We flew up to Chiang Mai to spend the rest of our time in Thailand, at least until we return again later this year 🙂 Bangkok was beautiful, but Chiang Mai is just gorgeous. We immediately loved the city. Everything is colorful and laid back, with cute restaurants and markets everywhere you look. It’s also a food paradise!
We chose to spend about 3 weeks in Chiang Mai for a few reasons. It’s got great infrastructure, there’s a lot of expats and digital nomads spread about in co-working spaces and coffee shops everywhere (it a UNESCO Creative City), and it has great access to a lot of exciting activities in Northern Thailand.
We’re spending our first few nights in a hostel just inside the Old City’s (founded in the 1200’s) moat.
The Somphet market, where we hope to return later after taking a cooking class!
We’ve spent a lot of time just wandering around the Old City, discovering beautiful Wats and restaurants.
We’d heard good things about the Chiang Mai historical center, so we spent a couple of hours walking through it. Afterwards, we stopped by a cafe around the corner to get some Khao Soi, a northern Thai specialty of curried coconut milk with noodles! It tastes even better than it looks.
Thailand’s road system makes too much sense. Main roads are named, and all side roads off of them are numbered “Soi” roads. These small Sois are where you find all the good stuff. We happened upon a gallery/restaurant nestled behind some ruins… so fried pumpkin and a local craft beer it was.
There was a cute little coffee shop near the hostel so we decided to spend a few hours working on our laptops. It turned out to be some of the best coffee and tea we’ve had in a long time. Bonus!
Noodles and something-I-don’t-know-but-probably-isn’t-cheese? Yes, please.
Every Sunday evening there’s a night market that blankets about a third of the Old City. If you can think of it, they sell it here somewhere. We were, as usual, all about that Pad Thai and grilled meat.
Temperatures in the mornings and evenings are just perfect for sitting at an outdoor bar and watching the ‘Street TV’ while chatting.
Highlights of Chiang Mai so far:
- Everything is so easy! It’s easy to eat, get around, work online, you name it
- Gorgeous shops, restaurants and markets
- Walkability, it’s only a mile to walk across the Old City from moat to moat
- Cost, a meal for two at a street stall or casual restaurant is typically $6-8