Getting from Bangkok to Chiang Mai

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.

City Center Surrounded by Moat (green sqare)

Things I did In and Around Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai Night Safari

Sunday Market Walking Street Fair

Visit the Long Necked Karen Hill Tribe

Monkey School

Insect Museum

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.

Places to Stay in Chiang Mai:  Montri Hotel

Places to Stay in Chiang Mai:  Studio 99 Serviced Apartments

Places to Stay in Chiang Mai:  Royal Guest House

Outside of Royal Guest House in Central Chiang Mai

Winging it Again

If you know me or have read some of this blog you already know I’m not the most prepared traveler when it comes to lodging.  I was once almost stuck in Buzios, Brazil homeless because I didn’t bother to reserve a hotel when the whole country of Brazil was trying to get a room for the holidays.  Well, it happened again upon entering Vietnam.  I had a friend who has lived for 2 years in Saigon but asking for a hotel recommendation can often be like finding 100 needles in a haystack.

We ended up on the ground with no hotel in mind other than the general recommendation to stay near Pham Ngu Lao Street.  We struggled mightily with the language barrier (the whole trip) to instruct the taxi driver to get us there but after a good 15-30 minutes from the airport through the normal insane motorbike traffic we were dropped off on Pham Ngu Lao Street.

Pham Ngu Lao Street

Pham Ngu Lao Street is the Khao San Road (backpacker’s ghetto of Bangkok) of Vietnam.  Everything along Pham Ngu Lao Street is for tourists and includes many bars, shops and of course hotels.  The primary difference between Pham Ngu Lao Street and Khao San Road is the traffic.  Pham Ngu Lao Street is extremely busy and noisy with people constantly honking their motorbike and car horns as well as cyclo drivers and others trying to make a buck off you.

Showing up carrying a bunch of bags with no idea of where to go did not help.  As we walked down the street, sweating from packing our bags we were under constant bombardment, albeit friendly from hotel (using the term loosely) owners trying to rent out rooms.  There was definitely not a shortage of rooms but the standards were iffy at best for some of them.  After viewing a couple $10-20 a night rooms we had enough and decided to just get a hotel right on Pham Ngu Lao Street.

Elios Hotel

Elios Hotel stood out from the rest with its large brightly lit lobby and 3 Star placard on the outside which was common in Saigon.  The 3 star placard somewhat seemed to prove a hotel’s legitimacy as there were so many accommodations especially throughout the Pham Ngu Lao area. The staff was very helpful, friendly and had adequate English speaking ability which made the check-in and check-out process a breeze.

The Room

Two rooms were available on the 11th floor for my friend and I.   One had a window and the other did not.  I chose the one with the ‘view’ which happened to be a tiny window I could barely get my camera out of to snap the picture at the top of the post. The room was average at best.  There was nothing special about it whatsoever and probably didn’t warrant the price which was $47.62 a night.

The room had a mini bar stocked with soda, water and beer as well as a safe but there was nothing really nice about it.   What Elios Hotel lacked in room it made up for with service and the restaurant.

Amenities

Elios Hotel’s Blue Skye restaurant on the roof had indoor and outdoor areas which were great for getting a sky view of the adjacent park as well as the traffic and buildings of Saigon.  The hotel also has a “fitness center” which is actually a tiny room next to the restaurant on the top floor with 4-5 pieces of equipment in it with no air conditioning.  If you’re dying for an exercise session the cardio machines provide a nice view of Saigon.

TAKE NOTE

Room 1101 was right below the restaurant so bright and early in the morning at around  6am it got really noisy.  To me it sounded like the hotel staff were wearing wooden sandals and running down the stairs.  If you want to sleep in make sure you avoid the 11th floor rooms, especially 1101 which was right next to the stairs like the plague.

You would think in a touristy area there would be a bunch of places to eat after midnight but I found the area of Pham Ngu Lao where Elios Hotel was located to be completely dead and quiet after midnight.  It was uncomfortably quiet even for me to walk around outside hunting for food.  Luckily the front desk guy was more than happy to order me what he called “Chinese Food.”  To me it was Vietnamese food but it arrived in about 5 minutes, was cheap and delicious.

Overall Thoughts

Elios hotels rooms were not very impressive but it made up for it with great service and a nice view from the top floor restaurant.  We quickly grew tired of the manic Pham Ngu Lao Street and decided to find a quieter area and check out another hotel.  Although I was  not dissatisfied with Elios Hotel I would recommend it for people who like hanging out and drinking with the backpacker type of crowd as well as anyone who is in Saigon one night and wants to do some shopping or sight seeing.  

Saigon

From Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City (officially),  formerly known as Saigon is a quick and painless hour flight east on AirAsia.  I was told to expect the unexpected and I would further this advice for anyone else visiting Saigon.

I have lived in Bangkok for the past 6 months and have got used to the Thai lifestyle, people and general flow of the city so if you have never lived in Thailand or been to Bangkok your experience may be vastly different but that’s precisely the reason why there are tens of thousands of travel blogs.

Getting There & First Impression

Since I like to be thorough I created a whole blog entry devoted to Getting to Saigon Vietnam from Bangkok Thailand.  As the plane was making its final descent I could see the snaking river and city approach just like in every Vietnam war movie.  I figured that the taxi from the airport would be relatively quick which it was.

Traffic out of a Horror Movie

The first thing any n0n-native to Vietnam will inevitably notice about Saigon is the insane amount of motorbikes and seemingly chaotic traffic.  There are motorbikes with 1-4 people and various odd shaped items (i.e. refrigerators, tires, stacks of packages, etc.) swarming around every street and intersection in multiple directions.

If you though sheer volume of traffic is bad, compound that with the fact that many of the vehicles in the street are honking their horns every few seconds and you may find being anywhere in Saigon nerve-racking as I did from the outset. There could be an entire blog devoted  solely on Saigon’s traffic but it is worth mentioning that the traffic makes any US city and even Bangkok seem like a rural suburb.  When there is a traffic jam in most cities, most of the traffic (cars & trucks) are stopped and there is very little movement but in Saigon motorcycles, mopeds, bicycles, cyclos and other forms of transportation are jockeying for position which is like navigating a maze.

Midday Traffic from Reunification Palace

Crossing the Street

Simply crossing the street is a seemingly perilous adventure when you first set foot on the streets of Saigon.  Crossing the average street with a traffic brew consisting of motorcycles and mopeds zooming everywhere along with the occasional car and bus is actually a lot easier to deal with than you may first think.

To make crossing the street in Saigon easier keep in mind that most of the traffic is moving less than 30 miles per hour and they’re more aware than most western drivers on their cell phones listening to the radio because they have to.  If you want to cross the street simply go for it!  Walk slowly and most importantly DO NOT STOP as it will confuse the drivers and actually make it more dangerous for you.  The traffic amazingly flows like water around pedestrians.

Money

Even though most American and European travelers will initially get a kick about their astronomical bank account balance while in Vietnam as 100,000 Vietnamese Dong is around $5.60USD the exchange from Vietnamese Dong to American Dollars is very annoying.  When your not constantly chopping  off zeros and work with the 500,000 and 100,000 Dong bills you are having to worry about mistaking a 100,000 dong bill for a 10,000 dong bill while in a rush.

My travel buddy in Vietnam actually tipped both bellboys who brought his bags up 200,000 dong ($11)  each mistaking the 100,000 dong bills for 10,000 dong bills.  The large sums can drive anyone bad at math insane especially when certain cash registers and taxis chop off zeros automatically on their screens which further confuse things.

To my surprise, unlike Thailand, the American dollar was widely accepted in Vietnam.  For anyone heading to Thailand after Vietnam, make sure you get rid of all your Dong before you leave Vietnam as exchanging Vietnamese Dong was almost impossible in Bangkok.

Things to Do

Regardless of what you think of Saigon neither you nor anyone can call it a boring city.  It is enormous and there is an endless list of things to do in and around Saigon.  I spent almost the entire time in District 1 and there are over 11 districts.  Saigon will always be a good starting point if you plant to visit anywhere else  in Vietnam. How much time you spend in Saigon depends on what your interests are.  Here are a few things which I did and wish I did.

Eat

If you love Vietnamese food and French food, Saigon has the best of both worlds.  You can get everything from a bowl of Vietnamese noodle soup called pho (pronounced Fuh) or a Vietnamese sandwich on a street stall for under $1USD to dining at trendy and/or fine dining restaurants.

Bibi Restaurant

Places to See

Saigon was at center stage for one of the more infamous wars in the history of mankind and there are many places you can visit to learn more about the Vietnamese side of the Vietnam War.  To learn about the guided tours in and around Saigon you can find tourist information centers spread conveniently throughout district 1 which is likely where you will be staying.   From museums to historic sites, Saigon has a lot to offer within the city limits as well as within a few hour air conditioned bus trip.  Unfortunately I was in expat hang-out / party mode so I missed some great parts of Saigon but here is what I had a chance to experience:

Reunification Palace

Cu Chi Tunnels

Vung Tau

War Remnants Museum – I regretfully missed out on the War Remnants museum.  After visiting the Reunification Palace and seeing some of the photos I wasn’t really feeling like seeing more death, destruction and propaganda but if I ever find myself in Saigon I will definitely check it out.

Places to Stay

Saigon was surprisingly expensive for mid-range lodging, compared to Bangkok for lodging, at least in District 1 where I was staying.

Elios Hotel

Shopping

Living in Bangkok which is one of the best places to shop in the world I really had no business buying things common in Bangkok in Saigon but forgetting some necessary items required me to do some shopping.  Shopping in Saigon is only half of the story as if you don’t bargain, you WILL pay several times the expected sale price.  You can read more about the bargaining process in the entry about Benh Thanh market.

Behn Thanh Market

The People

I consider the best part about international travel to experience the people of a nation.  I have said it before I totally 100% disagree than the “real people” of any country exist in the rural parts because the cities are what makes any country tick.  Again, my view of Saigon may be influenced by the fact that I’m used to Thailand but in Saigon I got the feeling that people were just not happy.   It seemed everywhere you went people were trying to hustle you, yelling at you or grabbing at you.

Tips & Warnings

Besides the brief history lessons, I’m not the biggest fan of Lonely Planet books as I tend to like talking to people to get recommendations but the Lonely Planet provided the most useful piece of advice for your time in Saigon.

The advice is if you are approached by any person on the street, DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE THEIR EXISTENCE!  It may be rude and sound rude but if you even look in their direction let alone say no, the cyclo drivers and shoe polishers will follow you for blocks.

Case in point, I gave a shoe polisher 10,000 dong (50 cents USD) because I thought it would get rid of him and it encouraged him to start brushing, gluing, scraping and literally chewing the glue off my shoes which happened to be 5 year old $30 dollar shoes I got at Ross in San Francisco.   His attention attracted about 5 other shoe polisher guys over and I was quickly feeling uncomfortable.  When he got done he asked for 600,000 dong ($33).  I started to walk away but I remember him using a rusty knife to scrape the glue off my shoes and I could picture this kid stabbing me in the back.  He followed me down Pham Ngu Lao and I went in my hotel.  I literally left my hotel 5-6 hours later and he was still waiting.

Overall Summary

I have talked to numerous travelers as well as expats who live and/or have lived in Saigon for numerous years and have received mixed opinions.  For me, the best thing about visiting Saigon, was leaving Saigon as I had a much better time when I found myself in places which were less nerve racking for me.  Regardless of my opinion and the opinions of others, out of all the places I have been I think the statement “You will either Love it or Hate it” applies to Saigon more than any other city.

China Town:  What a Novel Concept ?

If they need more criteria for classifying big cities in the 21st century they may as well use China Towns as one.  It seems regardless  of which corner of which hemisphere you find yourself on you will encounter a China Town.   Being from San Francisco, China Town is something which all too familiar.

Every website and Lonely Planet guide had Kuala Lumpur’s China Town as one of the “must go” places in Kuala Lumpur.  Most travelers who find their way in Kuala Lumpur will have likely seen their fair share of Chinatowns in the past.  Whether you agree with KL Chinatown’s “must go” status depends on your style and goals of your trip.

Getting to China Town in Kuala Lumpur

China Town is not too far from the Petronas Towers.  Ask a taxi driver and they will say it is far but in decent weekday traffic (I wasn’t there on the weekend so I don’t know if it’s worse) it took less than 10 minutes to get to Petronas Towers to China Town.  If the taxi driver has trouble understanding just say, “Petaling Street.”  Petaling street is the the main Chinatown street which would me more aply named Peddling Street.

Cheap Chinese Food, Knock Offs, Beer & Cheap Hotels

Chinatown was the main area in KL for backpackers and bargain hunters (wait, aren’t they the same?).  Chinese food is world renowned for being cheap and Petaling Street is no exception.  You can find a number of Chinese food restaurants with inside and outside dining if you turn off the main street.  I actually didn’t feel like eating Chinese food at the time and I stepped outside Chinatown and found some of the best hamburgers I’ve ever had.

The main street is essentually jam packed with venders selling all kinds of junk, from life-sized gun cigarette lighters, to samurai swords to of course designer knock-off merchandise.  It is one of the few places in KL where it felt like Bangkok as the venders were somewhat pushy.  The stuff there I would say was mostly junk which was really no different from anything you can find in Bangkok or I’m sure most other SE Asian cities.  Most of the guides stated the KL Chinatown had some of the best prices on these “goods” but I didn’t even bother asking because I’m on an anti-junk phase at the moment.

All the Kuala Lumpur travel guides listed Chinatown as the primary area for cheap lodging.  I saw a lot of tourists and backpackers in the area.  There were hotels and guesthouses all around which I didn’t check out personally but I’d assume some of them offer temporary 6-legged roommates if you know what I mean.

All China Towns the Same ?

I haven’t been to every single Chinatown in the world but I’ve been to a few.  From San Francisco, to New York to Yokohama Japan to the Disneyland of Chinatowns,  Hong Kong (I guess you could call Hong Kong a Chinatown?)  I can’t really see the allure of traveling far and wide for the purpose of visiting a Chinatown.  For the China Town’s I’ve been to, I would consider San Francisco’s to be the best, even better than Hong Kong if you consider you can find tons of junk as well as some nice stuff in a 6 or so block radius.  Some may even say that San Francisco’s Chinatown has been run by Chinese longer than Hong Kong anyways?

Overall Impression

For me, Chinatown in KL was a complete waste of time.  I live in Bangkok and didn’t need to save a couple bucks to get cheap stuff I could get in Bangkok if I even wanted the stuff.  I haven’t been to Bangkok’s Chinatown yet so I cannot compare the two.  Fortunately, Chinatown was very close to the rest of  “downtown” Kuala Lumpur so it was only a pit stop on my whirlwind tour of Malaysia’s capital.