and friends we came to Chiang Mai to relax & to enjoy our time together.
From the years 1250 to 1860 Chiang Mai, located in what is now northern Thailand, flourished under the Lanna Kingdom. The city is set in a lush valley on the banks of the Ping River, surrounded my emerald green hills & dotted with ancient Buddhist temples. Chiang Mai today is a modern city but without the chaos common in Bangkok.

Our Chiang Mai adventure started off in Bangkok where me, my wife, our son, and our friend Ronnie booked a flight on a new airline called 'Air Asia' for about $25 one way. The airline was great, no frills, but for that price it was the perfect answer to getting our family up to northern Thailand without the hassle of taking a 12 hour bus ride from Bangkok. We had previously reserved a few nights in a resort/bungalow inn called Lanna Thai, located just outside of the city center in Chiang Mai. The staff at the Lanna Thai resort had a mini-van pick us up from Chiang Mai International Airport & drive us to their location. But first we had to meet our other friends who were flying in from Hanoi. My buddy Jason Bisson ( VT: 34N118W), his wife My, and daughter Connie arrived t the airport not long after we did and our group of 7 began our exploration of North Thailand there in Chiang Mai.

The Lanna Thai Resort was a nice place to get away from it all. It was a bit quiet, with beautifully manicured landscape, but short on staff & services. Don't expect 5 star service because its not a 5 star resort. It's a place to relax by the pool, enjoy the rustic wooden bunglows, and catch up on your journal writing. It's a bit out from the city center so catching a taxi was out of the question. For each trip into the city we had to arrange a mini van. If I were to do it again I'd just rent our own car and at least be assured that we will have the freedom to go and come as we please. Our driver didn't speak english but he was still a very good guide who managed to take us to many of the must see sights around Chiang Mai, and even took us to a traditional Thai massage school wich was the perfect end to a long day of exploring Chiang Mai and its environs. Getting around with 5 adults and two toddlers wasn't the easiest thing but suprisingly it wasn't that difficult a task for us. We headed out to Mae Ping, outside of Chiang Mai, and went on an hour long elephant trek. The highlight of our ride a top our massive "Chang" was crossing the Ping River with us perched on a strudy seat on the back of the elephant. The brown water was deep enough to envelope the entire elephant. Thank goodness its trunk was long enough to act as a snorkel on our crossing of the river. Our "Mahout" (elephant driver) even took our son McKinley onto the head of elephant as he steered the large animal along narrow jungle paths. It was a lot of fun but can get uncomfortable under the hot afternoon sun. After our elephant ride we were loaded up in an Ox drawn carriage for a bumpy ride down a dirth path to the banks of the Ping River. On the Ping we boarded a bamboo raft, which was guided by a Karen (ethnic Burmese) boatman, who guided us down the river where we were able to see small groupings of Asian elepants and their young feeding on trees along the river.
We spent our evening playing pool at one of Chiang Mai's many pool bars & headed back to our bungalows for a night time swim. The next morning was spent touring around a tarditional paper umbrealla factory where hand crafted and hand painted umbrellas can be purchased or photographed. I won't go into the various temples one can see because there are so many which you can easily read about in a guidebook. From Chiang Mai we drove north to Chiang Rai where our adventure continued. Chiang Mai proved to be a great family destination and won't disappoint if you've done a little planning ahead of your visit.