Giveaways
FROM CHINA, I flew to Chiang Mai, the largest city in Northern Thailand, with a population of 1.2 million people. It lies 700 km north of Bangkok, in a region known as the Thai Highlands.
Chiang Mai means ‘new city’ in Thai, a reference to the fact that it was deliberately founded in 1296 as the capital of a northern Thai kingdom called Lan Na or Lanna, as the kingdom’s new capital, displacing the older capital of Chiang Rai.
One of the main tourist attractions in Chiang Mai is a well-preserved walled city dating back to its founding era. This old quarter, which is roughly square, about 1.5 or 1.6 km or about one mile on a side, is still surrounded not only by city walls, but by a moat!
The next photo shows a street map with north toward the top, showing the old walled city in the middle in a deeper shade of yellow and, to the left, the green area of Doi (‘Mount’) Suthep, the 1,676 metres (5,499 ft) mountain which overlooks the city, to the left and overlaid with additional information.
Chiang Mai lies 310 metres above sea level, so Doi Suthep rises another 1,366 metres or nearly 4,500 feet over the city. Doi Suthep commands very good views when the weather isn’t cloudy or hazy: as it is, unfortunately, in the so-called ‘burning season’ or ‘smoky season’ from January to March, when farmers set fire to their fields and when Chiang Mai is best avoided.
There are lots of good introductory videos on Chiang Mail, and here are three that I selected. The first one is a good general introduction.
The second one reminds viewers that not all of the popular local elephant sanctuaries are completely ethical in terms of animal welfare, and how to find one that is.
And this one is quite quirky and personal. The thing to avoid, by the way, is the smoky season.
One of the big attractions is that the city contains many really beautiful Buddhist temples, or Wats, some of which date back to its founding era.
One of the most famous is Wat Chedi Luang, which includes a semi-ruined structure, the Chedi Luang of the temple’s name, which was completed in 1481 and damaged, according to the official website linked just above, in an earthquake in 1545, though other stories are told of its destruction in a later earthquake and warfare (maybe they made things worse).
Luang means large in northern Thai and Chedi is an alternative Thai term for stupa. The Chedi Luang after which the complex is named is currently about 60 metres high following twentieth-century restoration. As originally built, it was taller still.
There are some newer buildings that are the main working part of the temple these days, including two viharns or temple halls, one large and one small. The large Viharn has a metallic façade while the smaller viharn has a carved wood façade.
There are many other temples in the city, and I will show some more photos of them, and a video, further below. They are generally free from any visitor’s fee.
On Doi Suthep, there are further temples and mountain resorts as well as many opportunities to go hiking and get close to nature.
One of the most famous routes up Doi Suthep is called the Monk’s Trail. The Monk’s Trail wends its way from the city to a somewhat overgrown forest temple called Wat Pha Lad.
For some people, the overgrown stupa at Wat Pha Lad looks a bit more authentic than the spick-and-span gilded ones elsewhere.
Here is the Wat Pha Lad temple building itself.
I thought the guardians of this shrine on the trail looked spectacular.
Here’s a video from a very detailed series of four on the Monk’s Trail. The shrine just above furnishes the humorous thumbnail for the video!
Myself, I found the Monk’s Trail to be a three-hour hike: here are some of my brief impressions.
Further up the mountain is the very large temple complex called Wat Phra That Doi Suthep.
As you approach Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, there is a stairway with 306 steps, often referred to as the thousand steps, but only 306 in real life. Like many such stairs leading to Buddhist temples, it is guarded on either side by serpent-like sculptures known as nagas, after a serpent that sheltered the Buddha under its cobra-like hood (not like the Garden of Eden serpent then, but a good one).
Here is a photo of the naga stairs at Wat Phra That Doi Suthep that was taken in 1973. Many of the temple structures have been massively renovated and extended in recent decades, but no one knows when this particular naga staircase was built.
And myself on the same steps, in 2024.
At the top, there is a huge temple complex with a golden stupa.
The weather was very wet and I didn’t get much of a view from the top. However, I went back later when the weather had improved and got the evening shot near the start of this post. Or rather a person I met at the temple named Esther did, taking the picture over my shoulder. Thanks, Esther!
Here are some more photos I took at that complex.
Back in town, I also visited some of the other temples, all of them fairly spectacular.
Here is another to which I could not gain access because women are like, you know, impure.
Inside the places I could get into, they sometimes had wax effigies of especially venerable and distinguished monks. I had heard stuff about the supposedly incorruptible bodies of saints and saint-like individuals, in the Buddhist and Catholic traditions alike, and wondered if they were for real. But I was relieved to learn that they were just wax effigies.
Here is a video I made of temple scenes:
However, one does not live by spiritual enlightenment alone. There are lots of fabulous eateries, and everyone says that trying the national dish of Khao Soi, a curry soup with crispy noodles, is a must.
And here is a fried fish dish that I had.
I saw spices laid out in the markets, which are also open at night.
And a folksy cafe selling locally grown coffee!
And the kebab strip.
I was amazed to see that cannabis seemed to be legal!
This gives an idea of the prices for rooms and shuttles.
In terms of practicalities, I stayed in the Trekker Camp to begin with and then moved to the Khunluang Hostel because it was more central. It is also super-clean, though that is to cast no aspersion on the Trekker Camp; I just thought I would mention the fact.
One New Zealand dollar is 20 Baht, and you can get such things as massages for 300 Baht, and I could have got nice dresses from the markets for 500 Baht each. You could live in Chiang Mai quite well for about NZ $300.
I used the app 12togo for buses, trains, and planes. This Singapore-based app works for a wide range of Asian countries.
Esther, with whom I went to a Hmong indigenous village on the nearby Doi Pui mountain along with a Japanese woman named Minako (more on that next week), found that the Grab app was better than Bolt for local taxis in Chiang Mai, mainly because Grab could be hooked up to her credit card, which seemed to save on arguments over cash fares.
I went on a tour provided by a company called Chiangmai Fullmoon Travel, which proved to be more reliable than another one that cancelled on me earlier.
I had four drivers who accepted cash quotes on Bolt to take me up to Doi Suthep and then tried to triple the fare, perhaps because Bolt was quoting excessively low prices (I thought Bolt was good at first, because the prices for taxis on it were very low, but you get what you pay for.)
Most people in Thailand prefer cash. They also say that when you take cash out of a Thai ATM you should only take out a little bit at a time, 200 Baht or so, as the ATMs don’t always deliver.
We also found that a ubiquitous passenger van service known as the Chiang Mai Red Taxi was also very useful. They are very good for groups.
The main headquarters of the Red Taxis is by Chang Puak Gate (White Elephant Gate) in the northern wall of the walled city. This is also where a lot of street vendors set up in the evenings. The Red Taxis only cost 100 Baht or so if you join a group.
Most of the food from street sellers costs about 60 Baht for a meal, or you can pay up to 300 Baht in a fancy restaurant. The deep-fried fish I photographed above only cost me 60 Baht. It’s good to try different food every day!
Next Week: I explore more of the region, including the Hmong Doi Pui Village.
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