Tom’s Adventure Through Southeast Asia Part 2 — Chiang Mai, Thailand
So here’s the thing about sleeper trains. Most of the backpackers I met on my trip think they’re great and get a good night’s sleep on them. I did not.
I had literally purchased the last ticket left for the train, which of course was a top bunk. The top bunk is slightly shorter which doesn’t help as I’m six feet tall, but the main thing that kept me from sleeping was the swaying motion of the train. There are two straps that prevent you from falling out of the bunk, but for some reason that motion made it really hard for me to sleep. I may have slept for an hour, maybe two.

I still recommend the sleeper train if you need to get to northern Thailand from Bangkok. It’s much cheaper than flying and at least it’s more comfortable than a bus. The train took about thirteen hours so by taking the overnight train you don’t have to waste a full day travelling.
When I arrived at the train station in Chiang Mai there was a massive crowd of cab drivers pressuring me to get a ride with them into town. When I checked my phone I realized that my hostel was only a twenty minute walk away, so I decided to walk since it was a nice morning. Sleep deprived and carrying my full backpack I walked by a man with a small cart selling coffee. As I’d grown accustomed to the free instant coffee in the hostels I decided to buy a cup and it was surprisingly delicious! As I later realized, northern Thailand has a really great coffee scene and it was one of my favourite surprises of the whole trip.
After checking into my hostel I decided to check out Chiang Mai’s day market as it was a five minute walk from where I was staying. It reminded me a lot of Chinatown in Bangkok but with a smaller, more intimate feel. It was here that I accidently stumbled upon one of my favourite Thai dishes: khao soi chicken. It’s a mild, yellow curry with both soft and crunchy noodles and a chicken drumstick on the side. It sounds so simple when I describe it like that, but it’s honestly one of the tastiest things I’ve ever had. If you’re in northern Thailand you must try it!




Another great find in this market was the Dam Rong stall, which I discovered thanks to Mark Wiens’ Migrationology blog. If you’re in this market, it’s easy to spot as it has a bright blue sign and is always packed with people. They specialize in pork, from sausages to pork chops to these giant deep fried pork cutlets which were unreal good.



At this point the sleep deprivation was really starting to get to me so I went back to the hostel for a nap. After that I met some people in the common room of my hostel and we decided to check out the night market together. The night market in Chiang Mai is HUGE and opens up right after the day market closes. It has a much more touristy feel than the day market and they have a great food court with different types of food from all over the world.



After dinner and a few beers at the night market we decided to check out Chiang Mai’s most famous nightclub: Zoe in Yellow. Located right in the centre of the old city, it’s where all the backpackers end up at some point of the night. There are actually several bars on the Zoe in Yellow strip which are all owned by the same people. There’s also a large square in the centre with long picnic tables for backpackers to drink and mingle with each other.


The next day I had to get up early for a half-day cooking class I signed up for. If you’re travelling in this area I highly recommend doing at least one cooking class. Things started off with a trip to a local market to learn about the unique Thai produce and other ingredients we would be cooking with later. I tried durian fruit for the first time here, which was surprisingly good considering it smells really weird. Many hostels I stayed at actually ban durian fruit for this reason!




There were five categories of food with several choices for each: appetizer, soup, noodle dish, curry dish and dessert. My five choices were papaya salad, tom yum soup, pad thai, panang curry and mango sticky rice, respectively.


Since we were learning how to make everything from scratch (even the curry paste was done with a mortar and pestle) this was easily the best meal I had in Asia. The mango sticky rice is especially worth mentioning. It’s one of the most popular desserts in Thailand but the way we made it in the class was very unique. We used a blue flower which our teacher called a “butterfly flower” as natural food colouring for the coconut cream. This gave the rice a beautiful blue colour which we then shaped into hearts and had with mango on the side.


After having such a big lunch I wasn’t hungry again until much later in the day. I discovered a restaurant called Lemongrass with people from my hostel which had great spring rolls. I also had my first IPA beer in Asia here. Honestly it wasn’t really that good, but it was nice to taste hops again after all the Chang beers I had been drinking so far in my trip.



That night we checked out a Muay Thai stadium. If you’re not familiar with Muay Thai, it’s a form of boxing where you can use your shins and elbows as well as punching. We watched several fights including a joke fight where both fighters were blindfolded which was funny.
I spent the next day exploring Chiang Mai’s temples. Despite being smaller than the ones in Bangkok I actually enjoyed them more. The first one was called Wat Phran Tao which had a very different style as it was made from cedar.



Next was Wat Chedi Luang which was my second favourite temple of the whole trip after Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Before you get to the temple itself, there is a smaller temple that to my shock and surprise had a sign stating that women were not allowed to enter! The walls inside the temple were covered with some of the most beautiful illustrations I’ve ever seen. I took a bunch of pictures and even made one of them the lock screen of my phone which I still use now.



The actual Chedi Luang temple is located in the back of the space. Most temples in Thailand look pretty much the same as they were built in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Wat Chedi Luang began construction in the thirteenth century and wasn’t completed until the fifteenth, so it is noticeably older with its pinkish stone walls compared to the typical white and gold.





The last temple I checked out was Wat Phra Singh which is notable for its structures that are entirely gold. It also featured what were probably the most impressive dragon sculptures I’ve seen on a temple.





If you’re going to Chiang Mai, you have to check out one of the elephant sanctuaries. I actually wanted to go to one called Elephant Nature Park which is considered to be the best one in Chiang Mai. Unfortunately, it was already booked up for the entire month before I even left home. The one I went to was called Elephant Jungle Sanctuary, I did a half day there and it was amazing.
If you’re interested in seeing elephants while in Asia, be sure to pick a sanctuary that doesn’t allow people to ride the elephants. Not only is this terrible for their backs but the practices employed to train the elephants for riding can be very cruel. Be sure to do some research online before choosing where to go.
The day at the sanctuary began by changing into colourful shirts which the host explained makes the elephants comfortable with us. We then met the elephants and fed them sugar cane and bananas. Being so close to these beautiful animals was incredible and hard to describe. We then took the elephants to the water to cool off and even got to see a little play fighting!




After lunch the elephants were brought to the mud bath. Unfortunately I didn’t take pictures of this as I don’t have anything waterproof to take pictures with. We all got into the mud bath and rubbed it all over the elephants. It helps to cool them off and acts as a natural insect repellent as well.
After washing the mud off the elephants (and ourselves) we made “medicine” for the elephants by rolling rice and dried tamarind into balls which helps the elephants digest their food. The sanctuary also offers full-day trips and even overnight stays, but the half day on its own was an unforgettable experience and I recommend it to anyone who visits Southeast Asia.
That night I checked out a restaurant back in town called The Duke’s with a couple I met at the sanctuary. It specialized in Western food, particularly burgers and steaks. It’s significantly more expensive than local food, but since I had only been eating local until this point I decided to indulge and it was delicious!

We then checked out Boy Blues Bar which is a bar that plays… you guessed it, blues. It’s an open air, rooftop bar with a live band playing classic blues and rock songs. The band was actually really good, these guys could really shred and they busted out dueling guitar solos and everything.
I saved one of the best temples in Chiang Mai for my last day in the city: Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. One of the most sacred temples in northern Thailand, it’s about a fourty-five minute drive from the city so I had to take an Uber there. There is a popular, cheaper alternative to Uber called Grab which I recommend using, but I personally couldn’t get it working on my phone. There is a long set of steps to the top of the hill where the temple is, but once you hit the top you’re greeted to this:





There’s also a great view of the city from the top of the hill. My phone camera had trouble picking up the city below but you can at least see how high up I was. Once I made my way back down the hill I treated myself to another khao soi chicken for lunch. Then I headed back to my hostel to check out and catch my bus to my next destination.

As much as I loved Bangkok, I loved Chiang Mai even more. The food was incredible, I met tons of people from all over the world, and my experience with the elephants is something that I’ll never forget. My next stop was Pai, a sleepy backpacker town with some beautiful nature nearby to explore. It was time to leave the cities behind for something a little different, and I couldn’t have been more ready.
If you liked this post be sure to click the 👏 below. Look out for my next blog post on Pai coming soon!
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