I used to live in Chiang Mai, and always found that it felt a lot more than 500 odd miles to Bangkok- it felt more like a million miles away from the chaotic, smoggy, sweaty and frenetic capital. I had fond memories of the second largest city, meeting up with old friends, making new friends, and generally having a great time.
On my return I was immediately remind of one reason I loved this city- the climate. Hot in the sunshine, cool in the shade, and sometimes you even want a jumper in the evenings! The air is much drier than in Bangkok, making it much less humid although the daytime temperature is similar to Bangkok, it feels much cooler.
Another reason to love Chiang Mai is the songthaews. Songthaews are a mix between a taxi and a bus, meaning that you tell the driver where you want to go, jump in the back of the converted pick up truck, and he’ll take you there via the other destinations that the other passengers want to go. Best of all- they are very cheap, most trips should only cost 20baht, about 40 pence.
We arrived in time to visit the Sunday night walking market, which is a makeshift market that sets up once a week on the main road that runs across the old city, Ratchadamnoern, and some of the roads leading off it. On sale are clothes, handmade arts and crafts, snacks and drinks, jewellery and other local produce. It gets incredibly busy, and gets busier the closer you get to Tha Pae gate, so you have to relax and not get annoyed by walking at a snails pace with the people in front of you continuously stopping. It’s a great way to take in the very relaxed atmosphere of the city, with the stalls being mostly comprised of the items for sale being presented nicely on a blanket covering the pavement, without the hassle that you’d find in most markets.
Chiang Mai is a very peaceful and tranquil place, and I think that is part due to the number of temples dotted around the city. We spent two days exploring the temples of Chiang Mai, which was a lesson in architecture as well as relaxing. I had to dedicate an entire post about the temples of Chiang Mai, as it’s far too long to fit into this post.
I had the amazing opportunity of visting an elephant sanctuary about an hour’s drive outside Chiang Mai. I want to tell everyone now, that the ONLY sanctuary anyone should be visiting is the Elephant Nature Park (http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/), as all the other elephant parks are involved in treating the elephants badly, and making the elephants to tricks for the tourists that visit them. The Elephant Nature Park was set up by a very courageous woman called Lek, who has dedicated her life to rescuing elephants from owners that treat them badly, or cannot look after them any more. She stared out with just a few elephants up in the mountains, and has now gained more land and has over 34 elephants that have been rescued from all over Thailand. Rescued from cruel owners that blind them, or by hotel owners that use them as a way of luring guests to their hotel, or from overwork, or from the streets in so many circumstances. We spent the day learning about the conservation centre, feeding the elephants huge amounts of food, watching them interact with each other and playing with them in the river. I also learned about the immensely cruel ‘breaking’ process which turns the elephant from being a wild young elephant to a domesticated one, which involved over a week of torture in a tiny enclosure where they can’t move, are denied water and food, and beated and poked with nails on sticks and tormented until they have no free will left. EVERY elephant that you see in Thailand that is not in the wild will have undergone this treatment- with the exception of new young elephants that were born at Lek’s sanctuary. She has been training them to live around humans by rewarding their good behaviour with food and love. It really is amazing to see the work that’s she’s done- not just with the elephants, but for the community too, as she has created many jobs for a very poor area of the country by setting up her sanctuary in the area. It’s expensive (they have to provide the elephant food someohow!) but very well worth the trip. I was very sad to leave at the end of the day, I can’t imagine ever being able to spend time with elephants like that again.
Unfortunately, I wish I could say the same about Chiang Mai zoo. I was really upset to see elephants being made to perform tricks for visitors, ostriches that had been plucking all their fetahers out and very skinny animals, most noticeably, the beautiful white tigers. The zoo was massive, and you could either walk around, take a skytrain to various stops, be transported around on mini-trains or, you could drive your car. Most people decide to drive their car around the zoo, which makes for a very unpleasant experience for people on foot. In the grounds in the new Chiang Mai aquarium, with it’s eyewateringly expensive (but barter-able) entrance fee. On the face of it, the aquarium was brilliant. Huge tanks, it boasts the asia’s longest moving walkwway through underwater tunnels, but it was strangely dissatisfying. It was as though the business had spent all the money on the tanks and moving walkways, and then forgot that they needed fish to put in it. The fish were very boring varieties, with no bright and vibrant colours to be seen. Apart from, that is, the three ‘mermaids’ that put on a synchronised swimming display at regular interval throughout the day.
The best thing about the zoo was the Pandas. Yes, real life, actual pandas! Chiang Mai had become panda mad since I had been there last, due to the fact the zoo purchased two pandas and then the pandas produced a baby! The Thais are incredibly proud of this fact, and people swarm by the thousands to visit the family. The enclosure is temperature controlled, there is to be no flash photography, you have to walk through disinfectant to get in and the baby panda is on webcam only, as the sheer number of people can lead to infections being brought in. After a few minutes we managed to get into a good position to see the pandas and were mesmerised by them. They are captivating creatures- almost feline, climbing and playing with rope and running around, and almost human when they they sit upright with their legs stretched out in front of them, holding sticks in thier fists and crunching on them with thier obviously very sharp teeth. We must have spent close to an hour in the enclosure watching the pandas, being jostled about, but not caring at all. It was also quite sad, as the thought struck me- will I ever see a panda again?
Our last night in Chiang Mai was on New Years Eve, and we spent it in the Shangri-La hotel, having a (fairly dissapointing) buffet and watching the fireworks and chinese lanterns light up the sky. I would suggest to anyone thinking of spending New Year in Chiang Mai, to spend it out on the streets, and probably around the Tha Phae Gate area- we were told that nothing happened in Chiang Mai for New Year, but were misinformed, and the street parties looked like a much better way of bringing the New Year in. That being said, it was still a very lovely way to start my New Year!
A Penny For Them 