After a few months of hectic travel through Asia, we were ready to slow down the pace of our adventures a bit and call a place “home” for a bit more than just a few nights. Enter Chiang Mai! One of the two largest cities in Thailand, Chiang Mai is situated in the North and has a very distinct vibe from Bangkok or the Thai Islands. Balancing traditional Thai culture with a modern touch- as evidenced by the many coworking spaces and startup sticker festooned laptops you see at cafes here. This mix of old and a new combined with a more laid back attitude seemed like the perfect place to put down some (temporary) roots. Sweetening the deal there seemed like limitless things to do here ranging from cooking classes to volunteering on an elephant preserve to…well…just taking it all in. Strap in because this post is longer than most BUT you’ll get some epic food stories, hear about one of the most over the top cabarets we’ve ever experienced, learn how you to can pamper adorable elephants and discuss the meaning of life with Buddhist Monks- ITS ALL HERE IN CHIANG MAI!
Let’s get to the basics first- Chiang Mai really has two main parts- the historic “Old Town” that’s bordered by stone walls and a moat, and then there’s the rest of Chiang Mai. Inside old town you’ll find many historical sights like Buddhist temples, monasteries, restaurants and street markets. It’s all very walkable but there are throngs of Tuk Tuks (little motorized scooter taxis) that are there to zip you around quickly- just make sure to bargain their prices down 😉
Being used to “Californian” Thai food we really wanted to get out there and try all the kinds of street food we’ve never tasted before- and let me tell you, there’s a TON to enjoy in Chiang Mai! Just the options of where to get your food are bewildering. For example there are a whole spectrum of night markets that offer food you can choose from ranging from the locals only one in Malin Plaza to the high end, food and booze truck night markets that cater to tourists. There’s something for every palate and the beauty is that you have so much to choose from- you can literally just graze your way through (like we did!).
One of my favorite North Thai dishes was a delicious curry noodle dish called kow soi. It had everything- a delicious curry broth, roasted chicken and perfectly cooked al dente noodles. Just make sure you don’t wear a white shirt- those curry drops get everywhere!
Another of our favorite places was right next to the Cowboy Lady and they made the best stir fry I might have ever had. Pork, veggies and XO sauce get fired up for an insane-o tasty combination. It was so good I ate two of them! Another dish you should check out is are Thai Sausages which are pork based and look just like sausages you’d get in the west- just with a distinctly spicy, Thai Kaffir Leaf taste. Also, if you like chicken wings- have we got the place for you- it puts everything else in SF to shame.
The AMAZING green curry Tiff learned to make 
Bennie and some of our awesome cooking classmates 
Making curry paste from scratch 
Tom yum! 
Always stay hydrated 😛 
Benny even went the extra distance 
Benny showing us how to make real Thai food! 
Some of our tasty goodness that we created! 
Chiang Mai is also known for its cooking classes. There’s a bewildering amount of them to choose from and it was a challenge just deciding on one. After all the research we finally went with Benny’s Cooking School. Benny picked us up along with some awesome new friends and we went to the market to shop for the ingredients we needed to cook with. Benny was a natural character and she cracked jokes throughout our sojourn through the countless food and vegetable stalls in the main market. Then it was time to cook! Benny whisked us to her home where she had an expert cooking classroom set up with everything we needed. After a few hours of straightforward, joke filled hours of cooking we got to enjoy the fruit of our labors green curry, chicken satay, kow soi and a delicious mango sticky rice for desert. Tiffany made hands down the best green curry i’ve ever had. If you swing by our place in SF, we’d be happy to make this for you too!
Seriously, we could talk about the food forever, but we’ve got to move on to…something a bit more sexy- cabaret! I want to preface this by saying that we live in San Francisco and love going out to cabarets and burlesque performances and all the other fun artsy stuff that SF offers- and we’ve seen a lot. But that didn’t prepare us for how far over the top the cabaret acts are here in Chiang Mai. Enter- 6ixcret Show. This is a “gender-illusionist” Cabaret (to steal Asia SF’s term) and the performers really go all out. Playing everything from Beyonce to Lady Gaga and of course, Cher- the dancers would choreograph an amazing routine together with incredible costumes. The singing, the perfectly choreographed dancing, lighting the stage on fire and of course, the sparkles were amazing. The entire show runs about 2 1/2 hours with no cover (just a 2 drink minimum!). We were so amazed we brought some friends back a few days later and the entire show was different- which from a choreography perspective just blows my mind. Definitely something you have to see to believe.
But Chiang Mai wasn’t all just eating and cabaret-ing. I took advantage of one its more unique experiences- having a monk chat. Monk chats are offered by several temples and monasteries around town and they offer you the ability to sit down with a monk and chat about pretty much anything. It’s a way for them to practice their English and it’s an incredible way for you and the monk to learn more about each other’s culture. I came in with a bunch of topics I was interested in covering along with some suggested by friends on Facebook and I got to sit down with a monk for about 2 hours. We covered everything from how he found his calling as a monk (most Thai boys are monks for a year or two in adolescence) to the nature of consciousness. Our conversations went back and forth and I was left with some new perspectives on life and travel- one in particular was a lesson that helped me in my adventures in Nepal. I asked the monk what Buddhism might offer someone like me who enjoys eating, dancing and a lot of the more sensual things in life. The monk paused, thought about my question for a while and shared that us Westerners often approach life with set expectations. When life falls short of those expectations, it brings disappointment and suffering. He felt Buddhism could help with this. Little did I know that several weeks later in Nepal my own expectations and the fallout from them would impact me in a huge way. See my Nepal Travelogue for more on that. In short- if you want a unique travel experience that will stick with, definitely check out the monk chats.
One must do adventure in Chiang Mai is make it to Wat Sri Suphan- an incredible temple on the mountain overlooking the city. Housing several incredible Buddhas, the complex lives up to its UNESCO World Heritage status- its main spire shining in multi-tiered levels of gold. From here you can not only appreciate the beauty of Thai Temple Architecture but you can get sweeping views of the city. Probably the easiest and cheapest ways to visit is to take one of the red pickup trucks that leave from the old town. These hilarious makeshift buses pack people in till they’re full up then zoom up the mountain- their definitely worth the price of admission.
These guys can eat! 
One of our favorite pics of the trip!
Our final adventure in Chiang Mai was one of the most heartwarming of our trip. We volunteered for a day with the Elephant Nature Preserve and helped pamper several elephants rescued from forced labor. Here in Thailand, Elephants are used from everything from the lumber industry to street entertainment. In order to train them to do these tasks, humans torture in all sorts of terrible ways- evidenced by the elephants who are missing eyes, ears and carry the scars of their labor. That being said, whenever we visited elephants in zoos, it always conjured this image of massive creatures with mighty trunks who did not mess around. While this is true, throughout the day we got to see a playful and fun side of these massive creatures that I wasn’t aware of. From happily scarfing down some rice and banana snacks we made for them to galloping around like massive puppies to taking a mud bath, we were charmed by them through and through. The day went by to fast and after all the elephant pampering was done, we climbed back in our bus home and waved goodbye to our elephant friends.
Phew! That was a long post! It just goes to show you HOW MUCH there is to do in Chiang Mai! We hope you fall in love with this city as much as we did!
Get our Google Map of our favorite places in Chiang Mai
Which you can find easily here!