"3 days in Chiang Mai" a Chiang Mai Travel Page by alvis

Our cheap Air Asia flight from Bangkok arrives at around 10am in Chiang Mai. The first thing I noticed getting off the plane is the surrounding green hills and mountains. After having checked online beforehand we decided to stay in SK House on Moon Muang Road which is what we told the taxi driver. The taxi was cheap and took around 15 minutes from the airport into town. SK house cost us 500 baht a night and was worth every penny. The aircon room was real nice and peaceful traditional thai, with tv which we never used and a decent bathroom. There was also a pool and cheap laundry service in SK house which we also never used, and internet which we used a couple of times.

After we arrived SK House we paid for the room, threw our bags on the bed and headed back out the door. Walked up the road a few metres where some tuktuk drivers were waiting and got a trip organised to Wat U Mong (Tunnel Temple). The tuktuk driver would drive us to Wat U Mong (which is around 15miles out of town) where he will wait on us to check out the place and then drive us back to our hotel and will cost 180 baht (less than £3). I loved this place, it was the most peaceful place i've ever been to. The monks live here and pray in the temple and being a westerner this was very surreal and | was quite amazed to hear them. After the hour we went back to the tuktuk and on back to the hotel.

After another short visit to our hotel room we went to the hotel restaurant which sits out over the street. I ordered a few meals which were all great especially the spicy noodles, which i'll never forget. During our meal a guy calls into the restaurant handing out flyers for thai boxing fights which we decided to go to that night. Booked our trekking trip for the following morning (1000baht each) and getting our muay thai boxing tickets (400baht each) from reception, then headed off to find the boxing stadium. When buying tickets for the jungle trek ask for a natural reserve or at least 1 where the elephants are treated well as there are a few dodgy places out there. After finding our bearings we took a 5 minute walk down the road where we found the boxing stadium.

What I expected the stadium to look like was the total opposite of what it did look like. The boxing ring was in the centre and surrounding it were normal tables, chairs and people standing it was quite seedy where I expected a more professional stadium. Grabbed a seat and ordered us a couple of drinks. 7 fights and 4 Chang Beer later was the big match. Some Italian guy was challenging a local boy. The match didn't last long and ended after the Italian guy got him ass whooped.

Polished off a few more beers then made our way back to hotel for an early night so we were bright and breezy the next morning.

Waking up at around 8am with a slight hang over we made our way downstairs and got breakfast. The trekking bus arrived at around 9am and we got in. After a 30 minute drive we arrive at the elephant camp. 1st thing we did was to ride a young elephant, with no harness or anything to support us apart from holding a rope, so I was faily close to falling off. Me and the girl friend were the only 2 to be asked to do this, probably because we were closest to it at the time.

We were then led into the main camp where on arrival the elephants were being washed by their owners in the river below. After they finished their baths they all came up from the river and there was an elephant show. The show consisted of elephants displaying how they worked in ancient Siam i.e.moving logs etc. and did some other tricks like painting, playing football etc. This was probably the least interesting part of the day if you are there for the adventure. At the end of the show 1 of the elephants came to the crowd of spectators holding a rose in it's trunk and handed it to my girlfriend which was nice. They will also come to the crowd to get fed so if you plan on feeding the elephants you need to buy some bananas and sugar cane (20baht) before the show starts. They also take money and hand it to their owners if you would like to donate.

After the show we found our group and were led to a stable where a line of elephants were harnessed and ready to start the trek. Getting on an elephant the trek started and we left the stables and started moving down towards the river. Riding the elephant is very bumpy so you gotta hold on well, but luckily you can't fall out. A photo is taken early on in the trek when you are crossing the river which turned out to be great. The elephant trek takes about an hour. We managed to get the most adventurous of the elephants who kept walking off different routes and tried overtaking all the other elephants. You will pass a couple of huts where you should buy some sugar cane and bananas for the elephants. We asked the owner of the elephant how much he was paid, which was 2000baht per month (£30). He said he relied a lot on tips from customers so we gave him a couple hundred baht at the end of the trek cause he was a great guy. When the trek finishes we arrive at a small bazaar where some locals try sell you some local crafts so I bought a couple of pressies to take home for people.

Getting back to camp there are a number of ox and carts waiting for us. After another bumpy ride back to the camp we were now to get lunch and on arrival we bought the photo of us on the elephant which was well framed and cost 100baht. Lunch was quite good with a number of buffet meals all different Thai and chinese dishes. Plenty of fruit coffee etc. for dessert. Really nice place to eat and theres a great balcony over the river. After a decent feed we were led down to the river where we were given some thai hats and sent off on a raft down the river.

The river rafting lasts around 40 minutes. When we arrive at the destination we are offered a photo of us on the raft which this time i decided not to buy. Our bus is waiting so we bounce in and set off to a butterfly and orchid farm. After a quick introduction to orchid growing we take a quick look around before getting back on the bus as it wasn't too exciting. We were now meant to be going to a monkey show but the others on the bus were wanting to return home so we decided just to go back to the hotel and leave the monkey show till some other time.

Arriving back at the hotel we got some tasty food from the restaurant including them delish noodles, then we were off again to check out the night bazaar. The night bazaar was fairly rubbish and quite expensive when compared to the markets like JJ in Bangkok. Buying a couple of cheap ass t shirts and a postcard or 2 we got ourselves some subway sandwiches and bounced into a tuktuk. Getting back to the hotel we ate our sandwiches and got ready for a night out in Chiang Mai.

Having still some time to waist we decided to sneak across the road for a thai massage. This was actually my 1st proper Thai massage after living in Thailand for 6 months and ws well worth the 150 baht. All refreshed we went to the hotel internet cafe and looked up night life in Chiang Mai.

We came across a place we might like and decided to get a taxi here. After about an hour of looking, and failing to find this club we gave up and got a taxi back to the Ping riverside to check out the bars here. The bars here were fairly useless with 2 or 3 usual bars which were packed full of drunken foreigners and back packers (farang) singing and dancing to them usual bar tunes i.e. house of pain.

Decided to get as far away from here as possible so bounced back into a taxi again and were advised on a club called bubble, near the Night Bazaar. It wasn't bad this club and had quite recent music playing mostly hard house, trance and techno. The decor was terrible and the drinks were probably the most expensive in Chiang Mai. The girlfriend bought herself a 10 glass bottle of tequila and i got a few beers which cost around 2000 baht. After a few drinks we called it a night as it wasn't the most exciting clubs, and they didn't play any hiphop for the girl. After sneaking our bottle of tequila out we headed back to the hotel.

The next morning we woke with the worst hangovers especially the girlfriend and decided to cure them with a decent breakfast and a massage. This time we went for the full oil massage for 250baht which to our surprise we needed to strip down to our underwear to get. After the girlfriend reluctantly got change we got our hours massage before being let loose on the streets of Chiang Mai again. We somehow had managed to spend most of our £200 budget so thought it best to book our train home. After getting a tuktuk to the train station we found that all the 2nd class seats were booked up on the night rider. We finally decided on going 1st class which cost quite a bit more but we did get our own cabin.

Back into Chiang Mai we thought we would go check out walking street, which is a network of streets covered in stalls selling local crafts. I loved this street, it really showed the charm of Chiang Mai with the temples the hills and the locals bartering. I really did not want to leave Chiang Mai I could stay here for ever and be as happy as can be, it really is a magnificent place and would be on the top of my list for places in Thailand.

Getting the train home was ok with our own cabin. We were continually handed tins of coke and meals which i presumed were part of the service, as the waiters would drop in 2 tins of coke then run off without saying a word. When we woke the next morning we found an 800baht food bill had been charged to us, it was a total scam so if you ever get the train don't accept anything you are given.

The train takes about 10 hours and after getting a decent sleep through the night we woke to find ourselves back in BKK.