Helpful Tips-Chiang Mai
Things to do in Chiang Mai, Thailand
Things to do
Visit the Elephants – This is by far one of the most unique and transformative experiences of traveling through Thailand. Having the chance to see these majestic creatures in their natural habitat and being able to get up close enough to interact with them is something that you will never be able to do back home. Elephants are friendly, playful, have an innate sense of humor and are empathetic to human emotion. For example, whenever an elephant sees a human smiling and laughing, they instinctively flap their ears with excitement. The baby elephants are just like puppies, in that they love to play and chase each other around. They don’t know their own size and they will playfully charge at you so just be nimble and alert and you won’t have a problem. They also have quick reflexes and if you get too close to their hind legs, they will instinctively kick out to the side so just be careful. I saw a young backpacker get kicked in the leg and she had a huge bruise on it afterwards but was not seriously injured.
There are plenty of elephant encounters available to choose from (we used Elephant Jungle Sanctuary) but please do your research beforehand. Elephants are often exploited for the amusement of tourists and the process for training them to dance, perform tricks or have people ride them is especially cruel. In order to train them, elephants are kidnapped as babies and then held inside a cage and tortured in order to break the animal’s spirit. After the elephant’s spirit has been broken, they are then ready to begin taking instruction from their captors who continue to mistreat them for years. Please make sure that the elephant encounter that you choose to book is one that rescues elephants or is part of a nature preserve where the elephants are free to roam in their natural habitat otherwise you will be contributing your tourist dollars to inhumane treatment of these awesome creatures.
Cooking Class – Chiang Mai is considered by many to be the culinary capital of the country and after our experience it is hard to disagree. There are so many wonderful spices that are fused together to create flavors unlike anything that we had ever experienced back home. As a result, we encourage you to take the opportunity to learn how to cook a local dish from one of the many cooking schools in the region. This is one of the best things that you can take back home with you from your travels. We used Pantawan Cooking School. They were very friendly and spoke perfect English.
Visit Temples – Chiang Mai can easily be considered the “city of temples” as you will find a Wat (temple) at almost every corner of every street and the diversity of them all is absolutely mind boggling. Most people traveling through here will never be able to see every single temple in Chiang Mai but we do recommend visiting the two largest and most famous temples which are “Wat Phra Singh” (located in the city center within the moat) and “Doi Suthep” which is located in the mountains surrounding Chiang Mai city. To get there you will have to either hire a driver or take public transportation. Unfortunately, we were not able to make it to Doi Suthep on this trip as we decided to take a day trip to Chiang Rai instead. However, every single person that we met and chatted with in Chiang Mai that had been to Doi Suthep had amazing things to say about it.
Take a day trip to Chiang Rai – Chiang Rai (locals pronounce it Shing Lai) is the northern most city of Thailand which is just an hour drive from the borders of Myanmar and Laos. There are fewer tourists in this city as compared to other parts of Thailand (especially the islands of the south) so it feels more authentic. The drive from Chiang Mai (locals pronounce it Shing Mai) is quite rustic and you will see some interesting architecture along with a diverse terrain in the beautiful countryside (LINK TO NINA’S ARTICLE ON CHIANG RAI). Some of the most awe-inspiring temples that we had the pleasure of visiting during our trip to Thailand were Wat Rong Khun (also known as the White Temple) and Baan Dam (also known as the Black Temple).
Songkran – If you have the good fortune of visiting Thailand during the Thai New Year (known as Songkran) then we encourage you to fully immerse yourself in the celebrations. This is a rather festive occasion where people engage in the custom of taking to the streets to douse each other with water over three consecutive days. Large gatherings of locals and tourists alike typically walk around the streets with water guns, hoses, buckets, cups and anything else that people can find in order to throw water on each other. This is celebrated everywhere in the country and even in the smallest villages you will see picnic tables, colorful plastic chairs, and tables with umbrellas set up in the river with families enjoying their meals in the river while children and adults alike chase each other with hoses and threw buckets of water at each other with deadly accuracy. We even witnessed pickup trucks with an entire team of people in the bed of the truck doing drive by water shootings into crowds of people. I promise you that this is the most fun that you will ever have had since you were a kid at a pool party.
It is important to note the religious significance of this holiday. Songkran is about the purification of one’s sins (possibly as a way of bringing in the new year) and paying respects to the Buddha. The manifestation of this has evolved to become a giant water fight in the streets with people cleansing each other by throwing water on each other. For some people, this can be a culture shock since throwing water on a stranger back home in the USA is grounds for conflict. But during Songkran in Thailand, people do not become offended when they are doused with water by a stranger. Seriously, we saw moped and scooter drivers who got ice buckets of water to the chest and face as they were driving, and they didn’t even flinch, despite the fact that this could have led to an accident.
Local market – The local outdoor food market within the old city moat has two different scenes depending on what time of day you visit. During the day, it is filled with vendors selling their produce to the locals, who are often seen haggling prices and going about their daily life. Also, on weekends, locals like to sing karaoke. At night, the market closes and the area around the market fills up with food stalls where locals cook delicious soups, noodles, meat, fish, chicken and rice flavored with native spices. During this time, you will mostly see tourists hanging out in the plaza with their bowls of food and drinking local Chang beer.
People watch – Chiang Mai is an interesting city because there is a noticeable community of ex-pats who live here (although not nearly as pronounced as the islands in the south). Most of the ex-pats that we noticed were either retired people of British descent or really young backpackers who were making a living off of drop shipping as the cost of living is undeniably cheap (also known as “digital nomads”).
Transportation
Songthaew – This is the best way to get around the city and by far the cheapest. In general, a songthaew is just a pickup truck that has been converted into a ride sharing taxi by turning the bed of the truck into an extra cabin with wooden seats and metal bars installed. It’s very easy to identify the songthaew because they are painted red and you will see them everywhere in Chiang Mai.
Songthaews travel in predetermined circuits/routes and you have to flag them down much like a hitchhiker would. Once they’ve pulled over you have to tell them where you are going. If they agree to take you then they will quote you a price. At this point you must negotiate (at least half of what they quote). Expect the songthaew to be one of the slower forms of transportation available. This is because the drivers continually stop along the way to pick up and drop off other travelers and if you are on a songthaew full of people going to different places it can really delay things. Just go with it and don’t be in a rush. And don’t worry about the driver forgetting about where to drop you off. These drivers have an uncanny memory and never forget. So, don’t believe them if they try to act like they forgot which rate you agreed to.
Chiang Mai had the cheapest songthaews out of any place that we visited in Thailand. Even during a busy time of the year like Songkran (Thai New Year) we only paid about 30 Baht per person for a trip around the city.
Tuk Tuk – A tuk tuk ia a motorized version of a rickshaw. They usually seat no more than 2 or 3 people and are available for private hire. This is generally the fastest form of transportation as they accelerate quickly and are nimble enough to weave through traffic, but they are also one of the most expensive forms of transportation. As with the songthaew, you must negotiate a rate before you agree to get into the vehicle, otherwise you are setting yourself up to be taken advantage of. We paid around 100 Baht per person which is roughly $3 USD.
Taxis – Taxis are available in Chiang Mai, but they are not widely available on the street, which is fine because there are better forms of transportation such as a songthaew or tuk tuk. The only time that we took a taxi was when we were traveling to and from the airport.
Private Drivers – This is the most expensive form of transportation but if you are taking a day trip somewhere outside of the city center, then we would highly recommend hiring a private driver. Even during a busy time of year (Songkran – Thai New Year) we only paid 4,000 Baht ($120 USD) to hire a driver to take us to Chiang Rai and back (6 hour round trip) and wait for us outside of every place that he dropped us off. In total, we hired our driver for about 12 hours so for us this was a reasonable price. We coordinated this through our hotel (Thannatee Boutique Hotel).
Money
Always make sure to carry enough cash (Thai Baht) with you because very few vendors and establishments will accept any other form of payment.
Accommodations
Hotels are very cheap in Chiang Mai and are of good quality. Despite the fact that our visit coincided with a major national holiday, we only paid about $50 USD per night to stay at a beautiful boutique hotel (Thannatee Boutique Hotel) that was really close to the city center and included free breakfast every morning. We stayed at Thannatee Boutique Hotel, which we highly recommend. Apart from the good location, beautiful décor, lovely amenities and excellent restaurant menu, the staff was very attentive and helpful. They even managed to call around and find us a private driver for our last-minute trip up to Chiang Rai during a time of year when almost every single driver in the city was already booked or taking the day off of work for Songkran.
Safety
Chiang Mai is a very safe city in terms of violent crime and petty theft. We never witnessed anything other than very polite locals. The most dangerous thing that you will encounter is crossing the street in the city center since traffic lights are few and far between.
Miscellaneous
Healthcare – The quality of healthcare in Chiang Mai, should such a need ever arise, is excellent and in our opinion better than any health care that we have received back home in the USA. Unfortunately, during our trip to Chiang Mai, Nina had to go to the hospital because she was feeling ill and her symptoms had returned even worse than before (article where Nina got sick). I took her to Chiang Mai Ram hospital where she was screened by nurses, had lab work conducted, was diagnosed by a doctor and given 4 prescription medications and the cost of everything combined was only 4,000 Baht ($125 USD)! Add to that, the fact that we were in and out of the hospital in just under 2 hours and this became a moment of complete culture shock. In the USA, that same medical care and prescription medication would cost a minimum of $10,000 USD and you would be spending at least 5-7 hours of your day at the hospital. Something is seriously wrong with our medical system in the USA and it is no wonder that medical debt is a leading cause of personal bankruptcy.
Ex-pats – There is a small but noticeable cohort of ex-patriots living in Chiang Mai. Most of them are either retired people of British decent or a backpacker making a living off of drop shipping products online (also known as “digital nomads”). If you observe carefully, you will occasionally see them riding bike in the city center.
