Chiang Mai: High Quality, Low Price

With our few short days in Chiang Mai we were able to fit in a more than reasonable amount of fun. We took advantage of Northern Thailand’s vibrant spices and flavors by indulging in a Thai cooking class, it was great to learn how to make curry paste from scratch and enjoy picking out the ingredients for the dishes we would make at the local market. 

At a recommendation of a friend, we checked out Woody’s Elephant Training and got up close and personal, and very filthy with some kind and fun elephants for a whole day. 

A few other self-indulgent activities we took part in were of course the ridiculously cheap massages (decent 1 hr. massage for $4 USD, sign me up!), and the chance to get some clothing tailor made.  We found a wonderful shop run by a pair of Nepali women who had been living in Thailand for decades and I ended up with a fantastic semi-formal silk dress, dress slacks, and a blouse.  All tailor cut to my measurements, with my choice of material, and for cheaper than I would find at a department store in America…what a concept!  Chiang Mai also has an amazing weekend night market that we spent hours wandering around admiring the handicrafts.   

One thing that makes Chiang Mai such a charming city it that although the city has a population of around 200,000, and the metro area up to almost 1 million, many conservation measures have been taken in terms of land use planning policies that allow the city keep its feel.  There is a ban on high-rise construction within 90 meters of a temple, the main river, and city walls/moats (old town is surrounded by a moat), so with so many temples in the city that means many areas without tall buildings.  I think I read that totals around 90% of the land within municipal limits.      

My apologies for not providing much insight or vivid descriptions in the last several posts, at this point I  just wanted to make sure and post some photos before I get too back logged J  Sometimes this travelogue is more for me to remember than for anyone reading, haha.  Hopefully I can post soon about the rest of Thailand and recent Rotary activities before heading off to Sumatra tomorrow and Laos next week!  Only two months and ten days left in S.E. Asia, oh my!