Chiang Mai part 1

On our "bucket list" of things to do before we leave Thailand is to visit Chiang Mai, a city in northern Thailand. It's the 2nd largest city in Thailand and unique in many ways - mostly that it is considered to be the cultural capital of Thailand. It has 27 different provinces and 26 of them have a mountain in them (not huge mountains, but mountains nonetheless). It is generally a relief from Bangkok because it tends to be cooler. And while we are glad we visited there, it was okay. I keep saying that if we lived here for the next 7 years, I don't think I would go back.

I guess I was expecting more. Or something different. We did a lot of walking - our hotel wasn't downtown (it was approx. 2km from downtown) and made for a lot of walking on the sides of busy, busy streets with kids to get where we needed to go. No taxis in Chiang Mai (no idea why), so our choices were hoofing it, taking a songthaew or a tuk tuk. We got to check off "ride a songthaew" off our list, as well - a lot!

I think I finally realized halfway through our trip that I don't think I've ever taken a "sightseeing" trip...for the purpose of "sightseeing". Growing up we vacationed at the beach (which I love) and Dan did a lot of trips up to the farm. But we didn't do a lot of sightseeing - in DC sure, 1 day in Philly and 1 day in NYC. So, I guess I wasn't really understanding what our purpose was for going up there was to sightsee. Definitely interesting and maybe not my favorite choice of things to do. However, it was interesting to see the wall built to protect the city of Chiang Mai that was built in the late 1200's - which is insanely old! Pretty cool. In addition to sightseeing, we also got to shop, eat, see lots of animals and do more sightseeing!

Great family pic with an elephant at the Night Safari!

Map of Chiang Mai to give you an idea of where we went in relation to Bangkok

There are 4 main ways to get to Chiang Mai from Bangkok - drive (12 hours), take an overnight bus (8-ish hours - not sure how it's shorter than driving yourself), take an overnight train (13 hours) and fly (1 hour flight time). We chose to fly after a 2 1/2 year debate :) I am so thankful we did and so thankful that we fly on Thai airways instead of a budget airline. A $30USD total difference and we had a great flight times - got into Chiang Mai at 10am and flew out at 5pm!

Nok Airways (budget airlines) plane...too cute!

We got into Chiang Mai, checked into our hotel and headed out to explore! We realized quickly that we needed to take a songthaew and this was our first time!

The Ladies

The Day Market - crazy foods, purses, backpacks, clothes...random stuff and so much fun to see!

Um, maybe Chiang Mai sausage? They say it's supposed to be good - but it looks crazy

Nothing like the discolored tongues as a result of slushies!

Dan and I in front of a cool Wat (temple)

Cool 3 story Starbucks - surprisingly I didn't get anything, but did just stop inside to see what it was like...and it was like every other Starbucks in the world (well, at least Thailand and the US)

A Songthaew

Dan and the kiddos in front of the East Gate of the City Wall

Kiddos in fun chairs at our hotel

When walking on the streets and narrow sidewalks, Dan leads with Jack behind him, Megan following Jack, then Kylie and then me. Kylie found these while walking...

We went to the Night Safari the first night we were there. Kids got to wear pants and jackets, although they really didn't need the long pants. Here they are in front of a cool statue

For the Night Safari, we got to ride 2 trams through all the fun animal sanctuaries and see animals that are nocturnal...and feed some that were safe to do so (i.e. deer, hogs, zebra and giraffes)

Zebra we got to feed carrots and bananas

Kylie and Megan feeding the giraffes from the tram

Jack's favorite animal - the Eagle

Kylie's favorite animal - the Elephant

My favorite animal - the Hippo

Dan's favorite animal - the goat

Megan's favorite animal - the Bear