Thailand's northern 'culture capital' is a firm favourite among travellers and holiday-makers alike. Desperate to discover why, I went on an exploring mission in the 33 degree heat within half an hour of arriving at my guest house and wasn't walking for long until I, too, fell hook, line and sinker.
1. Elephant Retirement Park
I'm not exaggerating when I say that this was quite possibly one of the best days of my life. Sounds dramatic, I know! But there really are no words to describe how incredible this experience was. The park isn't a typical Thai elephant attraction in that they don't: offer elephant rides (it hurts their back & is considered cruel), teach the elephants tricks (such as drawing pictures with a paintbrush) or parade them around in a circus-like manner. These are rescued elephants and they are showered with TLC every single day, and by TLC I mean feeding them more bananas than you can shake a stick at, slathering them in mud as a sort of spa treatment (which generally descends into a full-on mud fight), bathing them in the lake and just lavishing them with attention - which they absolutely love! It's such a special place in a country which has got something of a reputation for animal cruelty.* We got up close and personal with these gentle giants, which are the most beautiful, docile and friendly animals I've ever encountered. They're not afraid to walk right up to you (the baby likes to walk straight into people and give them a playful shove - if you don't see it coming your chances of remaining upright are pretty slim) and some of them even wrapped their trunks around my middle & my legs, giving me an elephant hug! If you place the end of their trunk on your cheek you may be the lucky recipient of an elephant kiss, which are rather wet and muddy but lovely all the same! I had so much fun and felt privileged to be in the company of these gorgeous animals for a whole day. What an experience. Came back to Chiang Mai tired but happy and in one piece (just!). The baby trod on my little toe and christ knows how but it didn't break - bit gutted about that if I'm honest, would have been the coolest response ever to 'So how did you break your toe?'. I would love to go back to volunteer for a week, a month. Hopefully one day in the near future :)
*This is the reason I didn't get the standard Thailand snap cuddling a tiger at the city's Tiger Kingdom. While they insist the animals aren't drugged, this is very much a topic for debate & I adamantly refuse to fund it.
2. Loi Krathong
If you time it right, you can catch one of the world's most visually arresting celebrations right here in Chiang Mai. Loi Krathong, the Festival of Lights, is celebrated throughout the Kingdom on the evening of the full moon on the 12th month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar. Locals and tourists alike set floating candles (Krathongs) adrift on the rivers to pay homage to Buddha and to rid themselves of anger and negative thoughts; some people even put hair or nail clippings in the Krathong to symbolise letting go of the bad elements residing within themselves.
More importantly (for me at least), Loi Krathong coincides with the northern Thai festival of Yi Peng, when thousands of glowing orange lanterns are simultaneously released into the night sky. The exact date of the mass lantern release is only published a few weeks beforehand - this year it took place on 25 October and there was a second event held for tourists two weeks afterwards, on 8 November, for the princely sum of $100. All of the tickets for the tourist event were sold out when I started making enquiries, but go down to the river via the Tha Phae Gate on the main festival days (this year it was 5-7 November) and there are hundreds of people releasing lanterns - and, rather dangerously, fireworks - on the bridge. Magical, ethereal, stunning: it's a once in a lifetime experience you won't see anywhere else. There's plenty more going on around the city at this time, including firework displays, sacred chanting, grand parades, thousands of tea candles lining the moat and colourful lanterns adorning shops & monuments. I'm so, so glad I timed my visit around Yi Peng; it's just spectacular.
3. City temples
With a high density of temples packed into the city centre, odds are you'll walk right into one within five minutes of leaving your guest house. And another one a few minutes after that. And another, and another! Once again, though, it's not a 'seen one seen them all' - quite the opposite, in fact. While they all share the common purpose of worshipping Buddha, each temple is completely different both on the inside and the exterior. My personal favourite was Wat Mok Mo Lee (the first photo below), and not just because I spotted an ancient monk sporting a conspicuous collection of tattoos on his arm! Be prepared to cover your knees, shoulders, midriff & to leave your shoes on the steps outside.
4. Thai body massage
There's a fine line between pleasure and pain, and I suspect whoever coined this idiom may have done so on limping out of a Thai massage parlour, vaguely aware of a mild sense of relaxation, but primarily bemused and somewhat relieved to be in one piece. Thai masseuses really go to town, using their hands, elbows, knees and feet to amp up the pressure and stretch you in ways you didn't know you could - and in some cases probably shouldn't - bend. There were several moments where I found myself planning escape routes and creating a list of plausible excuses to leave, but at the same time there were parts of it I really enjoyed, and it was totally worth it for the experience (and the sexy outfit!).
5. Yoga classes
Drop in yoga or meditation sessions are often high on peoples' priority lists when they visit Thailand, and especially in Chiang Mai where visitors stop off for weeks or even months at a time solely for this purpose. I was lucky enough to find a drop in yoga and meditation class rolled into one being run by a fellow Brit - perfect! Since there were only 3 of us, he tailored the class to make it a bit easier on me (his face was a picture when he realised I couldn't even touch my toes) and had us doing everything from 'the warrior' to meditating as he chanted spiritual mantras. I struggled physically with the yoga and mentally with the meditation aspect: he kept saying things like 'Observe your consciousness' and 'Find the space between the inhale and the exhale' which I didn't really get - does anyone? Good experience all the same, just a bit gutted I couldn't get a snap of myself doing downward facing dog!
6. Sunday Night Walking Street Market
I thought I'd had quite enough of markets until I accidentally walked straight into this one and ended up zig-zagging from stall to stall, buying no less than 4 items of elephant-patterned clothing and sampling the ample street food, all over the course of about 3 hours. I couldn't have avoided it if I'd tried: sprawling across a vast proportion of the old town & closing many of the main roads, the Sunday market is truly enormous and goes on well into the night. Go in the afternoon if you want to avoid the crowds; moving more than a few metres per minute becomes impossible when the sun sets.
7. Street markets
While not necessarily a 'must-see', the street markets are great places to go for fresh fruit, shakes, food (snacks and full-blown meals) and more elephant themed garments. Sompet is particularly good for clothes and fresh fruit, and is close to the tourist area with money exchange & travel agencies and casual, Western-style eateries offering both Thai & Western menus. Legend has it the market at Chiang Mai gate is good, too.
8. Tuktuks
Providing a cheap and easy way to get around, you will probably take a tuktuk on your first day - and every day after that. While Chiang Mai is relatively small and a lovely place to explore on foot (braving the treacherous procedure of road-crossing aside), tuktuks, motorcycles and push bikes abound and are a useful way to get from A to B if you start to flag or have somewhere to be. Remember to haggle with your driver, otherwise you'll be paying 'tourist prices'. Not that this will leave you out of pocket - a ride from the centre of the old town to my guest house on the outskirts cost less than £1 after only managing to haggle the price down by 10 baht - but it's good practice for the markets and won't leave you feeling duped.
9. Chiang Rai
It's difficult to do justice to the beauty of the White Temple with words, but the three that best sum it up for me are unique, dazzling and majestic. The temple as a whole is a sight to behold, but it's the exquisite attention to detail that clearly went into every square millimetre that impressed me most. With gargoyles, skulls and intricate latticed décor, the temple is almost Gothic by nature, yet the sparkling white gives it a contemporary edge. It's not close to the city; Chiang Rai is around a 2 hour drive away, but for the white temple alone it's worth the journey. The photos would have been better with blue skies but you can't win 'em all, and the bright green grass provided a decent amount of contrast to really accentuate the white.
10. Doi Suthep
This one's a bit of a cheat as I wasn't exactly blown away by what is supposedly Chiang Mai's most famous and beautiful temple. While the golden pagoda was fairly impressive (although not real gold), I found the exterior decor tacky and garish. More to the point, the entire complex was crowded and very touristy - not my scene at all. I wouldn't have minded if I hadn't spent 600 baht and half a day coming here (we stopped at a hillside tribal village on the way which was equally unspectacular!). Verdict: don't bother. They say you haven't really seen Chiang Mai if you haven't been to Doi Suthep, but I heartily disagree. The city temples are far better.
I've really enjoyed my time in Chiang Mai but it's definitely time to move on - to Siem Reap!
