5N6D in Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai Province is about 685 km (426 mi) from Bangkok in the Mae Ping River basin and is on average at 300 m (1,000 ft) elevation. Surrounded by the mountain ranges of the Thai highlands, it covers an area of approximately 20,107 km2(8,000 sq mi). [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiang_Mai_Province#Geography]
I would like to share my adventure in this beautiful province of Chiang Mai. Travelling with my 2 female friends/colleagues, we have explored this province on a free and easy tour and a budget of 800 SGD each (includes airfare, hotel and pocket money).
Chiang Mai is not known to me if not for my Thai friend who lives here unfortunately she was out of town when we visited her place. Hence, the adventure begins on our own without any locals to accompany us.
Day 1: Arrival
Flying from Singapore, our flight itinerary had to make a stop-over in Bangkok before taking domestic flight to Chiang Mai. We reached Chiang Mai International airport around 3pm in the afternoon.
Since we did not book a hotel transfer, we had to find a taxi to bring us to our hotel for check-in first. The airport offers an airport taxi and metered taxi just outside the airport. Having the thought of metered taxi as a cheaper alternative, we took this instead. So we approached the taxi reception and gave our hotel address which is at Lanshan Boutique Hotel, 142 Rob Muang Chiang Mai Road, T.Suthep, A. Muang Chiang Mai 50200. [For hotel review, kindly visit my review in tripadvisor: https://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Hotel_Review-g293917-d8005568-Reviews-Lanshan_Boutique_Hotel-Chiang_Mai.html].
As this hotel is located in Nimman, Chiang Mai City Arts and Cultural Center, Chiang Mai National Museum, Chiang Mai Zoo and Wat Chiang Man are within 5 km and Ton Payom Market is within 0.3 km. After an hour of rest in our hotel, we walk towards Ton Payom Market. Ton Payom Market, located between Canal Road and Suthep Road sells a lot of local foods, it’s a typical wet market which sells meats, cooked food, fruits, vegetables, spices and a lot more. However, with a hungry stomach, we didn’t explore much the market as we were looking for a nice local restaurant to have our dinner. To our delight, our growling stomachs lead us toward Suthep road, just the road parallel the market, near Chiang Mai University, were we discovered a whole stretch of small streets of local restaurants.
So we decided to eat at this restaurant named “Fourty-one”
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| Thai iced milk tea at 35 THB |
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| Pad Thai |
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| fried fish @ 180 THB |
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| green mango salad |
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| seafood tom yum |
After dinner, we tried the opposite shop named “Snow Ice” for dessert. It was a craving satisfaction! Finely shaved ice with so much flavour on it, including the pearls.
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| Charcoal Sesame with pearls |
Day 2: Chiang Rai
Chiang Rai is the northernmost province of Thailand. It is bordered by the Shan State of Myanmar to the north, Bokeo Province of Laos to the east, Phayao to the south, Lampang to the southwest, and Chiang Mai to the west. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiang_Rai_Province]
Since Chiang Rai is a 3-hour drive from Chiang Mai, we had to search for a private van to rent. I randomly browse the internet and found this site http://www.chiangmaiminibus.com useful and a fast response too, since I only emailed them a day before/on our arrival in Chiang Mai. Lucky us, there’s an available van and we took this package below:
However, if you don’t want last minute arrangements, I would suggest for you to book it before departing your home country. There could be various companies with such services and you could email a few of them to have a cheaper quote.
You may also take their local bus transport and check out their time table. [http://www.greenbusthailand.com/website/en/services/bus/time-table]
First stop:
Mae Khajan Hotspring: There’s nothing much to do here unless you haven’t taken your breakfast as you can enjoy a fresh boiled eggs cooked in the hot spring itself. There’s a small canteen in the vicinity as well, where you can have a fresh brewed local coffee too. By the way, don’t even try checking the temperature of the water as its really HOT, you don’t want a mild burn on your skin, would you?
Second Stop
Wat Rong Khun (Thai: วัดร่องขุ่น), perhaps better known to foreigners as the White Temple, is a contemporary, unconventional, privately owned, art exhibit in the style of a Buddhist temple in Chiang Rai Province, Thailand. It is owned byChalermchai Kositpipat, who designed, constructed, and opened it to visitors in 1997. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wat_Rong_Khun]
Visit their official website at [http://www.watrongkhun.org/]
Attire: No shorts/skirts above knee, be sure to bring something to cover or you may opt to rent a cloth from them before you could enter the temple.
Where to eat? Just across the temple, crossing the road, there is a food court available, and we have tried the famous “kaw soy” of Northern Thailand.
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| special kaw soy ( laksa version of Northern Thailand) |
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| Sticky rice |
Third Stop
Karen Long Neck Village: Visit their official home page[http://www.longneckkaren.com/]
An entrance fee of 300 THB is required before you can enter their village and have photos with them too or try to wear the heavy brass rings metal on your neck too for a good photo. You can also shop for hand woven clothes and handicrafts inside.
Fourth Stop
Wat Chedi Luang Temple. Unfortunately, because of the recent 2014 earthquake, the temple is still on its restoration, and we could only see this part of the temple as its remains.
Fifth Stop
Golden Triangle: Historically the Golden Triangle has been an area well-known for the growing of opium, and the name comes from a US State Department memo on the practice. These days, though, the place lives on the cultivation of tourists, and this is undoubtedly the largest tourist trap in northern Thailand.
The landscape is hilly, divided by the Ruak River that flows into the Mekong (Mae Khong) River. These rivers form a natural boundary between the three countriesLaos (to the east of the Mekong), Myanmar (to the north of the Ruak), and Thailand (to the west of the Mae Khong). http://wikitravel.org/en/Golden_Triangle_(Thailand)
Since we don’t want to try the boat trip on Meckong river, we had to an hour to kill time and have some afternoon snack. Caught by this yellow poster, while we were reading it, an Italian tourist who passed by saying, “Pizza there is great, you must try, trust me I’m an Italian!” And so we did…and indeed, the pizza was really good, freshly made, a crispy crust and tasty ingredients.
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| Mekong pizza |
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| menu |
On the same street, we passed by an Opium Museum. If you are interested, pay for an entrance fee, but we did not go in.
Last Stop
Mae Sai Border Market. This is literally a street market where you can shop various products, food, fruits, handicrafts, meats, sweets, clothing and anything under the sun. As the name implies, it’s the border between Thailand and Myanmar.
Overall, we had fun and a comfortable trip to Chiang Rai. We did not regret renting the van and the driver was kind and not to mention professional driver too. We reached our hotel around 10 pm.
Day 3
Wat Phra That Doi Suthep The temple is often referred to as "Doi Suthep" although this is actually the name of the mountain where it's located. It is a sacred site to many Thai people. The temple is 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from the city of Chiang Mai. From the temple, impressive views of Chiang Mai can be seen. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wat_Phra_That_Doi_Suthep]
As the main transportation in Chiang Mai is the “Song Thaew” (Jeepney in Philippines), take note of its colors as route varies according to their color. So we waited for a red car as it will go to any area in Chiang Mai city and you could rent it also for your preferred destination.
The driver asks for 900 THB (rent the car for around 6-7 hours) after some bargaining with him. I think it’s fair enough as the route up the mountain is quite steep. It took us about an hour to reach the place. (Driver will wait in parking area and wait their until your next preferred destination, since you have rented the whole car any ways, though sometimes he will pick up passengers in between your destination)
An entrance fee of 30 THB and additional 20 THB if you want to use their lift. If not, exercise your muscles and climb 309 steps up to reach the Pagoda.
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| 300+ steps to climb |
So we took the challenge of taking the stairs
Huay Keow Waterfall
As it was summer and dry season when we visited the place, we also did not witness the waterfall unfortunately.
Day 4
Measa Elephant Camp http://maesaelephantcamp.com/
Taking the same red car, where we pre-arrange it on Day 3, we asked him to bring us to the Elephant camp in Measa. On this trip, he asked for 700 THB (again you have the red car for 6-7 hrs).
Entrance fee: 300 THB/pax
Packages are available if you want to watch the Elephant show alone or with Elephant ride.
Elephant ride (2 pax): 1000 THB for 30mins, 800 THB for 15mins
I would say this was the highlight of our Chiang Mai trip. To witness how talented the Elephants are, was really amazed when they painted, also having a real close encounter with them, either they will ask you to seat on their feet, an elephant trunk kiss or hug or touch them (just be generous enough to give a tip at least 20THB to the caretakers).
Queen Sirikit Botanic Garden
Just a 10 minute drive north from Elephant Camp is the Botanic Garden. Again, an entrance fee of 300 THB which we opted not to go in. As this was around noon/lunch time, we decided to find a good place to eat and viola! we were mesmerized by eatery just before the Botanic garden. It was a lunch with the nature, sit alongside the river. Some children were playing and trying to swim too. It was just an awesome first time experience to have a sumptuous lunch with a very natural ambience.
Strawberry Farm
A number of small strawberry farms are seen along the way and so we also had a quick stop to this farm too. No entrance fee!
There are a lot of strawberry variations sold in this farm like. It can be fresh, dried, dried with chili strawberries or even sweetened to make jams.
In the afternoon, we asked our driver to bring us to a good local Thai Massage. So he brought us to Lila Thai Massage at Rachadamnoen street. Thai body massage for 1.5 hour costs 300- 400 THB only. Check out their website for other services available www.chiangmaithaimassage.com
Day 5
It was Easter Sunday (March 27) on our 5th day here. As born Catholics, we cannot pass this day without attending a mass.
We went to Sacred heart Church where an English mass is held at 11am.
After the mass, we stroll around the church before leaving and thankfully saw an ice cream vendor, who sells an ice cream in cone for 20 THB only. I must say that this local street ice cream is one of a kind, I could compare to a branded commercialized ice cream or even would say better. It had a very smooth texture and a balanced sweetness too. I really love it, that I would really recommended this 10/10!
Having seen most of the famous temples here and had too much of the sun and heat, on our 5th day we decided to have a chill day in a shopping mall after Church.
We went to Maya Lifestyle Shopping Centre. Excited to watch the Batman VS Superman, we hastily purchased regular cinema tickets. However, when we saw that first class cinema is also available, we had requested to have a refund, and purchased the first class tickets instead at 400 THB. Well, I never experienced watching a movie in a first class and trying it here at a lower cost compared to Singapore (about 30 SGD +) would be so worth it!
Living a luxury in 3 hours inside the first class cinema was really memorable.
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| while waiting in lounge area |
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| your choice of drink and flavour for popcorn (pre-ordered when you purchased your ticket) is ready when you find your seat :) |
Sunday Walking Street Market
Starting at the Phae Gate and extends down the full length of Ratchadamnoen Road. You can start from 4-5pm (vendors are starting to set up) until 12 midnight. Souvenir items, clothes, henna tattoo, handicrafts and a lot more…is seen along the street market. If you get tired and having sore feet, foot massages are also available, not to mention Lila Massage is along the same street too.
If you get hungry, there are small restaurants to choose from within the street too.
Day 6: Departure
We still contacted our red car driver for our transport from hotel to airport as he charged 100 THB for 3 of us already (considering airport is only 30 min away from our hotel only) compared to hotel transport at 300 THB.
As we received a good service from our red car driver, of course we did not forget to give him a tip! 
Tips:
- Ask for the number of a red car driver if you want a hassle free when it comes to finding a transport around the city.
- Be sure you have enough THB when going to tourist spots, as there are only a few money changers found around the city streets.
- Wear light clothing when travelling at this month (March), temperature is very sunny 34 to 37C.
- Always have a first-aid kit/medicines especially anti-diarrheal medications when you traveI.
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