chiang mai

The Sunday market in the old town

A quick trip up to the north of Thailand, and somewhere I haven't been to for over 10 years. Chiang Mai is a very pleasant place to spend a few days, a good size to walk around and with a rather different feel to the other parts of Thailand I have visited. Once it was a separate kingdom and there is still a suggestion of a different culture. There are supposed to be 1000 temples in CM and I can believe it. The old city - which is a square, attractively moated city surrounded by the remains of defensive brick walls, like many in the east - has a slightly sleepy feel away from the main streets. You can find chickens pecking on the streets, there are plenty of trees, and if you wander into some of the temples they are deserted.
The older temples are built in lanna style, though many have been rebuilt in the more garish modern Thai style. The older temples are more atmospheric and elegant.

Lanna style temple

I have met up with Ian again and we make the most of the night market, eating in its food court for about £2 a meal. On Sunday the old town turns into a giant street market at night, with stalls in the main streets. It's hard to believe there can be so many people selling, or enough people to buy, everything that's available. But the streets were absolutely thronged, mostly with local people, and theret was lots of bargaining going on. Even the temples got into the act, throwing open their courtyards to stallholders. Lots of nice things, but I kept to my policy of travelling light.
Ian introduced me to some people he had met that ran a bar near the night market, and later I was befriended at another bar. In a friendly country, the people of Chiang Mai come across as very open and eager to talk to strangers. They also have the reputation amongst Thais of being the most attractive in the country, and I could concur with this! , All in all a slightly drunken few days, apart from the national holiday on the Saturday, described variously as Monks' Day or Buddha Day, when bars were made to close.