Chiang Rai & Chiang Mai

I’ve fallen a bit off the wagon and didn’t document my day by day in Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai - sorry readers. However, the overall narrative was that it was a very lovely time despite being some of the hottest temperatures (over 100 everyday) I’ve ever experienced in my life. 

Chiang Rai Highlights: 

• Best meal of the trip (so far!) - Upon arrival to Chiang Rai I went to a noodle shop. I was completely unaware of how and what to order, but being the only non-Thai person the owner immediately spotted me and was super nice telling me where to sit and what to order. It was this lovely pork noodle soup, that was just the right level of spice. Also, it was finally the Thailand prices that everyone talked about with the full meal only costing about $1 USD.

• Tea plantation - Northern Thailand is home to some of the most beautiful coffee and tea farms, thus I had to check it out. Given I don't drink coffee, I opted for the tea plantation. It was so beautiful and truly amazing tea.

• Temples, Temples & More Temples -  I think Chiang Rai has the most beautiful temples in Thailand, although I haven’t been to southern Thailand, yet. Given my success of the Airbnb experience with my market tour in Bangkok, I decided to do an Airbnb experience again to see all the temples. My guide Kelly took me to 9 temples all over Chiang Rai, treated me to the traditional northern Thailand dish - Khao Soi, took me to a local market and taught me all the different traditions to perform at the temples. It was a beautiful day and so meaningful to learn more about the culture from a local. The benefit for all of you is that Kelly made me pose for photos all day, thus these are the most photos of me for the entire trip.

After two nights in Chiang Rai I took a 3.5 hour bus to Chiang Mai. Shockingly, this bus had amazing AC and a toilet! Chiang Mai is the bigger sister city to Chiang Rai. 

Chiang Mai Highlights: 

• Cooking Class - My first full day in Chiang Mai I had a full day cooking class at an organic farm. We learned to make 5 traditional Thai dishes. The class was taught by this women Joy loved to call everything spicy - sexy and made lots of jokes. The class was filled with lots of fun people and it was awesome to spend the entire day just cooking and eating without having to do the dishes or cleanup! I hope I can cook some of the dishes back home, but I am concerned it might be difficult to find the ingredients. ​

• A night on the town with new friends - The evening of the cooking class two of my new friends and my friend from the Bangkok market tour all met up for drinks for what was supposed to be an early night, but turned into out till midnight laughing, drinking and watching a drag show. The night was filled which so much laughter and felt like something magical that could only happen when you are traveling.

• Watercolor painting - Riding my success of Airbnb experiences I signed up for yet another to learn to watercolor paint. I was the only student so the instructor taught me anything I wanted to about watercolor painting. I am truly so excited to take my learnings back home with me. ​

• Jing Jai Farmers Market - On the suggestion of my hostel host I went to the Jing Jai Farmers Market and I was certainly glad I did. They had tons of homemade crafts and lots of organic foods, including gluten free cake! They also had this very cute blazer which I would look fab in, but they only have size small in Thailand and it was out of budget. Maybe someday.

• Mall Culture - I’ve really fallen in love with the mall culture in Thailand. Probably because the mall has good air conditioning even when it is 105 degrees, but still so fun! The Chiang Mai mall even had an ice rink with people skating in their shorts. On the drive home from the mall the taxi driver was scrolling through porn whenever we were at stop lights which was so SHOCKING!

• Night Markets - Saturday and Sunday night have the biggest night markets in Chiang Mai with tons of vendors taking over multiple streets. Both nights I walked around, made some minor purchases and sampled food. I am so grateful I took the market tour when I first arrived in Thailand because I knew what I would enjoy to eat. Also, my Bangkok market friend met up with me on Sunday night to tackle the market together and then we ate dinner at a Michelin star restaurant, which was awesome!