We are not as hardcore as maybe we once used to be, but we still try to find our moments. At this point in our lives, we are taking advantage of one thing that is easy to find here in SE Asia, “affordable luxury”. Our time in Chiang Mai was a good example of all this.
Our hotel for 4 nights was immaculate and very well decorated. Centrally located, Air conditioning, TV, a pool, a large free breakfast, and free snacks in the lobby, all for about $28 a night. It is quite the change from places in our past. There are moments of feeling uncomfortable about traveling like this, not wanting to be associated with a fancier type of traveler. I am a little self conscious when clean shaven and wearing a nice shirt. But I am getting used to these things.
In Chiang Mai they have a massive night market where we walked around one evening in search of food and sights. The first section we stumbled upon could have easily been mistaken for a food cart pod in Portland. Cuisine from around the world, served out of cleverly decorated trailers, with $5 beers and sangria. Live music by a local band was English cover songs as spectators sat on hay bales. Similar to our hotel, this scene also made me slightly uncomfortable. The food prices were decent, probably about a 1/4 of what they would be in PDX, but it was not the true local experience I normally crave. Knowing that this would be our best chance for an international mix of flavor for a while, we ate gyoza dumplings, a falafel wrap, and an Oreo milkshake. (On this same theme, the previous night we had eaten pizza and a Cesar salad.) I give in to these indulgences more and more lately, and I am okay with that.
In reality, the cost of these “splurges” on food and lodging are not much different than our Central America trip. Sure, we could save a few dollars on places without pools or A/C, but there is no need to torture ourselves. We have nothing to prove and will continue to enjoy finding great value within our budget, mostly thanks to the invention of the internet and sites like Booking.com. That being said, I will still try to keep us grounded by attempting to find the local way of doing things like transportation and sightseeing, areas where prices can be inflated while playing to people’s fears about venturing on their own.
Upon arrival at the bus station in Chiang Mai, we sought out the city bus (B2) that I had read would pass by our hotel. We were pointed to a bench to wait at where we sat for about 10 min, until being told it would be another 30 until it arrived. We were just 3kms from our place and the thought of now waiting 40 min to save a few bucks seemed a little silly. After briefly looking for tuk tuks to get quotes from, we continued our wait. The bus rolled up on time and we paid our 15 Baht (50 cents) per person to board. The attendant asked us our hotel and nodded to say they could stop there. An older Thai lady sat down next to Julia, looked at her large bag, and gave her a supportive pat on the leg.
The main sights in town are all temples and museums. We spent a day walking around to each of the important ones and took pictures.
Another day was used to head up to the temple on top of a hill known as Doi Suthep. The shared truck up to the top was a little more expensive than normal due to lack of tourists and the impatience of the others waiting with us. The red trucks normally leave with minimum of 10 people, at 60 Baht per person. The 2 not-associated French travelers waiting with us were about to look for a quicker mode of transport when the driver began negotiations to leave with just 4 passengers (120 Baht per person). We hesitated slightly, but agreed, knowing we could potentially be waiting for a long time on a weekday during the slow season.
At the top, we walked up the 300 some steps to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. The view is normally pretty good from up there, but this time of year there is a haze and visibility is poor. Despite this, we enjoyed the intricate temple with numerous colorful statues.
When I was at this temple 9.5 years ago, I briefly looked around for a trail that would take me down to some waterfalls. Lacking a map or confirmation that a trail even existed, I had to take a truck back down the main road. I did my research this time, and we were armed with a dotted line on Maps.me to follow. The trail wasn’t obvious at first, and we did have to ignore some signs saying “no entry” and “visitors must contact park office first”, but we found it.
The numerous fallen trees and mosquitos had me a little concerned that we may have to turn around, until we saw a few other hikers coming up, assuring us this went somewhere. I have a history of trying to take unconventional routes and admittedly there have been some failures. Julia has always been a trooper, dating back to one of our first dates where I suggested we make our way straight down the side of a hill through deep snow, instead of back on the trail. It was a moment I knew this relationship thing would work out.
This alternative route turned out to be a success. We were in Doi Suthep National Park, hiking through vines, banana trees, and jungle sounds we couldn’t decipher. After a few kms, we arrived at the first waterfall (Sai Yoi) and had it to ourselves. A kilometer further down, now through a bright bamboo forest, the trail ended at the Mon Tha Than waterfall. It is normally a busy spot, but with little water at the end of the dry season, there was just one other couple relaxing on the rocks.
From this point, we followed the access road back to the main road, hiked down the main road for about 10 minutes, and ran into the French girl we shared a ride up to Doi Suthep with. She had been walking the main road all the way down from the top, so we let her follow as we navigated more trails along the stream that pass numerous swimming holes. We came across a spot where we saw many orange robes hanging from trees and many young monks down to their orange shorts, jumping into pools of water and laughing. It was a special scene, in a beautiful place, and something I can’t imagine many tourists stumble upon. The French girl was giddy, and was basically chasing the monks around to take their picture (which was a little awkward).
The monks were almost as enamored with us as we with them, saying things in Thai that probably weren’t becoming of their status, but they were kids away from supervision, looking at 2 foreign women. They helped us find the trail which led us out of the forest and to the bus stop by the Zoo. From there we paid 40 Baht a person to get back to our hotels while the French girl expressed her joy and gratitude for meeting us and letting her tag along. That night, we ate well presented, tasty meals of pineapple fried rice and young coconut curry at the popular restaurant Cooking Love.
Our last day in Chiang Mai put me back into slightly uncomfortable territory, with a cooking class we booked using Airbnb. It was a good local business, run by a pair of sisters who picked 8 of us up, took us around a local market, and then back to their home, where we cooked in an outdoor kitchen setup. We could choose our meals, so I made Masaman curry, Pad Thai, hot and sour shrimp soup, and mango sticky rice. Julia made Panang curry, fried fat noodles, chicken coconut milk soup, and dessert Sago balls. We also assisted in making egg rolls. It was a good educational and social activity, providing us with some good tips for meals we already try to make, and also got more travel tips for our upcoming destinations.
We left Chiang Mai how we arrived, catching a local bus back to the bus station. There we had to wait 2 hrs for the next cheap bus further north to Chiang Rai.
Our stop in Rai was mostly planned as a brief layover en-route to Laos, but we turned it into 2 nights in order to experience both the Saturday and Sunday night walking streets. There wasn’t much difference between the 2, other than the distance we had to walk from our hostel. The Saturday one was right outside our front door, and we sampled multiple street food items as our dinner. I especially enjoyed the fried pork belly. We also attempted to dance along with the locals during their version of line dancing.
The Sunday walking street was a 2km walk from our place and felt a little more crowded. We ate at a restaurant just off the street for dinner, sampling some local northern Thai dishes for our last meal in Thailand.
In between the walking street nights, Sunday we hopped a bus to check out Wat Rong Khun, aka the “White Temple”, about 13km south of town. Designed by an artist back in 1997, it has some elements of the traditional temples, except in all white and layered with modern symbolism. Hands reaching up out of the ground to represent desire and paintings inside of Western cultural figures (Michael Jackson, Superman, Elvis, Darth Vader, Neo from the Matrix, and many more) to represent rebirth and delusion. Plus an artificial waterfall with images of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and other creatures. It was different and worth the visit.
Today is May 13th, I woke up to news of the Portland Trailblazers winning game 7 and advancing to the Western Conference Finals, I have a little more spring in my step. We boarded our bus headed up to Laos at 10AM, and had it all to ourselves. This had us a little worried, as we have never had an empty bus before. Plus, as we watched our route on Maps.me, we appeared to be going the wrong way. The brief moments of doubt left as we veered north.
After 3 hrs on an empty bus, we easily passed through border formalities on both sides of the Mekong River and arrived at the bus station in Huay Xai, Laos. There, we negotiated a truck ride into to the heart of town with the last of our Thai Baht and a few US Dollars, and found lodging and food.
Tomorrow we board a slow boat for 2 days of river travel to the town of Luang Prabang. It is exciting to be in a new country. We expect Laos to be a little rougher around the edges, more mountainous, slower paced, cheaper, and just our style.
D = 218
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