An eye-opening trip to Chiang Mai - Part 1

A five-day stay in Chiang Mai unexpectedly became an eye opener about Thailand's tourism and how a simple village or a waterfall or even a forest can be turned into a tourist attraction. Chiang Mai is a very tourist-friendly city. It was clean, convenient and confortable throughout my stay. I did enjoy every single moment in Chiang Mai.

The first thing I fell in love in Chiang Mai was this cafe` called Charcoa. It was an oasis for me to spend hours and hours chit chatting with friends or just reading a book. The owner must have had full passion to run a garden cafe` like thi. We can see and feel the effort in the details of how the furnitures are layed out or how the food was presented. I will always remember this lovely Charcoa.

I met a friend of my travel mate at Chiang Mai. She has many many stories and anecdotes about everthing from the former Royal family of the Northern Thailand to Orphanage in Tarchilake. Our conversation at Charcoa went on and on till they left for Mei Sai. I would never feel bored to listen to her.



This is my favourite seat at the cafe`. I was very comfortable spending time there. The fruits salad with yogurt and the omelet were delicious and perfect for breakfast. I ever thought about running a cafe` in my retirement age. In everything we do, what makes a difference is the passion and effort that we've put in. I thought Charcoa was well designed and I could feel the passionate touches. I hope to enjoy my moment at Charcoa again in the near future.




The beauty of Chiang Mai is the mixture of modern life demonstrated by the heavy traffic and the remains such as this The Phae` gate, one of the five gates of the old city. In day time, this empty square displays part of the entrance to an ancient city surrounded by the four walls which again is encompassed by the mote.



At Saturday nights, the square is transformed into a night market linked to the stretch of shops. This Saturday walking street is one of the interesting places for me.

It is very vibrant with many road side eateries where the authentic local foods are available.

This lady was selling local products such as accessories. The tribal blouse and nicely decorated cap added more colors into the dynamic walking street. The tick-tack sound that she made by scrubbing the rod on the wavy back the wooden frog was also comparative with the musics created by the flutist.

I took the photo of this child as she reminded me of the naivety of the childhood. I dearly remembered the freedom from any hardship and sophistication in my childhood

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There are many Wat in Chiang Mai, most of them are inside the old city. This Wat is on the way from the guest house I stayed to the prison shop. I love the Thai massage at the prison shop where the authority give chance for the female inmates to learn and work as masseuses before their release. The prison shop also sells the knitted coasters, table cloths and other hand-made materials. I believe such opportunities help find a career for the ladies who are determined to change after the release.

In this Wat, I noticed the different form of arts in the details. Although I was tired cycling back from the Chiang Mai University, I decided to drop by and take a look at it. It was very peaceful and pleasant in the compound. The wood carvings on the wall such as "Siddhartha leaves home" and "Supreme Enlightenment" were magnificent.

This beautiful tree was in the temple compound. The purple, red, orange and white flowers are showing off their beauty. What a waste to miss the famous Chiang Mai's flower festival by just a few days.

It took me more than an hour to walk from Moon Muang to the night bazaar. With inappropriate footwear for the long walk, I suffered from the leg and the back aches. The night bazaar was busy and dynamic but I did not find uniqueness in it. Maybe, it is not just my taste.

The signboard of the big seafood shop was very bright and attractive. But I could not find any thing authentic. I will remember my special dinner at the night bazaar - the roti (equivalent to Parata in Singapore context) :)

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An eye-opening trip to Chiang Mai - Part 2

Many short trips around Chiang Mai are available for the tourists. Usually the packages include a touch of nature like few hours walk in the forest, a short visit to hill tribe villages, swimming in the waterfall, elephant riding or bamboo rafting. I took up a day trip with the shortest itinerary to be safe for the aching back. It was just a small group with two ladies from England and two girls (I just guess by their appearance) from Japan and a lady tourist guide. All women - let's have fun...

The elephant ride into the forest is quite an experience. Not sure how it was started to become an attraction, but it seems to be a good alternative for the elephant owners. As the machinery is more advanced and the regulation for logging are stricter, these elephants became idle. With the need to feed 2500kg a day (as per the guide), they are too expensive for keeping without income. Now those elephants bring the tourist for a ride of about 45 minutes and and I hope the owners earn enough to feed them.

I think even the elephants build up a habit if they were repeatedly treated the same way. We bought bananas for the elephants. While we were on the back of the elephant, we feed the elephant - a banana at a time. The elephant learns to ask for the banana before stepping up on the slopes. It would put up one fore leg on the little bump and wait to move another leg until the rider gave a banana.

This view with paddy field, the nearby hills and forest is a very simple sight in many Asian countries. Although it didn't make me so much excited, it grabbed the attention of the westerners I met on the one-day trip. They were so much interested in the plant that was grown in the field, and also amazed by the beauty and serenity of the nature. We walked through the shady trees and get into the forest.


It was a very refreshing stop at the waterfall. The facilities - a restaurant and some toilets were not fascinating but good enough for the short rest. On the way back from the water fall, we walked through the banana plantation. It was not as green and fine as Ayung River Canyon in Bali, Indonesia but interesting enough to create a day trip. While walking in the jungle which is nothing different from my grandparents' village, I keep on thinking about how an ordinary place can be turned into a tourist attraction.

We visited two villages where the tribes live. The village were set up with some houses which were unique to each tribe, hand weaving equipment, and some shops selling mixtures of their hand-made and machine-made clothing. We, curious ladies, were trying to judge how much is authentic and how much is prepared for attracting the tourists.


I would say that I had a chance to see Thais' rural live while rafting along the quiet stream. They love to drink - either soft drink or beer. There were many small huts on the bank along the stream. They look like custom-built for picnics. I saw some youngsters and middle-aged couples having fun on the huts and on the rafts as well. That is one way we could simply enjoy life.

I enjoyed the day trip which brought me back to my childhood holidays at my grandparents' home village and a reflection "I can be happy in any place if I wish to be".

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An eye-opening trip to Chiang Mai - Part 3

Another popular day trip around Chiang Mai is "the golden triangle" - the border of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar.

This boiling-hot spring is on the way to the golden triangle, before Chiang Rai. It was fun to buy a small basket of chicken or quail egg and just boil them in the hot spring. But you need to remember to return the cute basket.

To the hill tribe villages again, and this time I had an interesting experience. This lady in the tribe clothing, did not have to speak a word and earn (I guess) hundreds of Baht a day. She just wore her full dress and accessoried herself with this big pipe and that's it. We all love to take the picture of her with a hut in the background. She charged 10 Baht per head for photo taking with her. Not too bad, as she did not charge per photo :p

I wanted to hypothesize from this experience. Learn what people want, and make use of what you have (the dress and the pipe in this case), you will make a fortune if you hit the nail right. I also wonder how many such women I would see if I happened to be there again after a few years. I don't think she has the patent :)

This photo was taken while I was on the boat crossing Mekong river from Thailand to Laos. The Buddha statue in the picture is on Thailand, the red buildings far away is on Myanmar, and the group of trees on the bank are on Laos.

Literally, I have been to Laos as I have stepped on the land owned by Laos. But it was just a village on the bank where there was a small immigration checkpoint and a post office. I saw the bottles of liquor in which cobra, scorpion or any possible poisonous creatures were soaked. That part of Laos seems to be quite dry. I was a little uncomfortable being followed by the group of children. I wish they could be studying in the classrooms in stead of chasing the tourists.

This is the golden triangle where, as per the tour guide's explanation, opium used to be traded. The small river between Thailand and Myanmar meets Mekong river between Thailand and Laos. You can see the different colors of water in the picture.

The other side of the river is Tachilake in my homeland Myanmar. Since it would cost Baht 500 per head, while landing on Laos' land cost Baht 20 per person, the tour packages did not include it in the itinerary. I just had said Hi to my homeland from the top of a hill near the border.

The Points I pondered during the trip

On the way back, I couldn't help thinking about the village, the walk in the jungle, the waterfall, the bamboo rafting, the hot spring, the boat ride, all simple functional things which were turned into tourist attractions and they make Chiang Mai become a popular destination.

I believe that the foundation blocks of Thailand's tourism are the smooth roads on which everyone can travel for a few hours (I met many tourists of retirement age); the cleanliness that can facilitate a comfortable stay at most of the hotels, motels and guest houses; and certain degree of safety (I also met many solo female travellers).

The three countries have more similarities than differences. It is worth checking out how much each country could make out of tourism. It means "how we portray what we have is more important than what we have" in creating business? I need to research more to answer this question.

Good Bye Chiang Mai, I hope to be there again soon.