What you missed in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Laurie and I just finished up a month-long stay in Chiang Mai, Thailand. We’d been hearing about this place for a year or so, listening to travel podcasts and reading travel blogs. Everyone raves about it. Chiang Mai has it all. Reliable high-speed internet, cheap food, Yoga classes, old walled cities, modern malls, tons of Wats (Buddhist temples), budget accommodations and plenty to do.

We checked into a beautiful 2BR apartment for a month which was fully furnished, had a laundry, pool, convenience store, and of course high-speed internet. It set us back $580, everything included, for the month. The owners of the apartment lived in the building too. They are originally from China and have been living here for a couple of years. We immediately hit it off with them. The guy is an artist, early 50’s, and here on a retirement visa. The wife is a Yoga and Chi Kung enthusiast. We had tea at their place. They own 4 units in the building. He gave us a framed original drawing he had sketched which resembled a view of the rocks and trees outside our home in Webster.

We rode bicycles into the old city every day for a week to attend Yoga, Tai Chi and Chi Kung classes. The traffic is a little sketchy, bordering on dangerous. We turned the bikes in after the first week and used Uber for 2 weeks until Uber sold its Asia operations to local rival Grab. Now we have to use Grab. The business deal ended up with Uber now owning 27% of Grab. Uber previously had a 27% share of the market before the deal. A good business move for Uber. Ownership vs. operational. Uber’s platform was way better than Grab’s platform though. Getting to and from places was easier and clearer. Grab has some upgrades to do. These transportation booking services have brought a new level of safety, honesty and comfort to travelers like us. Now you have a choice when you get off a plane in a place like Delhi, Bangkok or Hanoi. Instead of jumping into a local taxi and being told your hotel burned down last week (lie) and charged 3 times the normal rate you can now click a button on your phone and a car appears in minutes and brings you to exactly where you want to go and you know the price exactly and no money physically changes hands. Karma for Delhi police tourist taxis has arrived!

We sweated our asses off every day. It was consistently mid 90’s to low 100’s every day. It was sunny too. Really sunny. We picked the hottest time to visit Chiang Mai. By accident, we also picked the wettest, in a sense. The annual New Year’s celebration in Thailand is held on April 13th. It lasts 3 days. OK maybe 3 1/2. Everyone stops what they’re doing and throws water at everyone else. How bad can it be I thought? It’s 101 outside. Some water will cool us off. It’s fun for about an hour or two. After 4 hours it’s getting tiring. Day 2 I stayed inside. Day 3 we clicked a button on the phone and a Grab driver picked us up and drove us to the mall. We picked up some groceries, printed out our visa for Vietnam, had some pizza or ice cream, mailed some postcards and clicked for a Grab ride home. We stayed dry 🙂

We visited a whole bunch of Buddhist temples most of which were unremarkable. 2 of them did stand out. Both Wat Umong, aka the tunnel temple and Wat Pha Lat, nestled in the forest were really cool. The tunnel temple is pictured at the beginning of this post. It was less than an hour walk from our place and was set in quiet wooded area. Centuries ago tunnels were dug into the hillside as part of the temple complex. We wandered through them for a while and then sat for our practice inside. Outside the tunnels the temple complex rambled around some winding roads and there was a small museum, a lake with pigeons, some roosters, snack shops, a couple of monks, and a few tourists. It was a pleasant experience. Another day we hiked from our place up the mountain nearby. The fairly steep jungle trail led to Wat Pha Lat. This was a collection of medium-sized, ornate structures built into the side of the mountain. It was really quiet and peaceful. After our practice we ordered a couple lattes at a small stand right there at the temple in the jungle on the side of this mountain. A monk made them for us.

We went to an elephant sanctuary and a national park. We got to hang out with rescued elephants for half a day. We learned about them, learned how to feed them and then took them for a walk. We were even able to hug them. Eventually we walked with them to a river where the elephants took a bath. One of them put on quite a show. Another day we travelled to Doi Inthanon National Park. We visited waterfalls, took a guided hike through the jungle and hillsides, and visited some pagodas. This day was noticeably cooler as we were in the mountains. A nice break from the sweltering heat of the city.

We took a Thai cooking class. Real Thai food is really tasty and we learned all about it. We’ve now taken cooking class in 3 different countries. Thailand was my favorite so far.

We went to the movies. It’s affordable, ultra modern and comfortable, air-conditioned and in English. Here’s what happens at the movie theatre in Thailand. There are 30 minutes of previews and advertisements. So if a movie says it starts at 2 it really means 230. Once the movie is ready to start everyone must stand for the King’s song (think national anthem) First offense for not standing is jail time. Nobody knows what the penalty for a second offense is. During the movie anytime there is someone smoking on-screen the cigarette is blurred out, a skull appears on the screen, and the message “smoking kills you” is displayed in the bottom corner.

Chiang Mai is polluted. Unfortunately I’m learning more and more about air pollution on my travels. Delhi, India was named the most polluted city in the world last year. See article here. I’ve been to Delhi a bunch of times and it’s true. The pollution is epic. It always looks foggy and smokey. It will make you sick after a few hours or days depending on your constitution. So when I arrived in Bangkok and could breathe easily I was happy. But when I heard people complaining about the pollution in Bangkok I was puzzled. To me Bangkok seemed fine. So I did some digging. Bangkok is wicked polluted too. Just not quite as bad as Delhi. Later as we made our plans to travel to Chiang Mai we were troubled by the newspaper reports that Chiang Mai was now the most polluted place on the planet. It can’t be I thought. They haven’t been to Delhi! So come to find out, farmers in the north, Burma farmers if you ask the Thai’s, burn their fields every year adding to or causing this pollution. This also coincides with the hottest time of the year thing (100′), and the water festival thing, and our travel plans thing. Needless to say when we arrived I did not find Chiang Mai air pollution to be that bad at all. But, alas, I am not an air pollution expert. Come to find out it’s the pesky little, small things in life that will get you – like micrograms of small particulate air pollution. For a short period, yes when we were on our way there, Chiang Mai had the worst. It didn’t look as bad as Delhi but science is science.

We met tons of westerners who retire here. Ok, the retirement visa. If you’re 50+ and put 25K in a Thai bank you can move here and get the reliable high-speed internet, cheap food, Yoga classes, old walled cities, modern malls, budget accommodations and plenty to do. But there’s a cost of living that a lot of people won’t consider. What’s the point of it all if for a couple of months a year it’s the most polluted place on the planet? Or even one of the most polluted? Everything we’ve heard about Chiang Mai is true. But I’ve crossed it off my retirement list. Don’t get me wrong, we had a great time here. The people are nice and I have some great memories, but science is science. Would I go back? Maybe during non burning season. And when it’s not so hot. And when it’s not so wet 🙂