Chiang Mai is a really chill city that gives a lot of variety for stuff to do. We were excited to have a couple low key days because we were coming from the craziness of Bangkok. Chiang Mai was exactly what we were looking for. We reserved a hotel through Airbnb for a fairly cheap price of about $15 USD per day. The place was a legitimate hotel within the old city square, but super quiet and on sort of a back street. We were in Chiang Mai for only about a week, but we were able to see a lot without the stress that Bangkok brings. Here are some things we thought were pretty fun and think others should check out too:
1.Go to an elephant sanctuary
There are tourist stands all over the city telling you to go ride elephants, play with baby tigers, or to feed monkeys. Although these options are available for cheap, the places really aren’t good for the animals. We were able to find an elephant sanctuary that doesn’t allow riding and treats the elephants really well. Trang has her own post about the whole trip with some funny pictures of our experience.
2. Check out the Night Bazaar
The Chiang Mai Night Bazaar is a massively organized flea and street market. Another tourist destination that has all the cool souvenirs along with some delicious street food. In multiple areas there were bands playing and street-side bars to get drinks. The market was just outside the eastern wall of the old city square. We spent at least two of our nights just walking around the market because there was always something new to see there.
3. See the temples
Chiang Mai is probably the holiest place I have visited. There are over 300 Buddhist temples to check out in the city, and most are free. One really motivating temple we were able to see was Doi Suthep, which is on the top of a mountain looking down at the city. Most of the temples are covered in bright colors and have beautiful carvings surrounding the enclosures. There are some temples with specific themes such as the dragon temple and horse temple. There are seriously a lot of interesting sites to see.
4. Get a Thai massage
Sticking with the chill theme of Chiang Mai, you should get a Thai massage in Thailand. It is super cheap, a massage can range from 200 Baht to 3000 Baht and available everywhere. You can even get one in a temple on top of a mountain, or in a women’s prison. Everywhere is fair game.
5. Go see a muay thai fight
All over Chiang Mai people were promoting muay thai fights. We had two different arenas that were within walking distance to us. One was right in the bar district and would have been really cool to see, but the night we went out looking for a fight there wasn’t a fight. The arena we went with was still pretty awesome. There were stalls all around with thai food as well as western foods. We could have purchased VIP seats, but decided to hang back a bit. Even though we went with the cheap seats, we could see every kick and punch very clearly. Out of the six fights we saw, three were knockouts. It was brutally fun to watch.
6. Eat!
We ate so much in Chiang Mai. There is too much to choose from. In fact there are so many to choose from I will have another post dedicated entirely about the food in Chiang Mai.
