Ahead of time, I read several reviews about tour guides in Chiang Mai. They said that often times a taxi driver who picks you up for the airport will have other services available. This is the sort of thing that I would have totally planned ahead of time rather than hoping to encounter a friendly, english-speaking, non-scamming taxi driver. I would have contacted some sort of tour company and arranged for a driver with the details all worked out ahead of time. Going into the day without concrete plans is not something I do lightly, but our two days in Bangkok were unbearable and Chiang Mai would only be hotter.
We boarded our Air Asia flight around 10:30AM. The flight was just over an hour, and we paid around $135.00 for BOTH of our tickets. We landed right around lunchtime at the small, regional Chiang Mai airport. Following the advice of many a tourist before us, we found the taxi stand and greeted the friendly driver who was next in line. At this taxi stand, you paid a flat rate for anywhere inside the city itself, and you paid it directly to the guy at the taxi stand rather than pay the driver (similar to Bangkok). Our driver was a young fellow who spoke very good English. He chatted to us about our stay in Chiang Mai and asked us about our plans. We told him that we planned on seeing some of the historic temples today, and then to see the palace and the temple at the top of the big staircase the following day. He told us that if we drove, we could easily see all of those things in a single afternoon, and then have an entire free day for some more adventurous things like going to an elephant sanctuary and the tiger kingdom. He said that he would be happy to offer us his tour services and pointed us to a binder in the back seat pocket with the different "excursions" we could consider. Truth - my heart started racing, I was on the verge of tears, and at that moment, I just wanted to be back in the United States in my nice, safe, American suburban neighborhood where the only connection I had with the Thai people was my takeout place.
But, my ever trusty husband kicked in as negotiator. He seemed to think that this guy seemed ok. They agreed on 2000 Baht for both days which only came to about $60. For two days worth of transportation (and based on what we read online) we knew this was a fair price. After my blood pressure settled down a bit, I actually got pretty excited.
Jay (our driver) dropped us off at our hotel, gave us time to settle in a bit, and then picked us up an hour later. He told us not to pay him until the end, so we knew that we really had nothing to lose by not trusting him. We weren't out any money, and if he didn't come back, we weren't any worse off than we were at the start of the day. About an hour later, Jay came back, and, true to his word, we spent the rest of the afternoon driving around to the various temples on our list.
We started with Doi Suthep and the windy road up the big hill with the massive steps. I can't even imagine how we would have done this without a driver. I had done some research about the red group taxi-type vans that you could take which were really cheap, but you had to wait until one was full before it would leave. That could sometimes take 30 mins or so, which just wasn't worth it for us. The walk up to the top of the stairs was painful enough. When we got back down, we treated ourselves to some fresh coconut juice and freshly sliced mango.
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| Stairs up to Doi Suthep - Chiang Mai, Thailand |
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| Doi Suthep - Chiang Mai, Thailand |
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| Fresh Coconut Juice |
Here are some photos of the other temples we visited in Chiang Mai proper. I imagine on a nice spring day, it would have been lovely to walk to each of these. The hotel we stayed at even had bikes you could use to explore the city. In the summertime, however, we were grateful for a car and driver. Jay also knew quite a lot about the temples we visited and escorted us around the grounds.
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| Still can't figure out what this sign means. Haha! |
After getting our fill of Thai temples, Jay dropped us off at the hotel for the evening. We started walking around town to find a place for dinner but everything was open air. I know what you must be thinking..."it cools down in the evening." Yes, yes it does. Since the high on this sunny day was a balmy 104 degrees, it did, in fact, cool down to about 95 or so by 6 or 7pm. That didn't mean we wanted to be outside. We must have walked around the town for nearly an hour. Frustrated, sweaty, and hungry, we bought some super cheap flip flops (that we would need for the next day), and wound up back at our hotel for dinner. Although their "lobby" was open air, they had a little restaurant next door that had a glass enclosure with functioning air conditioning. For the first time the whole trip so far, we had our first truly Thai dinner.
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| Yellow Curry with Soft-shell Crab |
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| U Chiang Mai Hotel - Thailand |
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| U Chiang Mai Hotel - Thailand |
Our hotel for two nights was called U Chiang Mai. You can read my Trip Advisor Review if you would like some specifics. It was all in all a very decent hotel, clean and spacious enough. For $125/night including a full breakfast, perhaps I judged this hotel a little unfairly. But both mornings we needed breakfast by a certain time, and it came late. The lighting in the bathroom was so dark, it was nearly impossible to see very much. Still, the location was great, and I would recommend this hotel to anyone looking for something in the area.
I was actually very happy this first night in Chiang Mai. In just one afternoon, we saw everything that I had planned for us to see during our entire stay here. Now we had a full day for all sorts of untold adventures. I hope you'll join me for my next blog featuring tigers and elephants! No lie! :)
Thanks for reading!
- Foxy the Traveler
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