Chiang Mai and Chiang Dao, Thailand January 16 – 26, 2018

Chiang Mai

We left Phu Quoc, Vietnam feeling a little nervous. We were flying to Ho Chi Minh airport and had only given ourselves a 90-minute window to connect to our Chiang Mai, Thailand flight. This meant collecting our luggage, finding international departures, checking in, going through passport check and security, and finally making our way to the gate. Luckily, it all went down without a hitch; in fact, we were sitting at our gate with about 20 minutes to spare.

When we arrived at Chiang Mai International Airport, our AirBnb host, Sophie, her assistant, Ms. Puppy, and her driver were all waiting for us. What a great welcome! As we drove to our new Chiang Mai home for the week, Sophie described the apartment and facilities, and the surrounding neighbourhood, giving us a few suggestions on areas to explore. We quickly settled in and got back to our arrival routine – staying in hotels during our Vietnam journey had made us a little rusty. First, we explored the neighbourhood, found an ATM, picked up a few groceries, then got our Thailand phone SIM cards. Not bad for a first day!

The apartment was conveniently located just outside the historic city gates, an easy starting point for strolls. During our time in Chiang Mai, we explored ancient temples, like Wat Chiang Man and Wat Chedi Luang Worawihan, walked through the trendy shopping neighbourhood of Nimmana Haeminda Road and areas less frequented by tourists. We discovered the alleys of the walled city, frequented by locals and tourists alike, but not emphasized in travel literature. It’s a shame because some of those alleys really come alive with garden restaurants, cafés and bars after dark.

Chiang Mai also offered Dave some great one-on-one photography lessons with a local professional. The first session focused on photographing people in public places; the easy-going attitude of locals made it easy to take pictures while exploring local markets. The second session was a night photography class, starting at 5pm to catch the lights and colours of the setting sun, then walking through the night market streets to capture the activities of the evening. Fortunately, many of the photographs captured during those and subsequent days can be seen in our photo gallery.

The predominant modes of public transportation in Chiang Mai are the short-distance tuk-tuk motorcycles or the long-distance songthaew (a.k.a. as red cars or red trucks, although their colours can change from town to town). During our stay we had our best and worst experience (so far) with tuk-tuk drivers. The best was when we were on our way back to Airbnb, Dave’s phone fell out of his pocket and onto the seat. We did not realize until the tuk-tuk had left. Using Gilles’ phone, the driver finally picked up our calls and came back to the drop off site to return the phone. We were so grateful! The worst experience was also a return to the apartment: the driver first headed in the right direction then suddenly veered off in the opposite direction. Despite our requests to turn around, he just waved us off, saying “I know, I know”, and kept going. We finally demanded he stop and jumped off. He was pissed that we weren’t going to pay him and took off in a huff and a few chosen words. We were now just as far from our place, so we reluctantly jumped into another passing tuk-tuk who took us directly home.

While trying to regain some degree of domestic routine after spending most of January in hotels, we set ourselves up for breakfast at home and attempted some home cooked meals – Dave’s fresh spring rolls were particularly delicious. The domestic routine not coming so easily, we did venture out to eat quite a bit. Having not done much research on eateries, our dining experiences were hit-and-miss. Some of the notable eateries were Mama Thai for its fresh Thai curries – we went out of our way to return there. Fern Forest Café also became the go-to place for breakfast once we ran out of yogurt (because it’s so difficult to get more yogurt!)

Chiang Dao

We wanted to experience northern Thailand beyond Chiang Mai. So, we put  our research caps on and explored the possibilities of visiting areas near the Myanmar and Laos borders, like Chiang Rai, Pai and Mae Hong Son. These areas all had some cultural and natural draw; however, the thought of spending a half day traveling no longer made these places appealing. Then we discovered Chiang Dao. Only 72 Km north of Chiang Mai, Chiang Dao is a small town of 15,000 inhabitants,  nestled in the Pha Daeng mountain region, where daytime temperatures reach near 30°C then plummet to 14°C at night.  If traveling to the quiet, picturesque village wasn’t enough to draw us to Chiang Dao, then staying at the part bed and breakfast, part organic farm of Villa de View would be the deciding factor. Located at the foot of Doi (Mount) Chiang Dao, the two year old boutique residence and café offered a contemporary lodging among natural beauty.

During our stay in Chiang Dao, we visited the main attraction of Wat Tham Chiang Dao, a temple built inside a 700 metre cave. We also climbed the 520 steps to a mountain Buddhist temple and monastery, rented bicycles to further explore the country roads, farms, orchards and other temples in the surrounding area.

Wanting to go beyond the village, we rented a scooter for the day. This was our first time driving scooters, so what better place than a foreign country where they drive on the left side of the road. Wanting to avoid highways as much as possible, we drove the 30+ Km to Pha Daeng National Park to dip in Pong Arng Hot Spring and to walk along the Sri Sangwan Waterfall. By then, we were only 15 Km from the Myanmar border – maybe time to head back to the Villa! Feeling a lot more confident on the scooters, we followed the secondary highway back. What a great day! More scootering, please!

The Villa was not only great for its accommodation, but it offered delicious food made from both onsite-picked and locally-sourced ingredients. Each evening we would have dinner at the same time as other guests: Kathleen and her four-month old son, Jacob, from Berlin. While the owners and staff would coo over and entertain Jacob, Kathleen was free to enjoy her meal and to chat with us. She had clearly done more research on Chiang Dao, and gave us suggestions on areas to visit and places to eat. One of these eating establishments that we discovered was Pu Ka Ya: the owner was also host, server and cook, all this while watching over her four year old boy. On our second stop there, her son became enthralled with one of Dave’s smartphone games. With Dave as an instant babysitter, the owner was free to focus on preparing our yummy meal.

At the end of our stay in Northern Thailand, we shared a ride back to Chiang Mai with Kathleen and Jacob. This was going to be a long travel day for us: first, the 8:00 AM departure to Chiang Mai Airport, then an 11:30 AM flight to Bangkok; followed by a 4 hour ride to the resort town of Cha-am which was our next stop.

We arrived at our Cha-am Beach hotel in early evening, with just enough time and energy to unpack, settle in a bit and find a place to eat. During that week, we would eventually move from a hotel to a beach-side condo with a great sea view. Like Phu Quoc, the week in Cha-am (from January 23 to February 3) consisted of lazy days at the beach or by the pool, lots of rest and relaxation, and getting energized for the next exploration journey: Siem Reap, Cambodia and Bangkok, Thailand.  One highlight of Cha-Am was the total lunar eclipse.  We just happened to be in the best place in the world to see the full eclipse and took full advantage!  Our balcony from the condo was also perfectly positioned to capture this event.