Thailand- Chiang Mai

The morning after the night before, two brothers and the younger ones boyfriend

I cannot count the number of times I went to Thailand! But it was only after a few visits to Pattaya that I realised there was more than just Boyztown, the gay area, and the beach, to explore.

When I flew North to Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai with Wanchai, to see his family, I discovered far more beauty and learnt how to cook Thai food. Just as I use Manila in the Philippines as a gateway to the Islands, so I flew in and out of Bangkok, and just left as fast as I arrived in a taxi ( or when Mike showed me , the coach, much cheaper!) to Pattaya.

However Kevin suggested a great hotel to stay in BKK ( The Tai Pan - https://www.taipanhotel.com/ ) and I found a few guys to show me around and discovered some great Malls, Restaurants, and parks. ( I will cover BKK in a separate Blog)

Pattaya's floating market

Kevin also came up with ideas for great hotel's to stay at in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. You can fly from Bangkok's Don Muang airport to Chiang Mai and then there is a good luxury coach from CM to CR through some very scenic National Parks. We then flew back from CR to DM and stayed in BKK for a couple of nights before heading back to Pattaya. Not bad for a hastily arranged trip after terrorists blew up the hotel I was going to stay at in Sri Lanka.

The amazing JingJai market in Chiang Mai, Music, food and no plastic

My last trip to Chiang Mai was in about 1994, so I was interested to see how it had changed in 25 years. The old centre, between the old city walls and Moat had not changed much and I spent many happy hours wandering around taking photos while Wanchai slept.

Walking around Chiang Mai's moat

Early morning at one of Chiang Mai's markets

I found a magazine which contained 10 places to take a great selfie and one by one we ticked them off. It advised us to get their early to get the best shots of one of the markets , which we did, and then had a great breakfast in the market. At another place it said get there as the sunsets, which we did , to find the park was closing ( but they let us have a fast tour on a golf cart so long as we did not get off!)

The Royal Park at Bhubing Palace

Kevin also gave us great tips on where to eat in every place we stayed and our favourite in Chiang Mai was called Chez Marco. According to the Lonely Planet "
Despite the unpromising location in the midst of Loi Kroh's girly-bar scene, Chez Marco cooks up convincing and wholesome French food with fresh ingredients and a bit of Gallic flair." Locally it is rumored that the Thai chef, now cooks better French food than he does Thai. An added benefit was that the waitress spoke Lana, the local dialect that Wanchai spoke as his family are from Thoeng, near Chiang Rai. You can find their Facebook page at
https://www.facebook.com/chezmarcocnx/

Wanchai and I at Chez Marco in Chiang Mai

His hotel recommendation was spot on- The Duangtawan Hotel was a massive tower block with pool in the centre of town , by the night market, restaurants and bars and had a great all inclusive breakfast and we got upgraded to a Suite for free - check it out at https://www.duangtawanhotelchiangmai.com/.

We also visited the Railway station, and the Consul's Garden and several museums and parks. It was an action packed week, with plenty to see and do and the weather was great.

I will tell you about our week in Chiang Rai in another blog, until then..