Ah Chiang Mai. My favourite city in the world. When I was here in 2020 I spent over a week in Chiang Mai, it completely captured my heart and I was gutted to leave. So, since the idea of coming back here because a realistic, Ive been beyond excited to explor this city again and fall in love once more.
We got the night bus from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. A 12 hour journey, sat on a coach speeding through some bumpy by by roads. No one's favourite journey but boy it's worth it. We arrived at 5am, and couldn't check into our hostel unti 2pm, so after dropping our bags at the hostel we went off to explore.
Temple hopping
Much ike Bangkok, and the rest of Thailand, Chiang Mai has plenty of temples to explore. From quite new and modern ones, to the other more historic temples.
On our first day we stumbled across a beautiful and quiet temples down a sleepy side streeet. It had a more Japanese style to its architecture, and on day two we rented a scooeter so we could drive up to Soi Suthep. A wonderful temple I visited previously, high up on mountains surrounding Chiang Mai. It was about 30 minutes outside of the centre, through beautiful windy jungle roads. It was my first time on the back of a scooter and although chris drives a Harley Davidson at home, he'd never had anyone on the back. So it was a nervy first half hour but by the time we headed back we got more comfortable.
The views from Doi Suthep are incredible, a full view across Chiang Mai. Which is unsurprising given how high I we drove, and the 317 steps up we had to walk to get to the complex. The site centers around a massive gold pagoda, with various smaller buildings and places of worship around it. Although it's a tourist hotspot, I love how peaceful it is up there.
On the way down we stumbled across the most incredible temple complex inside of the trees. We just spotted it on the map and decided to stop by on the way back. I'm so glad we did! Was arguably way better than Doi Suthep itself. Unlike other temples that are immaculately maintained and 'perfect' this temples complex has been taken over by nature; covered in moss, trees and roots growing through window frames. We also found a waterfall towards the back of the complex that had the most spectacular views across Chiang Mai. Again arguably better than those for Doi Suthep.
Indescribable charm
It's funny, while writing this I've been thinking about how I can put into words why I love Chiang Mai so much. And it feels impossible. Before coming away I was raving to Chris about Chiang Mai how great it is and how much he'd love it. He'd asked me why too. And I've never been able to articulate it. There's just something about it; it's big enough to have new things to explore everyday and has incredible surrounding areas to enjoy, but isn't too small. It has the most magical local feel to it and it's full of artists and creatives. The steeets are lined with greenery, trees and peoples house plants spilling onto their doorsteps. It's just magical.
Two moments from our stay there have stood out to me as the most memorable:
Revisiting John gallery The Tree House. When I was here in 2020, I stumbled across this wonderful original art gallery and shop. The stop is stacked from floor to ceiling with original paintings from one artist, John. Back in 2020 I spent over an hour talking with John about his work, his travels and his time in Chiang Mai. I picked up 3 prints from him then. And was very keen to visit him again, explore his shop and inevitably get more work!
Chris and I spent about 45 minutes looking through his work and eventually settled on two prints. I did fall for his collection of sketchbooks you could buy. Unfortunately the ones I loved were too big for us to carry around the next 5+ months. (Though I might reach out when I'm home and see if I can arrange to have one posted to me).
When we went to pay, we were served by his son. I told him about being here 4 years ago, and he said I must remember his dad, and that he'd passed away last year. He said he wanted to keep the shop open so people could continue to enjoy his work but that it was the end of any new work. I feel very blessed to have met him, and t now have 5 bits of his work to decorate my house with at home.
The other significant moment that reminded me why I love Chiang Mai was when we went to buy film for my film camera. We've been on the hunt since we arrived in Bangkok for film rolls, as we ran out of time to get any at home! But it's been surisingy difficult. Until this tiny little shop in Chiang Mai. It's ran by one little Aunty, in the downstairs of her house. She's been running this small shop for years. She has loads of types of film, shelves full of old film cameras and camcorders, and all the extra lenses you might want. She also repairs cameras herself, and develops film.
We picked up four rolls of film, and it was just the most wholesome purchasing experience I've had in a while.
Cooking class fun!
As two people obsessed with Asian food, we'd decided we'd do a cooking class in each country we visit, particularly as many of them give you a cookbook as part of the experience, so we can continue making the recipes at home. Northern Thai food is one of our favourites though (more about that in the next little section of this post) and so we knew we wanted to do a class while in Chiang Mai.
I'm so glad we did! It was so so much fun, really informative and also dang delicious! We cooked six dishes; an appetiser, a curry paste, a curry, a soup, a stir fry, and a dessert! Fair to say we rolled out of that class😅.
To start the day we went to a local market with our cooking instructor, Mam. Who talked us through the ingredients, potential substitutes we might use at home, and teach us about ingredients we've maybe never been before. Like the many many types of cucumbers!
After the market, we went to our hosts most incredible and beautiful home ready for our 5 hour cooking class. The surroundings were incredible and it was so well put together for a really collaborative and social class.
We worked through one dish at a time, and two took breaks to sit and enjoy our food. It was great to pair up with other strangers who were cooking the same dish as me, and to hear about people's travels, and experiences while cooking up some unreal food!
Fair to say, I cannot wait for our next cooking class, and to invite folk over to ours when we get back for a Thai food shindig!
An important honourable mention
The food. Ooft. More importantly Khao Soi. I became obsessed with this dish on my last visit, and have been making it at home ever since. With this have also got Chris a little obsessed with it too. So we were both buzzed to come north and try authentic Khao Soi.
Khao Soi is a spicy and slightly sour coconut noodle soup, with chicken (usually) and topped with crispy noodles. It is bloody delicious. And we've been enjoying eating it basically everyday.
I knew I'd have way to much to write about Chiang Mai to keep it to one post. So I'll be writing a second, but dedicated primarily just to Yi Peng and Loy Thrathong, the water and lantern festival we basically planned this trip around! It complete swayed when we started the trip, and where we started it. So a lot was banking on this one even, and oh my, it paid off!! But more about that sometime this week when I share a part two on our time in Chiang Mai.
As always, thank you for reading. Take care, speak soon.
~ Morrighan
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