Since Chiang Mai is not the home of seemingly endless gargantuan shopping centers like Bangkok most of the best shopping opportunities are at various fairs. Most people I talked to in Chiang Mai recommended shopping at the Sunday walking street fair instead of the night bazaar which was overpriced.
While all three places I stayed at were withing a 5 minute walk to the old moat gate which is where the fair starts, Montri hotel was located right on the corner surrounded by Sunday’s street fair. I was staying at the nearby Royal Guesthouse when I decided to check out one of Chiang Mai’s biggest tourist attractions.
To say the Chiang Mai walking street fair is a tourist attraction is not doing it justice. It seemed all of northern Thailand was there. People from northern Thailand were there selling souvenirs, art, food and more and many people from Chiang Mai were also there. Much of the goods for sale I have seen everywhere I’ve been in Thailand but I would guess that most of the people that make them live in northern Thailand.
One of the Many Local Tribes People Selling their Sourvenirs
Near the Moat Gate
The square near the remnants of the brick wall and the old gate which used to surround the city is where I started my Sunday night walking market experience. The big square covered with baby blue and yellow paper lanterns is filled with booth after booth of goods. There are many people just lounging around along with tourists and Thai people there primarily for the food and being social.
I didn’t know whether the square by the moat gate was the entire Sunday street fair so I decided to walk up Ratchadamnen Road. Up the street I immediately noticed there was plenty more to the Chiang Mai walking street fair than just the square by the moat gate. I immediately noticed an alcove with solely food restaurants which I had to stop at. I ordered this omelet looking thing with noodles. As I was eating the omelet I started talking to a Thai girl who turned out to have been living in Australia for the last 7 years. She asked if I would join her and her 3 sisters for a walk through the fair.
Moat at the Beginning of Street Fair in front of Montri Hotel
On and On
I walked up the street with the Thai Aussie girl and her sisters and the streets seemingly got more crowded. It was very crowded to the point where I would get stuck in a bottleneck for a minute at a time in some spots. We stayed primarily on Ratchadamnen Road which included a couple temples and the fair seemed like it went on endlessly. After a few blocks we turned around and headed back towards the moat gate. My new Thai friend had to take her sisters home so I went to business and bought some gifts for my sisters.
View from Top of Apartment Building along Ratchadamnen Road
Overall Impression
While the Sunday walking street fair in Chiang Mai was huge it was nothing I haven’t seen before. For me the highlight was the delicious food which was easily available almost everywhere I looked. While it was crowded, there was absolutely no motor traffic which is unusual for Thailand. People traffic was pretty heavy but no motorcycles, trucks, scooters, etc. made the Chiang Mai walking street fair a pleasurable experience and a must for anyone staying in Chiang Mai over the weekend.
Monkey school was not originally included in the master plan. After visiting the long neck hill tribe and eating at the Tiger Kingdom buffet my driver recommended the monkey school. When I say recommended I really mean forcefully insisted as he just drove me there without really asking if I wanted to go. I’m sure he got some form of commission for taking me there.
I entered the monkey show and paid the admission fee of 200 baht ($6 USD) and was ushered to a small stadium like bleacher seating with the capacity of 50 or so. There was an announcer over the loud speaker who told everyone to be seated for the show which would start in 5 minutes.
One of the "Students" at Monkey School
The Monkey School Show
The ability of the monkeys to perform human-like mental activities such as recognizing numbers and math were interesting. The physical abilities of shooting basketballs with rather good accuracy, swimming to retrieve coins from the bottom of the pool and lifting weights was interesting as well.
The monkey school show was short and sweet as a different trainer came out with 3 or 4 different monkeys which they had collars and chains around their neck. It started with a monkey retrieving these numbered markers when the number was announced. The monkeys also did some math. Next they came out with a shopping cart, retrieved coconuts, lifted weights, shot baskets and finally dove under water.
A volunteer from the crowd’s hands were bound and he was sat in front of the audience of around 10-20 people. The announcer told the volunteer not to look at the monkey while he was untying the rope and when the volunteer did, the monkey gave him a pretty brutal slap across the face. When he slapped the volunteers face the trainer yanked on the leash pretty hard jerking the monkey’s head. While this probably wouldn’t be considered animal abuse how the monkeys were housed may have been, read on…
More Accurate Free Throw Shooter than Shaq
Monkey Prison?
While some consider any wild animal taken out of its natural habitat to be animal abuse this monkey school had some signs of less than optimal measures for keeping the monkeys captive. Before and after viewing the show you can see the non-performing monkeys which were all chained up. Many of the monkeys were walking around in circles which is all the movement which was allowed as they were chained up to a post.
The monkeys which weren’t walking around in circles looked dejected and many were coughing and seemed sick. Needless to say I felt pretty bad for all the monkeys chained up so I bought a bunch of little bananas to feed them. I fed every single monkey (around 20 or so) a banana. It was pretty interesting that some of the monkeys got ready when they saw me with the bananas and caught them while others let the banana hit them on the head.
I shot the video (below) after I fed all the monkeys a banana so you can’t see how manic and dejected they looked while many were walking around in circles as the show was on but you can hear the coughing of monkeys which I think were sick from living in bad conditions.
Overall Impression
While I enjoyed the 15 minute monkey school show, the mistreatment of the animals was hard not to notice. As I mentioned before, having wild animals chained up in captivity is never good but it seemed like these monkeys could have been kept in better conditions which would have not had me leave Monkey School with a sour taste in my mouth. I would recommend anyone traveling in the area to drop by unless time is of the essence. If time in northern Thailand is short, monkey school is nothing you should be disappointed for missing. If anything you can pay the 20 baht (60 cents) and buy a fruit basket to feed the poor chained up talented monkeys.
The Karen Padaung tribe people are not originally from Thailand. You can watch the National Geographic video (below) for all the history and information about them.
Getting There
Most multiple attraction tours out of Chiang Mai include trips to various “long neck” villages. The Karen hill tribe village I went to was very close to Chiang Mai. I hired a driver from a tourism booth in the city center. I chose a 1/2 day tour which included the drive out to the hill tribe and other attractions in the area. Within 5-10 minutes from the “long neck” village there were many road signs advertising tourist attractions very close by such as an insect museum, Tiger Kingdom, Monkey School, ATV off road tours, target shooting and much more.
I’m pretty sure I overpaid for the tour which cost me 1000 baht ($30 USD) for the driver who drove an air conditioned pick-up truck. He took me where ever I wanted so I chose the insect museum and he pretty much automatically drove me to the m0nkey school and a “Asian Arts Museum” which turned out to be an Indian owned, overpriced souvenir peddler which I’m sure he got commission for.
The (refugee camp) Village that the Long Necks Live and Work at
Save your Souvenir Shopping for Long Necks
The long necks let themselves be so visible to tourists for a simple reason. I would be willing to be the tourism industry supplies the Karen hill tribe outside of Chiang Mai with a large percentage of their income. Most of the women are sitting there and working on their crafts while the tourists walk by. They seemed more than happy to pose for pictures with any tourist and I felt obligated to buy some souvenirs from them if I was to ask for a picture.
While I saw a couple men working in a nearby field I wondered where the men of the tribe were. I would guess they worked somewhere in the nearby area performing agricultural based jobs. Evidence of the men’s handiwork was all over the village. I counted 5 babies and/or toddlers in the village. My driver joked that since the long necks don’t have television cable, the only thing they can do is make the babies which I thought was pretty funny coming from a Thai guy speaking broken English.
Showing off Long Neck-made Bracelets I bought as gifts
Human Zoo?
I have heard many people criticizing the tours and presentation of the long neck people as some sort of human zoo which I completely disagree with. While the women are on display in plain view of all the visitors, they are working on their crafts. Anyone who calls this a “human zoo” obviously prefers they be packed in some tiny sweatshop somewhere working on their scarfs, purses, bracelets and other handicrafts 16 hours a day.
Most of the people seemed happy to have foreigners visiting while others seemed burned out from constant photo requests and bartering from the steady flow of tourists. Overall like most Thai people, although truly Burmese refugees, the long necks seemed to be happy and friendly people.
Beautiful Young Pedaung Woman and her Baby
Long Neck Working Women
Overall Impression
I enjoyed my visit to the Karen long neck hill tribe. The people were extremely nice and it was interesting to see people with a unique culture that only exist in small numbers in a small part of the world. The souveniers were some of the same things you can find all over Thailand but I felt better buying stuff directly from the source which allowed me to authenticate my gifts for my family by sending pictures with the actual items which I bought.
Even if you do not plan to buy any souvenirs or gifts, the visit to the long neck village will make you really appreciate all the handicrafts and Thai art you see sold throughout the country and region. The stuff doesn’t come from some giant robotic factory or some billionaire businessman, it comes from local tribes like the long necks.
I would recommend the trip to the Karen Hill tribe to anyone who visits Chiang Mai. There is also a dozen or more other attractions in the same area which is only a 30-45 minute drive outside the Chiang Mai city limits.
When I booked Studio 99 Serviced Apartments I noticed a night safari on their list of tours. No word says, “getting out of the big city” more than safari. Being the animal lover that I am, it sounded much more appealing than the Chiang Mai zoo although the zoo is home to famous Chinese panda along with its baby panda.
As soon as I arrived to my hotel after the hour flight into Chiang Mai from Bangkok and 10 minute taxi ride to the hotel, I asked the front desk about the night safari. They told me to arrive there around 7pm and told me a little about it. They tried to find me a driver as well.
Getting There
Even though I rented a scooter I didn’t think I would be able to find the night safari as it was out of town. Like I mentioned before, there are no regular taxi or bus services in Chiang Mai so I resorted to tuk tuk. I asked a driver how much and they asked for 400 baht ($12 USD) for a ride out to the night safari and back 4 hours later. While I could have probably negotiated I accepted his offer and packed my camera and tripod for the journey to the Chiang Mai night safari.
The tuk tuk ride from Montri Hotel smack dab in the center of Chiang Mai took around 30 minutes. Upon arrival myself and tuk tuk driver noticed about 100 various types of deer roaming freely before the entrance which was a sign of things to come.
As I got there (picture on very top is entrance) and paid the fee of 500 baht ($15 USD) I was greeted in the lobby by an amazing elephant who could play the harmonica while swinging a hula hoop around its trunk (video below). It could also play this other instrument which its master put in its mouth. Banannas and bamboo were available for purchase to feed this talented beast.
Looking across the lake from the lobby I could see a bunch of trees and nothing man made. I was smart this time, and purchased some mosquito repellent lotion so I wouldn’t get eaten alive while taking photos.
.
Walking around Lake
They gave me an itinerary of the night safari experience as I purchased the ticket. I arrived around 7pm and the tram ride safaris were not until around 9pm which allowed around 2 hours of time which was not idle. They recommended a walk around the lake which was surrounded with various animal exhibits from tortoises to tapirs. Most of the exhibits were minimally distracting including the tiger’s in which the fence seemed pretty low to prevent a tiger from escaping.
Towards the end of the walk around the lake I nearly jumped out of my pants as I was passing multiple wild cat exhibits and heard a giant roar/growl from what I thought was a lion and it actually turned out to be coming from a nearby speaker. Walking in the dark alone surrounded by cats ranging from small house cat sized wildcats to cervals to scary looking black panthers while not scary was kind of uncomfortable.
They recommended returning after an hour to watch the water and laser show but I decided to stay across the lake and take some pictures without anyone in my way. The water show was a photographers dream with a bunch of cool looking lights and reflections which make some pretty spectacular looking, easy to take photos. After the water show I made my way back to the main area where I had some Thai food at the restaurant.
Watching the Laser Water Show on the Other Side of Lake
The Safari
At around 9pm they ushered the English speaking guests to one side and the Thai/Japanese speaking people to the other side for each tram safari. Everyone packed on these tram safari vehicles and they were off. I would guess there were 25 people on each tram which could have accommodated for 100 so I considered myself lucky because I had the ability to move from side to side to get pictures of animals on either side.
Each safari was separated into sections which included animals of southeast Asia, Africa and Australia. The tram would slow down and a spotlight would turn on each side which enabled everyone to see the animals 90% of the time. Trying to photograph the animals was made difficult by the driver who would slow the tram down to a crawl but never really let it come to a complete stop. Coupled with the low light, movement made it very difficult to get a good picture of one of the animals.
I saw a bunch of animals which I have never seen before including about 10 species of deer/cow like creatures which didn’t excite me too much. The animals I was really impressed with were the hyenas. They were almost twice as big as I thought they would be. You can see some pictures of some of the animals at the bottom of this post. After returning from the first safari there was a 30 minute break until the next safari which enabled everyone to get a drink or…
Before Boarding Safari Tram on Beautiful Chiang Mai Night
Surprise Surprise
I was presented the opportunity to handle a baby tiger for a picture which cost a couple hundred baht. While I have no interest in being anywhere near a blood thirsty adult tiger a baby was a lot more appealing. They had 3 baby tigers in this glass encased room. Two tigers were very small baby orange tigers which I thought I was going to have my picture taken with and there was this older white tiger which was twice the size of the little orange ones.
After I washed my hands they walked me right in and had me sit down on this wooden step and before I could sit comfortably I see this white tiger come running at me! The handlers handed me a bottle with Tiger’s milk as the tiger jumped on my lap and I fed it for 30 seconds as they snapped pictures. I must say the fur on the baby tiger felt EXACTLY like my sister’s dog, a year old male corgi. They gave me a CD with the pictures on it as well as a print. After the tiger feeding I went on the second tram ride to see the animals from Australia and more from Africa.
Feeding Adolescent? Tiger Milk for 30 Seconds
Overall Impression
While the Chiang Mai night safari was no replacement for actually visiting the animals in their natural habitat it was a fun experience. I thought the presentation of the animals at night made it tenfold more interesting than walking around in a crowded zoo looking at caged animals. The price was a little steep for Chiang Mai standards as total I spent over 1000 baht ($30 USD) but it was well worth it. You can find more detailed information on the Chiang Mai night safari website.
After staying in a very nice, albeit excessive serviced apartment and a mid-range hotel for my first couple nights, I decided to stay in an older guesthouse. Royal Guesthouse offered hostel style shared rooms for as little as 200 baht ($6USD) per night. For anyone busy visiting temples and touring the local areas, during the day, and partying in a local bar at night, having anything other than a cheap room may be overkill and Royal Guest House definitely caters to this.
At this point in my life, sharing a $6 room is probably not going to happen but luckily for me Royal Guest House offers a few different types of rooms. They offered a room with private bathroom and fan (no Air Conditioning) for 500 baht ($15USD) which is what I initially booked but I opted for a 750 baht room with a private bathroom, air conditioning and a balcony.
The room was a little bit stuffy at first coming from a giant serviced apartment but I quickly got used to it as I blasted the efficient but loud air conditioning and watched an interview on Larry King with Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel. The cable offered at Royal Guesthouse is noteworthy as there were tons of English speaking channels. The bed was not the most comfortable and the bathroom was very basic but I have no major complaints.
View from Each Side of Royal Guest House Room 217
Location
Coincidentally Royal Guest House was located a couple blocks from the main gate (brick wall) just as the places I stayed at the previous two nights were. It is kind of difficult to find as there is a narrow pathway under a bush covered overhang which leads to the front gate. If you turn away from the moat road on 5 Kotchasarn Soi 4 pay close attention on the left hand side until you see the pathway which leads to Royal Guesthouse. You can find more information on the Royal Guest House website.
Overall Impression
Royal Guesthouse is definitely not going to win any awards for luxury travel but it was adequate for the single traveler wants nothing more than a comfortable room to sleep in. Royal Guest House also has a pool and a cool staff and “chilling out” area where you can meet fellow travelers over a cold beer. If the circumstances were the same (traveling alone for sight seeing) I will probably choose Royal Guest House again simply because I like the idea of not paying for stuff that you don’t use in higher-end hotels and serviced apartments.
I first learned of Studio 99 serviced apartments from an Aussie classmate in my Thai Language class. He said he had a blast when he stayed there during this year’s Songkran festival which is a very festive week long celebration for Thai new year. I tried to book a room for the day I arrived a few days before but they were booked. I exchanged a few emails with the manager named Supattra and managed to get a room for a single Saturday night for 500 baht less than the listed price. When I finally arrived to Studio 99 I was immediately impressed.
Studio 99 Serviced Apartments
Location
Studio 99 serviced apartments are located very close to Chiang Mai’s old town’s moat in the center of Chiang Mai. It is a bit tricky to find if you’re not familiar with how the streets are organized in Chiang Mai and especially if you’re driving a motorcycle. It is located a few blocks from the last remaining section of the former brick wall which surrounded the moat but it’s a little more complicated than that.
There are one way streets on either side of Thae Phae Soi 3, the street which Studio 99 is located on. It confused me and it will confuse you that each street has numbered sois (streets) so if you’re on any other street and find a soi 3 you will not be on the right street. To make it simple, think from the gate. If you walk east (towards the river) from the gate, away from the walking market, past the Starbucks and Air Asia offices you will see Thae Phae Soi 3 on the right. Once you get to Soi 3 a narrow winding street you will see the sign for Studio 99 rather quickly.
Unlike the Montri Hotel which I stayed at the first night, the location of Studio 99 serviced apartment was very quiet. I could hear birds chirping and only once in a while did I hear a motorcycle zoom by or a car rev its engine in the neighborhood. The location is located right in between 2 of Chiang Mai’s most popular shopping attractions, the nightly night bazaar and the Sunday walking street market as you can see on the map below.
The Apartment
The apartment was 65 square meters with 2 balconies 1 which was covered, a fully stocked kitchen, nice bathroom and a walk in closet in the bedroom which was bigger than most hotel’s bathrooms. Furnishing the brand new hardwood floor apartment was a sectional leather couch, desk, entertainment center, dining room setup and more.
You can read more on the Studio 99 website. There isn’t much else to say other than Apartment number 4 at Studio 99 serviced apartments met and exceeded all my expectations of a night stay in Chiang Mai Thailand. You can view the entire layout on the video on the bottom of this post.
On Deck Number 1 Looking Through Bedroom to Living Room
Overall Impression
Studio 99 serviced apartments were very nice and felt like (even better than my) home. Throughout my travels I would rate Studio 99 serviced apartments in the top 5 places I ever stayed as far as the actual room (apartment) goes. The location was great, the facilities were brand new, clean, spacious and top notch. For 1500 baht ($45USD) a night, Studio 99 serviced apartments was a huge bargain. While spending 1500 baht on a giant, fully furnished apartment was probably overkill while traveling by myself, anyone traveling with a group and/or family would find Studio 99 optimal to feel like home while traveling.
By browsing hotel websites it is almost impossible to easily find out which is the best location to stay in a city for what you want. Every hotel seems to claim to be centrally located so I turned to the Thaivisa forum and asked. The first response I got was Montri hotel so without further ado I immediately booked a room at Montri Hotel and arranged an airport pick-up.
The pickup from the airport cost a ridiculously low 150 baht ($4.50) and included the guy holding the sign for you after baggage claim and a nice air conditioned ride into Chiang Mai. Once I saw the brick wall, the gate and tons of tourists, I immediately got the impression I chose the right place.
Montri Hotel Location
You really can’t ask for a better location for a hotel in Chaing Mai than the exact spot the Montri sits on. Montri sits next to the last renaming tiny portion of the ancient wall that used to surround Chiang Mai’s moat. This happens to be the location of the very beginning of the huge Chaing Mai walking street fair. For anyone in Chiang Mai on Sunday staying in Montri Hotel is a great shopping base and allows bargain hunters to store their buys in their hotel room while shopping for more.
There is a place which packages and ships off your buys if you don’t want to pack them in your luggage or simply want to ship them to your family and friends overseas. They charge huge fees but for some (like me) the convenience factor was just too much to pass up to ship off some gifts for my family.
In addition to the Sunday walking market related places there is a HUGE 3 story Starbucks across the street as well as an Air Asia airline office, book store, pharmacy, a bunch of restaurants and bars and more. There are also numerous places which rent out motorbikes and even cars within 20 meters of the Montri Hotel
Night View from Room 323 in Montri Hotel
Montri Hotel Amenities
Montri Hotel does not have a ton of extras such as swimming pool or fitness center. The enormous lobby and restaurant are great places to relax in the midst of a day busy with tourism. Montri Hotel’s convenient location was an amenity in itself but aside from that, a very fast and reliable wireless internet connection was complimentary with a night stay along with free breakfast.
As I mentioned before there were a bunch of bars and restaurants along the streets surrounding the Montri hotel but I never left the restaurant on the bottom floor of Montri Hotel which is very nice, large and has good service to go along with. Blix restaurant has a nice air conditioned indoor seating section as well another large mist cooled outdoor seating section. I had the hamburger on two separate occasions along with the American breakfast which was complimentary with the room.
Blix Restaurant on Ground Floor of Montri Hotel
Overall Impression
For the price of almost 1000 baht per night ($30USD) which is a little higher because November-February is considered the high season Montri Hotel was worth it based on the location and restaurant alone. Since the room was located right next to busy street surrounding the canal, traffic noise is audible (at least in room 323) for almost the entire day and night even though the double pane windows help quiet the street noise. The room was completely 100% adequate, clean, large enough but nothing spectacular.
The service was above average in the hotel and the restaurant. Overall I would recommend Montri Hotel for anyone looking for a great location in Chiang Mai looking to spend around 1000 baht ($30USD) per night.
My hour long Air Asia flight from Bangkok to Chiang Mai started off on a good foot as I barely made it to the airport in time which turned out to be a blessing because I didn’t even have to wait a single minute. When it was finally time to board the plane I was pleasantly surprised when I boarded a BRAND NEW airbus 320 jet! The fact that the plane was new was immediately noticeable upon walking into the plane by the smell.
The interior of the plane smelled like brand new leather. I first wondered if they just had the seats reupholstered but the usual yellow interior from the ancient Air Asia planes was white and brand new looking. I asked the flight attendant and she said the plane was delivered 3 days ago. I was debating in the back of my head whether a new plane was a good or a bad thing since old planes have obviously stood up to the test of time while new planes were a proven commodity.
The new plane meant less freebies from Air Asia as I was charged not only for my meal (a sandwich I paid for at booking) but a can of soda while on board. If charging for the soda wasn’t enough, they actually charged me for a cup and ice! Personally I will take a brand new plane over free soda but some people may have other ideas. The hour long flight was smooth with absolutely no turbulence and the landing was smooth.
Looking Down on Chiang Mai from Moutain near Doi Suthep Temple
Where are all the Skyscrapers?
Regardless of which country you think about, you would expect the 2nd largest city to be pretty big. The countries and cities that come to mind first such as the United States (New York, Los Angeles), Brazil (Rio De Janiero, Sao Paulo) and China (Shanghai, Beijing) are some of the largest countries in the world and obviously several times larger than Thailand. Even so I would expect a city of 600,000 in northern Thailand to have some resemblance to the metropolis I live in Bangkok. I already knew the airport was only 10 minutes via tuk tuk to the city center so I was paying attention to the city while the plane was making its final decent.
I was looking for some evidence of city and I saw none so I figured that we didn’t fly over that part. It turns out Chiang Mai has no skyscrapers and very few noticable buildings over 20 stories. An interesting fact about Chiang Mai is the city center or “Old Town” is completely surrounded by a moat! Yes, you read that right. The center of Chiang Mai used to be surrounded by brick walls which were surrounded by a moat. A small section of the brick wall still remains which is where the beginning of the Sunday walking market is (you can read about it below).
Traffic Around Chiang Mai's Moat just After Sunset
Getting Around in Chiang Mai
Unlike Bangkok which has to be top 10 on the list of worldwide cities with the most taxi cabs, Chiang Mai has very few. I saw less than a handful of “taxi-meters” during my 72 hours in Chiang Mai. Tuk Tuks on the other hand were plentiful. Taking the place of the taxis were trucks with benches on either side of their covered beds (I don’t know the name of them). Since there is less traffic volume than Bangkok, many tourists also take to the roads themselves. In addition cars which cost in between 1000-2000 baht ($30-60USD) per day you can rent motorcycles, mopeds and bicycles. I decided to brave the Thailand traffic on a moped which I rented for 200 baht ($6USD) a day.
The automatic Honda scooter/moped? I drove around on was more than adequate to explore the city. The first thing to know if you’re driving around Chiang Mai is the moat is surrounded by traffic on each side which are going in opposite directions. It is pretty easy to get caught up in the traffic flow and just go around in circles (or squares in the case of Chiang Mai). To actually leave the city on your own is not that bad. Traffic gets less congested as you leave the main city into the surrounding areas.
If you inspect the map (below) and the tourist map you can pick up at the airport, you can see there are only a handful of main roads which exit the main part of the city in each direction. A major landmark such as a shopping mall or sign for the zoo usually marks the right road to use to get to an out-of-town location. Walking is always a viable option which is best at night when it cools down a bit. This is why choosing the right accommodations will help you get around more efficiently as well as save money although you’ll no doubt want to leave the city limits to explore the surrounding areas of northern Thailand.
I saw the sign for the insect museum while returning from the long neck hill tribe visit. My driver hadn’t been to the museum so I decided to check it out. The entrance fee was 100 bht ($3USD) and it reminded me of most insect museums I have been to. The insect museum consisted with the standard cases of dead, pinned-up insect species as well as a decent selection of live beetles, scorpions and various other bugs as well as live butterfly and dragonfly netted in rooms. Although the $3 15-minute tour wasn’t a total waste of money, I would only recommend it to serious insect lovers (or haters) as it was pretty much standard fare.
Night Bazaar
I was warned by a Canadian expat about the night bazaar being overpriced. I just gassed up my moped and decided to go check it out around 9 or 10 at night. The night bazaar consisted of a bunch of food and product vendors on a few streets at which looked like a small China Town. It is located around the Mae Ping river on the east side of Chiang Mai (yellow area on above map).
From Bridge over Mae Ping River Near Night Bazaar
More Things You can do In & Around Chiang Mai
Things which were advertised all over the place and included in various tours I checked out but didn’t fully pursue. Any of the following popular attractions are worth checking out especially if you are interested in the individual activities.
“Templing”
There are dozens of temples big and small within the Chiang Mai city limits and many more in the surrounding areas. I overheard two tourists talking about “templing all day” while I was eating breakfast and for some reason it made me not want to ever enter a temple. I have been in Thailand for the past 8 months and visited for 3 weeks back in 2005 and I still have not been inside a temple. I actually rode my rented moped about 20km out of the city to go to Doi Suthep temple which was near the top of a nearby mountain and didn’t enter because it was completely saturated with tourists. If “templing” turns you on, Chiang Mai is a “templer’s” paradise so knock yourself out.
Elephant Camps & Treks
Another thing to do out of Chiang Mai was various elephant camps and treks. Most multiple day all-inclusive tours included something to do with elephants. They look like quite an experience but I’m just into sitting on the back of a stinking wild animal for hours getting bit my mosquitoes in the middle of the jungle.
White Water Rafting & Off-Roading
Most packaged tours included some form of rafting. There were also numerous tours which involved off-road motorcycles and ATVs. With less rules and regulations than the US I would be willing to bet that any daredevils who like outdoor motorized activities would have a blast with these.
Flight of the Gibbon
Along with Tiger Kingdom, Flight of the Gibbon was advertised everywhere. It was included in many 2 or 3 day package tours and consisted of zip lining, rock climbing and eco-tourism. You can read about it on TreeTopAsia.com It looked pretty fun but I didn’t have the time.
Tiger Kingdom
Tiger Kingdom was promoted hugely from everything to pamphlets at the airport, to numerous billboards to stickers in tuk tuks. The Canadian expat woman I talked to in the huge 3 story Starbucks by the gate at the beggining of the Sunday walking street fair told me to avoid Tiger Kingdom. She said the tigers were drugged and one of her friends got clawed and had to get 60+ stitches.
If the chance of getting mauled by a 500+ pound feline beast isn’t reason enough to avoid an attraction I don’t know what is. I actually went to Tiger Kingdom because my driver recommended the buffet which I guess was actually 1/2 of the attraction. The buffet was actually really good and hit the spot after the hill tribe visit. Some tables actually were aligned right next to the tiger cage in which the workers played with the tigers like house cats (video below).
Accommodations in Chiang Mai
This was my first trip I have taken with TourismPicks.com at the top of my mind so I planned to stay in a different places with different costs each night I stayed in Chiang Mai. Searching online for a hotel was like trying to find a piece of hay in a haystack so I turned to the Thaivisa.com forum which I made a thread asking for recommendations.
The first person who responded on the forum within 10 minutes recommended the Montri hotel so I booked it for a single night to make life easier. I had arranged a pick-up from the airport to my booked hotel which cost 150 baht ($4.50USD) and had a guy waiting for me with a sign with my name on it. I had a whole 15 seat tourist van to myself. There are many hotels in Chiang Mai to accommodate for the bustling tourist industry and I had a chance to sample 3 of them for my 3 night stay.
