Chiang Mai - Thailand

The northern part of Thailand is always a good getaway from all the hustle and bustle down in Bangkok. The province of Chiang Mai with its capital also called Chiang Mai is a really laid back area that can be reached with a 90 minutes flight from Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok.

The city is surrounded by old city walls and a manmade river. If you want to stay directly downtown, get an accommodation in the square of city walls. Depending on your budget, you‘ll find something nice for sure. The town is full of hostels, home stays, boutique hotels and luxury places. 

You know best what is good for you and your budget, still if you ask me „Lanna Tree Boutique Hotel“ was a pretty good choice for me. The place is located in the Si Phum district, right downtown.  The staff was super friendly and helped us out with all kind of stuff, the rooms where clean and overall this accommodation will not kill your travel budget. They organize scooters, offer several tours around the city and after a long hot day you can linger your body in a very nice pool. All in all this was a pretty nice place for a few days.

It‘s always a good idea to visit the city over a weekend. Chiang Mai‘s weekend markets are legendary and gigantic. On Saturdays the city is packed with people gattering around the „Saturday Night Market“ also called Wualai Walking Street Market starting at the Chiang Mai Gate. This market offers wonderful food, beverages and tons of hand crafted art as well as really cheap cloth.

It gets even more crazy on Sundays. The Sunday-Walking market is probably the biggest art & food market I've ever been to. You will need at least 2-3 hours to check all the stands and eat as much delicious Thai-food as possible.

If you're not already fed up with going to temples after your stay in Bangkok, there are several temples located in Chiang Mai which might catch your attention. I somehow love the quite and peaceful atmosphere these Thai-Temples are offering. There is not much to see but still it gives you a kind of peace in your heart when you walking around this old, massive buddhist buildings.

Before I go into further detail about our trip to the big temple Doi Suthep, a little outside of town, there are 2 temples you have to check out while in Chiang Mai. Wat Chedi Luang, with its massive main temple in the middle of a huge area and Wat Phra Singh, offering a gigantic gold monument, which glows in the evening sun. But all around town you'll find tons of  more little temples, that might be worth a visit if you find time.

By far the most popular temple in the Chiang Mai region might be Doi Suthep. Located on a mountain a little outside of the center of Chiang Mai city you'll find a massive temple area which is sure worse a visit.

We rented a scooter for the day (organized by the hotel I stayed) and started our trip up the hill at around noon. Yeah, not the best time to ride around on a scooter since the sun was blasting down but as I heard, the afternoons and evenings at the temple are way more beautiful and less crowded as the mornings.

On the serpentine road up you pass some view points which are also a good chance to cool, down since there is a river floating down the hill. Find some time to enjoy the view down to Chiang Mai and hold your feet into the cool water. It will take you about an hour to drive all the way up to the temple. On the foot of the buddhist pilgrimage site you'll find a huge market offering cold drinks and food. Fill up and make your way to the "Naga stairs" (the entrance of the temple).

Once you're up there, get your ticket on the right side of the entrance and make your way into the temple. It is a very peaceful place which really makes you calm down for a good amount of time. If you're lucky like I was, you'll be up there when the monks start their evening prayer. A wonderful and also very peaceful experience. I really recommend scheduling your stay so you can be part of their ceremony.

I've been to a lot of places in Asia, since most of the countries are really poor they don't have any scruples to make a Dollar or an Euro with all kinds of things. Same thing in Thailand with their Elephant Sanctuaries. Most of the places offer the "chance" to take a bath with animals or ride on their backs. Just disgusting. I'm totally aware, that elephants used to be working animals back in the days, but hey, these days are long gone my friend. For me there is no discussion about how to see wild animals - visit them in their natural environment and stay away from zoos or huge animal parks.

It was kind of hard to find an organization online which was meeting my expectations regarding a trip to see the biggest land animals in the world. Like I said, most of the tours in Chiang Mai and in the Northern region in Thailand want to get as much people on their tours for quite low prices. I had no problem paying 4-5 times more just to be in peace with myself. 

So I found this wonderful place and organization called "Chang Chill". Other to most of the touristic tours offered in town this place is 60 kilometers away from Chiang Mai. Everyone ever been in Asia knows 60 kilometers in Asia are not the same as in Europe or the US. You can easily do this distance within 45 minutes in Europe - it took us over 2 hours to get to the place back in Thailand.

So our day started pretty early. Got picked up from our driver in a minivan - all in all we were only 8 people for this day trip which was kind of nice. The other guys where pretty much cool as well so this was about to become an awesome day with travelers who are on the same page as we were.

„Chang Chill“ is home to 4 elephants, all females, all saved from riding tours all around the Chiang Mai District. Every elephant has a „personal assistant“. These 4 people live and stay up in the jungle with their families all year around and have dedicated their lifes to these animals and the sanctuary.

After a short walk down to the camp we all met up for breakfast, where we got instructions how this day is going to go down.

We were asked to be as quite as possible when searching for the animals. The big slogan of this whole organization is, to just watch the elephants from a good distance and not to interfere their day which is basically eating, sleeping, walking in the woods and pooping.

So we started our journey in the jungle at around 12, it was hot, wet and the muddy trails were kind of hard to walk. After a few minutes the guide already asked if someone can see one of the animals. All 8 of us where just stupidly looking around and only realizing after be told that the first animal is like 5 meters away from us standing in the bushes and watching us.

We followed her in a distance and watched with wide open mouthes. One of my favorite moments of this trip. 

In the upcoming 2 hours we found all of the 4 females enjoying the shady jungles of Chiang Mai. 

Back in the camp we were invited to help with the "Lunch" for the ladies. Chopping bamboo with a machete and collecting bananas was our part of preparing the next meal. We carried all the stuff to a, let's say, meeting point of the elephants. The animals knew exactly what time it was and one after another arrived at hillside, moving out of the jungle running to their lunch break.

It started raining heavily, we were seeking shelter while watching the ladies enjoying their meal - what a day.

Pouring rain, elephants in the distance, a belly full of good Thai food and a huge smile on the face - this is pure Northern Thailand.

• Visit Doi Suthep
• Explorer the city on a scooter
• Shop cheap cloth and art work
• Visit a weekend market
• Go see elephants in their natural habitat