Chiang Mai, Thailand’s second largest city, was also my second destination during my 2012 trip. After the hustle and bustle of Bangkok I was quite relieved to find myself in the much quieter and cooler northern region of the country, after only an hour-long flight.
My hostel turned out to be a bit out of the way, but it wasn’t a problem since Chiang Mai is quite walkable. The old town, surrounded by a moat and the remains of the ancient city walls, is home to many temples,
but also massage parlours, boutique hotels, craft stores and restaurants. In fact, that’s where I had my two best meals in the city. One in a charming and cozy restaurant (whose name I don’t remember), hidden in one of the narrow backstreets and which had possibly the best food I’ve tried in Thailand overall (don’t ask me what I ordered though, my memory seems to be limited to “it was absolutely delicious”); and the other at a well-hidden and no-frills place frequented mainly by the locals, but in this case the highlight was not so much the food itself, but the company of a fellow backpacker Marc.
To me, and I know I’m not alone in this view, traveling is not only about the places I visit, but also (if not mostly) about the people I meet and the way they influence or inspire me. And if I end up having a great time with them too, all the better, obviously. I surely did enjoy the company, the city’s chilled vibe and the crazy cars converted into mobile bars, where drivers slash bartenders were serving their alcoholic concoctions out of windows decorated with lights (the photo below was actually taken in Bangkok, and this type of bars can be found in many places in Thailand).
But the experience that made my head spin was the Monk Chat we went to. Yes, you’ve got that right, a talk with Buddhist monks. It’s a regular event held outside Wat Suan Dok (and possibly also other places), during which the monks are available for a chat with anyone and on virtually any topic, be it religion, Thai culture, or everyday life. The monks’ goal is to practice their English as well as any other languages they happen to be learning. I was quite surprised that one of the monks we talked with spoke English, German, Spanish, and possibly even more languages (no Polish though, but that would probably freak me out completely).
I think I expected to have some sort of a deep conversation with serious, obviously spiritual and somewhat withdrawn monks, while in reality I was faced with a group of younger and older boys, who reminded me of students in between classes, surrounded by books and notebooks. The youngest monks were too shy to join in, but the older ones were easy-going, well-spoken and humorous, but more than anything very curious of the world in general. A year has passed since that chat, so I don’t remember everything that was discussed, but I recall being very surprised by our most talkative monk’s openness, his interest (and knowledge of) what was going on in the world, and above everything else his very honestly expressed regret that he’s not able to travel as we do, and how lucky we are to have this opportunity, which is completely out of reach for the great majority of Thais. Although it’s nothing that I hadn’t known before, hearing it then and there made me feel unjustly privileged and somewhat guilty, but in the long run simply grateful. As cliché as it may sound, it’s something to keep in mind, considering how many things are taken for granted in the Western culture.
But coming back to Chiang Mai itself, it has one of Thailand’s biggest night markets, known as the Night Bazaar.
A big part of Chiang Mai’s attractiveness lies also in the abundance of activities outside the city. The travel agents scattered around town offer all sorts of packages and adventure tours, from trekking, climbing, white water rafting or ziplining (which I’m kicking myself that I haven’t tried; supposedly it’s one of the best in the region) to cooking courses, trips to the nearby tribal villages and, sigh, elephant riding.
I´ll admit that I’m guilty of participating in the latter, since it was part of the tour I went on, but I was very hesitant about this activity and regretted getting on the poor animal from the start. There are lots of websites discussing the terrible conditions the elephants are kept in and the bad treatment they receive.
Visiting one of the hill-tribes also felt like being an intruder, and I can’t imagine how it must feel for the inhabitants, being part of a show for tourists on a daily basis. The best part of the whole tour was actually bamboo rafting, which was an amazingly tranquil experience. After almost an hour of sitting on a partly submerged raft and cruising through (mostly very shallow) rivers and creeks in the area, you ended up completely wet (which is probably why cameras weren’t allowed), but also very relaxed and in awe of the still seemingly unspoilt beauty of the region.
But before I realized, I was at the airport again, heading back to Bangkok, only to regret not having stayed longer…
