My Thailand Vacation: Chiang Mai

Oh Chiang Mai...so much to love! As I’ve been writing about Thailand, I’ve been excited to get to this part, and yet nervous at the same time because I don’t know where to begin! When people ask me about my favorite part of the trip, without hesitation I say Chiang Mai. We spent the second half of our trip here, and could not have been happier with the mix of history, culture and natural beauty we encountered. 

Chiang Mai is the cultural hub of northern Thailand, with over 300 Buddhist temples (wats) and so much history everywhere you look. We had the incredible good fortune of being there for two festivals, deep rooted in Thai culture. Loi Krathong and Yee Peng take place during the full moon at the end of November each year (dates vary as it’s based on the lunar calendar), and amazingly, this was during our trip. We just switched things around to be in Chiang Mai for these festivals, as I’d read that Chiang Mai has the largest celebrations in all of Thailand, though they are certainly celebrated throughout the country.

We stayed in what’s called the Old City – one square mile enclosed by the old brick city gates, and bordered by a moat. 

One afternoon we just walked out of our hotel in search of some Buddhist temples (wat means temple in Thai), and boy did we find some. They are seemingly everywhere you turn, though some are bigger than others. These feel like compounds as the wat itself is massive, and there are students living there studying to be monks. There are old historical wats that have been preserved, monuments set up to learn about the wat, and of course the wats themselves which you can enter to pray or just take some pictures and leave. 

 

We bought some of the small flowers that are used as offerings to Buddha – you write down your name, make a wish for yourself or someone else, place it on the offering trays on the altar, and the monks will pray for you that night and the following morning. We were just blown away by the massive gold structures, countless statues of Buddha, and the way the religion seems to be so embedded in the Thai culture there. The only thing I can compare it to is the way Catholicism is very apparent in places like the Vatican City and, to a lesser degree, Rome.

At one of the larger temples, they had something called Monk Chat and you can go right up and talk to the monks. While I was hoping to get into a deep discussion about Buddhism, their English is somewhat broken as many of them have only learned English from talking to tourists like me, without any formal English education. So our conversation consisted more of me asking them questions about living at a monastery and what life is like studying to become a monk. They seemed very happy and accepting of things like not being able to eat after dark, being required to stay on the temple grounds after dark, only being allowed to go home once a year to see family, and other rules that you might expect from someone in an intense program such as this. The rules vary depending on which monastery you’re at, and they can move around to experience living in different areas. It was all very interesting, and at the end of our chat, they gave me a “krathong” which is part of the Loy Krathong festival where you make a wish and let a krathong down the river, essentially making a wish to the water gods.

One day we took an organized tour to Doi Suthep, one of the oldest and largest wats, about 30 minutes outside of Chiang Mai. We made the mistake of going with an organized tour group though, which wasn’t really worth the money as they didn’t provide much information and didn’t even go into the wat with us. If you want to see this, just rent a taxi or songthaew (a covered pick-up truck with benches in the back) and go on your own, or do more research than we did and find a better tour company. :) The wat itself was incredible - fascinating and full of people, and there’s a large staircase to take you up the hill into the wat. There was so much gold everywhere and it was just beautiful! There were so many different kinds of Buddhas, in different sizes, positions, materials, and I just couldn't stop taking pictures of everything. From the top, on a clear day, you can look out and see the city of Chiang Mai below. 

 

 

In addition to learning about the religious aspect of Thai culture, we took a Thai cooking class which was a really fun experience! Several people had recommended this, and since we like cooking (and eating!) we decided to do it. I researched several cooking class companies online and ultimately went with a smaller company boasting healthy cooking – Thai Basil Cookery. Most cooking classes have the same format – you are picked up and taken to a Thai market where you pick out all the food that you’ll cook (or your teacher will show you the various Thai ingredients while someone else gets the food). Either way, the food you’ll cook with comes from the market and as a result, should be incredibly fresh. This was actually the best Thai food we had the entire trip, and I’m sure it’s because it was so fresh and with so few preservatives or additives sometimes found in restaurants. 

There were two other couples and one teacher. Our teacher, Tom, was great and I really felt like I was in cooking school! We got to pick one of three dishes for six courses,  so between my fiance and me, we learned how to make 12 dishes – appetizer, soup, noodle, curry, stir fry and dessert! We cooked one course and then sat down together and ate, and then cooked the next course, and were very full at the end of the night! Highlights included making our own curry from scratch, meaning using a mortar and pestle to grind coriander seeds (no ground coriander for us!), chili peppers, garlic, etc. Then we made our own coconut milk by putting fresh coconut in a cheesecloth, then continuously wringing it out in a large pot filled with water. Then we finally combined the curry paste with the coconut milk, and then with the veggies and meat, and stir-fried it all together for the most delicious green curry chicken I’ve ever had. 

As a devoted mango and sticky rice fan, that was my dessert of choice, made with the same coconut milk we’d made from scratch. So fun!! Our teacher told us where to get the ingredients at home, such as fish oil, palm sugar and other Asian ingredients. We got a cookbook to take home, and once we start eating Thai food again (it’s been about a month since we’ve been back and we haven’t wanted Thai food yet!) we’ll definitely be trying out our new Thai cooking skills!

Another thing on our Thai culture wish list was going to a Muay Thai kickboxing fight. I used to train Muay Thai and this was another motivating factor for putting Thailand on my bucket list, in addition to scuba diving. So we went and it was one of our favorite nights! We went to a “stadium” which was basically a bunch of bars on the perimeter of a semi-enclosed building, and an elevated boxing ring in the middle. There were about seven fights, starting with tiny looking Thai boys, then one female fight, and the grand finale was an international fight with a guy from France against a Thai guy. Just as I’d heard, they don’t wear any gear – no shin pads, head pieces, nothing. I can’t imagine kicking someone’s shins without padding…eek!!! It was pretty awesome to watch Muay Thai fighters in Thailand, not understanding a word of what the announcer said and yet screaming and cheering for whichever fighter we decided we liked better. Ha. 

On our walk back to our hotel that night, after the fights, we passed all these bars with older, white men and beautiful, young, Thai women. Unfortunately we think they were prostitutes, and it was pretty sad to think that’s how they make a living. Shortly after, we walked through what must have been the gay district, because we saw the exact same thing except white men with tiny, Thai men. Interesting cultural experience and pretty sad. They weren’t blatant prostitutes, but we saw so many situations like this that we didn’t know what else it would be.

The next day we decided we wanted to go hiking, but no one in Thai knew the word “hiking.” While Chiang Mai is a well-known launching off point for jungle trekking (usually overnight hiking/camping in the jungle), we were just interested in a day trip. Luckily, an American girl overheard us talking and told us she’d just been hiking at the Bua Tong waterfall, part of the Mae Taeng National Forest Reserve. She raved about it, so we hired a songthaew driver for 1,000 TB to take us there the next day (it's about 45 minutes north of Chiang Mai). 

This was probably the best day we had because we love exploring the non-touristy areas of a city, and we absolutely love being outside! The waterfall was beautiful, as you can see below, and you can actually climb up the waterfall as the rocks aren't the usual slippery rocks you'd expect to find.

We climbed around the waterfall and river, and then decided to explore the jungle a bit. We'd been hiking through thick jungle for a while and almost turned around when we discovered this completely untouched, beautiful waterfall! While this picture is pretty, the waterfall was so gorgeous and the pool of water this rich, bright blue, that this just doesn't do it justice. We stood there in awe for a while, shocked we'd encountered such stark beauty by accident. Amazing!

We continued hiking, though we should've turned back, because the trail became so thin and eventually just ended at the river, and we weren't sure we'd be able to find our way back. I had visions of walking in circles, never finding our way back, and had my first panic attack. Lol I wish I was exaggerating, but I was scared! When we finally got back to the waterfall, we knew where we were, and then we basically sprinted the entire way back because we thought our driver might have left us because we'd been gone for so long!

Instead, he was praying at a little Buddhist shelter near the entrance to the forest, and pointed out some view points he'd discovered while we were gallivanting around in the jungle. He was the sweetest man we met over the course of our entire trip, and I wish I'd gotten his name, but at least I took this picture with him. Some people really touch you in a way you can't explain, and I found myself thinking about him even after our trip ended. He was just so sweet and patient and happy, despite having worked all day driving us around for the equivalent of $30. Actually, he agreed to 1,000 TH (about $30) and we gave him 1,200, and he was so incredibly gracious. He offered to drive us around for the remainder of our trip and was always on time to pick us up at our hotel and so friendly and accommodating. Such a sweet man!

When we got back from our adventures in the jungle, we were off to the Loi Krathong and Yi Peng festival events! There was a parade that night going from the old city walls near our hotel, down to the Ping River where people were letting their krathongs down the river and lighting lanterns into the sky. The parade was incredible - Thai men and women dressed in traditional Thai clothing, sometimes dancing, singing, or just waving as they marched along beside their impressive floats. We walked the whole way to the river along the parade route, seeing monks watching from the nearby wats every so often.

When we got to the river, we made a wish on our krathong that the monks had given me the day before, and let it float down the river with the rest of them. There were so many people taking part in this tradition, and so much excitement everywhere we turned. I can't even explain the positive energy in the city this night - it just all seemed magical and a little surreal that we were in Thailand for something as big as this! 

 

We watched all the people on the streets lighting their lanterns and letting them go. We bought our own lantern for about 30 TB (~ $1), wrote our names on the lantern and made a wish, as instructed, and watched our lantern fly into the night sky, lit up by the hundreds of paper lanterns floating away into the heavens above. 

This was our last night in Chiang Mai and it surpassed all our expectations! After making our wishes and watching our lantern fade into the sky, we walked around some more as there was just so much activity and the streets were flooded with excited, happy people letting their lanterns fly into the sky. We crossed the bridge at the river and stumbled upon a handful of brightly lit stages with live music and dancers. We were pretty convinced that these were Thailand's biggest pop stars, but who knows ;) It must've been at least 10pm before we finally went somewhere to eat dinner. We were just so caught up in all the excitement of this huge cultural tradition. 

If you ever have the opportunity to visit Chiang Mai in late November, during these festivals, I highly recommend doing everything you can to make it happen! Even if you can't visit during that time, you won't be disappointed with a visit to Chiang Mai, with it's rich history, positive energy and friendly people. I've never been anywhere like this and certainly hope I make it back some day.


Where we stayed: Awana Guest House

Favorite restaurant: The Whole Earth (Indian and Thai)

Cooking class: Basil Cookery School