Chang Mai was the second stop on the Thailand segment of my trip and it is a pretty awesome city. It is located about an hour flight north of Bangkok and serves as the capital of the northern portion of Thailand. Chang Mai is known for its 356 temples and amazing outdoor activities. Let me tell you, it definitely didn't let me down.
Upon my arrival, I headed to a guesthouse that I had read about in my guide book. It was unfortunately full and so I headed down the road to find another one. The next one I came to also happened to be in my guide book and had gotten good reviews. This being the case, I decided to stay. after dropping down my stuff, I headed out to grab some food. After walking around the city for a few hours, I decided to call it a night.
The next day, I set out to see some of the more famous of the 356 temples that are located in Chang Mai. The city is basically set up in two parts. There is a huge moat that surrounds the "old city" and then the newer sections of Chang Mai are built around the outside of the moat. Considering the fact that most of the temples are extremely old, the bulk of them are located inside of the "old city." After breakfast, I took out my trusty map and set out to explore. The first temple that I came to was called Wat Chedi Luang. This temple was built in 1441 and was absolutely beautiful. What makes this temple famous is the fact that the "Emerald Buddha" which is now located in the Royal Palace in Bangkok, use to be located here. There is now a replica of that Buddha and it was really neat to see the original location of arguably the most famous Buddha statue in all of Thailand. The next temple that I came to was a temple called Wat Phra Singh. This temple is Chang Mai's most visited temple and is home to the city's most famous Buddha. "The Lion Buddha." Apparently this temple is a perfect example of the Northern Thai style of architecture and although I cant necessarily say that I could tell the difference, it was still a very beautiful temple. The final Temple that I came to on my "old city" temple tour was a temple called Wat Chiang Man. This temple is thought to bear the oldest markings from the city. There is an inscription carved into one of the walls that dates from around 1296. It was really neat to see an original inscription that was that old. After this temple, I headed out from the old city and grabbed some lunch near the moat. After lunch, I visited the final two temples of the day. These were Wat Mahawan and Wat Bupparam. These temples are known for their statues of various animals located around the entrances of the temples. They both definitely had a ton of statues and it was fun to see such interesting statues. After these temples, I came back to my hotel to chill for a little while. Later that night, I set out to check out the famous Sunday Walking Street. This is basically a MASSIVE street market that highlights northern handi crafts that local people make. After walking around the market for a while, I decided to call it a night and headed back to my hotel.
The next day, I decided to be adventuresome and booked a FULL day tour called the Lifestyle Adventure Trek. The day began at 8:00 AM and the first place that our group went to was some of the local villages located in the mountains north of Chang Mai. These local tribes are originally from Myanmar but moved to Thailand around 200 years ago to escape military persecution. After walking around the villages for a while, we headed to our next stop, the Orchid and Butterfly farm. At the farm, we walked around for a while admiring the beautiful flowers and butterflies. After the farm, we headed to our next stop, the Elephant Camp for some Elephant Riding! At the Camp, our group hopped into some elephants and then proceeded to take an elephant ride through the jungle for about and hour and a half. I must say, it was definitely a neat experience to ride an elephant. If you ever have the chance, it is definitely a fun experience. After the elephant camp, we headed the the next stop, a trek through the jungle to an amazing waterfall. The trek to the waterfall took about an hour and midway through, it started to downpour. While some people were probably annoyed, I thought that it really added to the experience and I really enjoyed it. Upon arriving at the waterfall, we were rewarded for our efforts with an AMAZING waterfall. The water was cool and clear and was extremely refreshing after such a long trek. After trekking back to the trail head, we headed for our last stop of the day, a whitewater rafting trip down the local river. Now considering that I have done some serious whitewater rafting in my day, while fun, this river wasn't tooo extreme. It was still fun never the less. At the end of the whitewater segment, we got to take a bamboo raft back to the vans. The coolest thing about the bamboo raft was that I actually got to steer it! After arriving back in Chang Mai, after such a full day, I just called it a day.
The next day, it was back on the adventure trail. I woke up SUPER early and headed for the "Flight of the Gibbon Experience." This is basically a series of zip lines, sky bridges and repelling stations located high up in the canopy in the rain forest just south of Chang Mai. There over 2 kilometers of zip lines, 2 sky bridges, and 3 repelling stations. This being the case, I spent the morning flying around the jungle just like the local monkeys that live there. Midway through the morning, we were even lucky enough to see 2 Gibbons. Gibbons are a type of monkey that live in this forest but are EXTREMELY rare. We were incredibly lucky to be able to see some of them. After we completed the rain forest section, we headed to yet another waterfall. This time, the waterfall had 7 "tiers" and we got to climb along side it up to the 4th tier. It was really neat to see the water cascade from one pool over the edge to the next pool. After the waterfall, it was time to head back to Chang Mai. Upon arriving back in Chang Mai it was only around 1:00 PM and so I decided to make use of my afternoon. I decided to head to yet another temple. This time the temple was called Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. This temple is located in Doi Suthep-Pui National Park and is located 15 Kilometers from the city. As we were driving to the temple, I realized that I REALLY wished that I had my skateboard because the pavement was 13 Kilometers of perfect grade downhill awesomeness! Upon arriving at the temple, I had to climb 306 steps to reach the temple grounds. Upon reaching the top, I was rewarded with AMAZING views of Chang Mai and the surrounding area. After walking around the temple grounds for a while, I headed back to Chang Mai. After grabbing some dinner, I decided to go check out the infamous night bazaar. This was yet another massive shopping street lined with stalls selling the useful and the useless. While I did not make any purchases, it was still fun to walk around. After the night bazaar, I called it a night.
The next day was my last day in Chang Mai. This being the case, I decided to do the most logical thing that I could think of, I left Thailand and went Myanmar for the day. There was actually a reason for this trip. Upon arriving in Thailand, tourists from the U.S.A. (as well as many other countries) are given a 30 day visa. If you plan to be in Thailand for more than 30 days, you must do whats called a visa run. This means that you must leave Thailand for any length of time and then re-enter. Upon re-entering, you are given another 30 days in the country. For my visa run, I took a van from Chang Mai 4 hours north to a town called Mai Sai that lies right on the border of Myanmar. After crossing into Myanmar I grabbed some food and walked around for an hour or so before heading back to Thailand. While a short visit, this visit to Myanmar was necessary and I can now cross off Myanmar on my global travel map. After returning to the van, we drove 4 hours back to Chang Mai.
FINALLY tomorrow, its off to what I have been most excited about, Ko Samui and The World Class Islands in the South of Thailand. Keep tuned for stories from Paradise!
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