When I arrived in Chiang Mai, I immediately fell in love. It is a beautiful northern city a few hours from the Burmese border. Just a few words on the culture – The Thai people have hands down the best hospitality in the world. They go completely out of their way to make sure that every need is handled in the best manner possible.
If they can not figure it out or do not know the answer, they will make a tremendous effort to find someone who can. Not only that, but they make sure the task at hand is accomplished to full satisfaction.
Whether it is a simple call to book a taxi or help with booking a tour, the Thai people pride themselves on customer experience. The final night before we came to Chiang Mai, we were partying in Bangkok and somehow I ended up an hour and a half outside the city after losing my money… I found a taxi driver who I told my story to, and he immediately friended me on Facebook and offered to drive me back to Bangkok free of charge.
We got to Chiang Mai late at night and found a beautiful guesthouse compound surrounded by bamboo that was located in the Old City section of Chiang Mai. Link below- highly recommend this place (~28 US Dollars a night).
We rented motorcycles and decided to do a day trip to Doi Suthrap, one of the most prominent Buddhist temples in all of Thailand. It is about 20 kilometers up the mountain that overlooks the city. About three-fourths of the way up, we stopped at a Thai BBQ stand where a man and his wife were cooking local food. We feasted on meats, noodles, fresh fruits, and corn!
We continued up the mountain and finally got to the summit. So much gold!
We made our way up the mountain to catch the sunset. The gorgeous scene reminded me of the movie Avatar.
Now for the amusing part of the day… On the way back, I got hit by a car that rear-ended me in traffic while we were driving down the winding mountain roads. The result was a broken Go-Pro (and nearly a broken leg), but it was nothing some Thai beers and a little Advil couldn’t fix!
Afterwards, we checked out the local night bazaar where we discovered packed streets and hundreds of stands with local goods, food, music, and drinks. We had an incredible first day here. Until tomorrow, my friends. Cheers!
