Thailand – Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai, Thailand by Gautam Khattak

Last updated: November 10, 2014

Disclaimer: These are notes I’ve written or gathered from various sources. I have not experienced all things in this document nor is it intended to be a definitive guide.

General Tips: if you can try to time your trip to Chiang Mai during either the Yi Peng or Loi Krathong Lantern Festivals (end of October – early November). One is a larger more coordinated festival where there are a lot of tourists (generally $100USD to partake) and the other falls 1-2 weeks later and is more the local event (no cost). The coordinated one is spectacular for photography because everyone gathers together and lights thousands of the lanterns at once. The latter goes on for hours and there are hundreds of lanterns in the sky at all times.

Currency: Thai Bhat

Conversion Tool: http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=100+usd+to+bhat&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

(Update for current rates)
100 USD = 3,277 Bhat
1 USD = 32.77 Bhat
1 Bhat = 0.03 USD
100 Bhat = 3.05 USD
1000 Bhat = 30.51 USD

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&q=1000+Bhat+to+USD&btnG=Search

Random tip: If you’re near the Thai Airlines Airport Lounge try the following for their WiFi WEP password: royal1234

Tipping:

There is no mandatory tipping policy in Thailand. However, this does not prevent you from giving a small gratuity to a service provider for truly exceptional service or fulfilling requests of an extraordinary nature.

Both Thai and local ex-patriots alike will commonly “round-up” the final fare to an even number. As example; your final meter reads a fare of 51?. You might give the driver 60? total.

Local Advice:
Cars and motorbikes will rarely give-way to pedestrians. Pay good attention to all traffic when walking.

Do not carry around large amounts of money, avoid wearing expensive jewelry or looking too flashy.

Never take your eyes off your drink when in pubs and clubs, drink spiking has been known to occur. There are lady-boys in Thailand that can easily be mistaken for female. Though I didn’t see many in Chiang Mai compared to other areas. Either way, check your personal phobia’s at the door, and don’t aggravate them.

Transportation

Chiang Mai has taxi’s and Tuk Tuk’s. From my experience they all were pretty legit and didn’t try to rip us off. From the airport it was less than 260 THB to get to our hotel (because there is an extra surcharge for when leaving the airport). It was only 160 to go back to the airport. Getting around central Chiang Mai (areas within and near Old Town and the Night Bazaar) was around 100THB. If it’s late night, they may say 200, but you can negotiate. We had our hotel call us Tuk Tuk’s for everything and it was very affordable. An hour Tuk Tuk ride to Tiger Kingdom only cost us 400THB round trip and they waited 3.5 hours while we visited the Tigers.

Motor-Scooter Rental: Legally you may need a motorcycle license from your home country AND an International Drivers Permit. This is can be a fun (dangerous) way to get around Chiang Mai, remember road accidents are very common, tourists and locals die on the roads, so it is not recommended for the novice rider.

Lodging

I stayed at the nice boutique hotel: Wiang Chang Klan Boutique
The hotel is a little bit away from everything else but only 7 minutes from the airport and 5 minutes driving to Night Bazaar, 10 minutes to the old city. It’s quite, has a nice small pool and the staff is very accommodating and friendly. We booked directly from the hotel but you can find them on Agoda.comI liked this hotel but they don’t have much in terms of food so if eating on the premises is important to you you may want to keep looking.

I had friends stay at U Chiang Mai and said only good things about it but it was booked out when I went so I can’t really comment personally.

Tourist Destinations
There are a number of tour packages of things to do in Chiang Mai. For example there are many options for Elephant Trekking, ATV riding, Bungee Jumping, River Rafting, Ziplining. You can pick and chose from any of the number of tour package shops in town or book from your hotel. You can almost always negotiate a cheaper deal than price printed in the brochure, especially if you call directly and cut out the hotel/tour shop. Almost all the packages include a pickup and drop-off to your hotel.

Chiang Mai is really famous for the Tiger Kingdom and Elephant Parks.

Tiger Kingdom is open from 9am – 6pm and does not require a reservation. It cost us 400THB for a round-trip Tuk Tuk to Tiger Kingdom from our hotel (central Chiang Mai). There are several packages that are a combination of being able to see the Smallest, Small, Medium or Big Tigers. We did ‘Take 3’ which was visiting the Smallest, Small & Big Tigers. That package cost 1,216 THB per person. It’s an extra 299 per cage if you want a ‘professional’ photographer. You spend ~15 minutes per section which is plenty of time. There is typically a long queue after you buy your ticket before you can go into the cage. We had a 2 hour wait time. But there is a restaurant and few snack places within TK or bring an iPad or book. But a nice thing is that once you purchase your ticket you can go inside the park at any time and walk all around the outside of the cages and get to see the Tigers pretty close-up before your turn comes up to go inside the cages which is nice. We had a few beers at the cafe and after 1.5 hours went into the park, checked in at one of the cages and were inside about 10 minutes later. You don’t to dress in anything special. T-shirt, shorts, flip-flops are all okay. Just bring a camera!

Knowing that you can walk around the park while waiting for your chance to pet them, I’d just recommend just paying for the Smallest and Biggest cages. You will probably still have the same wait time, but the smaller & medium cats aren’t too drastically different in size to need to see inside 3 cages.

GK Editorial: I’m not a huge fan of the idea of this place because there are some sites that say the tigers are drugged and others that say they’re just well fed and born in captivity so trained very well. However I’m a huge fan of Tigers and you get to be right up in their business at the Tiger Kingdom. Seriously you can pet their belly, play with their tales. Lie on top of them…it’s a bit unnerving but makes for awesome photos! The Tigers are pretty laid back and many of the big cats were asleep when we were in their cages and didn’t bother reacting when we were petting them which on one hand was disappointing but on the other hand was comforting! The smaller tigers seemed more active though again seemed apathetic to humans being around them.

Elephants!
There are several different groups that do Elephant packages and they offer different things. Most of them will pick you up from your hotel if its within Chiang Mai and this tends to be a full day event. I prefer the companies that are rescue centers for mal-treated elephants. They don’t allow you to ride the elephants or certainly don’t allow any chairs or harnesses strapped to the elephants so you ride the elephants bareback. Warning: the popular companies book out weeks if not months in advance so plan ahead!

Elephant Nature Park seemed to be the most legit where they are truly a conservation group for Elephants and watch out for the livelihood for the Elephants. You basically chose to volunteer for a day (or more) and feed, bathe and learn about the elephants. I’m not sure if you can even ride them at ENP. However this place also books up fast so you have to make your reservation weeks if not months in advance during peak season. You usually pay a 1,000 THB deposit per person and the rest (~1500 THB) upon arrival for a total of 2,500THB per person..

Because ENP was sold out I booked Eddy Elephant Chiang Mai this was a good group as well and claim to also be all about protecting the Elephants. The cost was 2,400THB online and Eddy said it was cheaper if you book through him. (eddyelephantman@hotmail.com – +66(0)8 9952 2896)

From Eddy you learn about the elephants, learn some commands to ride them and you feed them A LOT of bananas. Seriously they are hungry beasts! Each person gets a chance to ride the elephant one on one to practice the commands they teach you. Then you eat a pretty decent lunch. After lunch you go on a 45 minute trek (generally 2 people per elephant) through the jungle and then down river riding the elephants. In the river the elephants will sit down and then you get to bathe them. All in all this was a fun experience but it was a long day. Riding an elephant works your groin/inner thighs out! but don’t worry it’s nothing too serious but it can’t hurt to do some stretches beforehand 🙂

Preparing for the Elephant Tour (what to wear/bring)
What they didn’t tell us in advance is that you will get pretty wet because you bathe the elephants in the river. Eddy’s had a change of clothes for all of us but if you’re not fond of wearing someone else’s sweaty jogging suit I suggest bringing a change of clothes. A bathing suit and extra t-shirt is a good idea so you don’t have to wear the musky used T-shirts and jogging pants (they do suggest pants rather that shorts) they provide. Bring Teva’s or Keens if you can, flip flops may fall off. If you wear sneakers or boots you’ll end up riding barefoot (unless you don’t care if they get submerged, which they will). You can use your own camera for most of the time but if it’s not waterproof they won’t recommend taking it for the after lunch trek because you’ll be in the river. If you have a Go Pro or a waterproof camera you’re fine. Otherwise they’ll suggest you pay 200THB for their photographers DVD. We paid for that but he is by no means a professional! A lot of the pictures were blurry but then again it only cost $6.

Ziplining is a popular thing to do in Chiang Mai and most of the locations are about 1 hour outside of Chiang Mai. All the companies include the transportation. The experience is safe and a lot of fun. I do recommend it, especially if you’re afraid of heights, it’s time to get over that!
I ended up going with the Dragon Flight Zipline group. All the packages from the various companies seemed comparable but this one had times that suited us. This one seemed to have more platforms and but I’m guessing it was one of the less known companies. But wesurvived and had fun so whatever! They picked us up at 9:30am and told us we’d be back at 3pm but they ended up combining groups so it took an extra 1.5 hours and we were back to Chiang Mai around 4:30pm. The lunch they fed was pretty good (Green Curry, Pad Thai, Veggies and Rice).

Dragon Flight – the company I used
Flight Of the Gibbon – seemed to be the most advertised
Eagle Track – second most advertised company
Zipline Chiang Mai

Preparing for Zipline – The advertised cost I saw was 1900THB. That’s what’s printed in the brochure but I know people that arranged the same tour for 1600THB from one of the tour companies in town. For ziplining you’ll want to have a pair of sneakers or boots. Also it might be a good idea to have a poncho or raincoat because it seems to rain in the mountains for at least 10 minutes. Luckily they provide a free T-shirt at the end so if you do get soaked it’s not a huge deal. Also there are various pick-up times. We saw the Dragon Flight schedule and it looked like this (on that particular Sunday)

8:30 pick-up group: 10-ish people
9:30 group: 22 people
12:30 group (late return): 7 people

So as you can see, the people that like to get an extra hour of sleep have to deal with A LOT more people on the zipline so it tends to be much slower. I’d say forgo that hour and get the 8:30 slot. You should be back from the Jungle by 2:30-3ish.

Thai Boxing – One of the most popular spectator sports in Thailand, and now gaining world renown, is the martial art of Muay Thai. Exciting enough on TV – the furious punches, crushing elbow strikes, lethal kicks and artful feints are even more riveting when seen live.

Dining & Nightlife
Food in Thailand is amazing! It’s hard to find a bad Green Curry or Pad Thai. Thai food can be spectacular at a small street restaurant or in a fine dining establishment. However be warned, Thai food is spicy, especially in Thailand! So if you like hot food in general, medium (or even mild) may be the equivalent to what you’re used to. There are a lot of restaurants up and down the river bank around the Night Bizarre. Because it was the lantern festival a lot of them didn’t take reservations and were packed but we managed to find a few places that were nice places and had good food.

The Old Place No. 89 was probably the best food we had in Chiang Mai (besides Dunkin Donuts of course). Unfortunately we didn’t tell the waiter to tone down the spice level so everything was HOT (and generally I can handle my spice)! but the food, especially the Tom Yung Kung was excellent! We sat outside under the trees by the river which was nice especially during the lantern festival.
89 Charoenrat Road, Muang Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, Thailand 50000
Address: เจริญราษฎร์, วัดเกต, เมือง, Chiang Mai 50000, Thailand
Phone:+66 94 635 2661
Hours: Open today · 11:00 am – 10:00 pm

Dash Teak – This restaurant is in the Southeast corner of Old City and I liked it a lot. The atmosphere was great, the have some good live music. The food was good and not expensive at all. 4 of us at for 1800THB.
Address: Moon Muang Road Soi 3, Mueang Chiang Mai District, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand
Phone:+66 53 279 230
Hours: Open today · 9:00 am – 12:00 am

The River Market – This restaurant is right on the River and was the perfect place to sit and watch the lanterns go up for the Lantern Festival. The food was good though because it was packed the service was very slow. Stick with beer because cocktails took forever. For two of us it came to about 1300 THB which is expensive compared to the other places but not really expensive in general. We had Green Curry, Tom Yung Kung which were both good and Pineapple Fried Rice (which wasn’t that great).

The Good View is a very popular and lively casual restaurant. There is a live band, beer & food and it’s on the river. This place is not a place to go and have a conversation because the band and crowd are very loud and it tends to get packed.

The Gallery Restaurant & Art Club seemed like a good place to dine along the river. Unfortunately it was booked out so we didn’t have a chance to try the food.

Deck-1– The Exotic Scene & Cuisine. This restaurant seems to be quite trendy and has gotten good reviews. I suggest reservations if possible.

Nightlife: The two areas that I found worth hanging out were the Night Bizarre and in the Old City. There are plenty of restaurants and bars all over these areas and there are also several night markets.

Shopping
I’m not a huge shopper but Chiang Mai markets are very cheap! Where I went it was mostly hand made goods and t-shirts. I didn’t see things like watches or electronics like in other Asian markets but I only went to the Saturday Market and the Anusarn Market. I only bought T-shirts and they were about 200-250THB each.

Sunday Markets (Sunday only) (also called Walking Street Markets) (late afternoon till midnight) In the centre of Chiang Mai’s Old City section from the Tha Phae Gate to all the way down Rachadamnoen Road, about 1klm long, and spreading out down all the side streets. Big.

Saturday (Wua Lai) Market (Saturday only) (late afternoon till midnight) All the way down Wua Lai Road opposite Chiang Mai Gate, about 1km long. South side of Chiang Mai’s Old City section.

Night Bazaar (daily open from late afternoon till midnight) The famous Night Bazaar is a bargain hunters paradise. Eastern side of Old City all the way along Chang Khlan Road, about 1km long.

Kalare Night Market (1/3 way down from top of Night Bazaar) (daily open from dusk till midnight) Eastern side of Old City on Chang Khlan Road.

Anusarn Night Market (1/3 way up from bottom of Night Bazaar) (daily open from dusk till midnight) Eastern side of Old City on Chang Khlan Road.

Warorot Market (daytime) (early morning till night) (2 minute stroll north of Night Bazaar)
Eastern side of Old City on Chang Moi Road. Buy anything and everything here. This is a favourite place for the locals to shop.

Muang Mai Market (daytime) (early morning till dusk) (10mins walk north of Warorot Market)
North eastern side of Old City on Muang Samut Road. Wholesale fresh fruit, vegetables, meat & seafood.

Somphet Market (daytime) (in Old City 5 minute walk north of Tha Phae Gate)
Plenty of fresh fruit, vegetables. Also has house wares and some good inexpensive tailors.

Khamtien Plant Market (daytime) (north of Old City on Superhighway behind Tesco’s Super Store) Plants, trees, gardening accessories, pets & tropical fish.

JJ Market (near Khamtien Plant Market) (weekends) (North of Old City, off Superhighway on Assadathon Road) A modern Market complex both inside and outside new building. Fresh fruit, vegetables, plants, second hand goods, designer goods, antiques, pubs and restaurants.

Thipanet Market (daytime) (south of Old City near Chiang Mai Gate) Arts and crafts.

Map of the Markets

Itinerary I followed

Thursday: Check into hotel and head off around 7pm to the river for the Lantern Festival.
Friday: Leave hotel around 11am,
- go to Dunkin Donuts and then off to the Tiger Kingdom (40 min transport).
  - Wait 2 hours, spend 1 hour with Tigers and head back (1 hour back).
- Back at hotel around 5pm, head back to the river around 7:30pm for more of the Lantern festival and dinner
Saturday: Get picked up at 9am for Eddy’s Elephant Adventure, back at 6pm
- 8:30pm Dinner in Old City @ Dash Peak and then Saturday Night Market (closes at 11)
Sunday: Pickup at hotel at 8:30am for Dragon Flight Zipline back at 4:30pm then off to the airport

Helpful Links

Helpful Thai Phrases

English Phrases	Thai Phrases

English Greetings	Thai Greetings:
Hi!	sa-was-dee สวัสดี
Good morning!	a-roon-sa-was อรุณสวัสดิ์
Good evening!	sa-yan-sa-was สายัณห์สวัสดิ์
Welcome! (to greet someone)	yin-dee-ton-rab ยินดีต้อนรับ
How are you?	sa-bai-dee-mai สบายดีไหม
I’m fine, thanks!	sa-bai-dee, kob-kun สบายดี, ขอบคุณ
And you?	leaw-kun-la แล้วคุณหละ
Good/ So-So.	kor-dee/ reauy-reauy ก็ดี/ เรื่อยๆ
Thank you (very much)!	kob-kun-(mak) ขอบคุณ(มาก)
You’re welcome! (for “thank you”)	mai-prn-rai ไม่เป็นไร
Hey! Friend!	yai-puan ไงเพื่อน
I missed you so much!	chan/phom-kid-thung-kun-mak ฉัน/ผมคิดถึงคุณมาก
What’s new?	mee-a-rai-mai-bang มีอะไรใหม่บ้าง
Nothing much	mai-mee-ar-rai-mak ไม่มีอะไรมาก
Good night!	ra-tee-sa-was ราตรีสวัสดิ์
See you later!	leaw-jor-kan-mai แล้วเจอกันใหม่
Good bye!	la-korn ลาก่อน
Asking for Help and Directions
I’m lost	chan/phom-long-tang ฉัน/ผมหลงทาง
Can I help you?	hai-chan/phom-chuay-a-rai-mai-ka/krab ให้ฉัน/ผมช่วยอะไรไหม คะ/ครับ
Can you help me?	chuay-chan/phom-noi-dai-mai-ka/krab ช่วยฉัน/ผมหน่อยได้ไหม คะ/ครับ
Where is the (bathroom/ pharmacy)?	houng-num(bathroom)/ ran-kay-ya(pharmacy) …. you-tee-nai-ka/krab ห้องน้ำ/ร้านขายยาอยู่ที่ไหน คะ/ครับ
Go straight!	trong-pai ตรงไป
Turn left	leaw-sai เลี้ยวซ้าย
Turn right	leaw-kaw เลี้ยวขวา
I’m looking for john.	chan/phom-kam-lang-ha-John-you ฉัน/ผมกำลังหาจอห์นอยู่
One moment please!	pab-neung-na แป๊บหนึ่งนะ
Hold on please! (phone)	theu-sai-roo-sak-kru-na-ka/krab ถือสายรอสักครู่นะคะ/ครับ
How much is this?	an-nee-tao-rai อันนี้เท่าไหร่
Excuse me …! (to ask for something)	kor-thod-ka/krab- ….. ขอโทษคะ/ครับ …..
Excuse me! ( to pass by)	kor-tang-noi-ka/krab ขอทางหน่อยคะ/ครับ
Come with me!	ma-kab-chan/phom/si มากับฉัน/ผมซิ