First Night in Chang Mai - Khao Soi & White Market

In my mind, Chang Mai was going to be a sleepy, historic town, but we arrived to a bustling city! And since we chose to stay in a condo near the university on Nimmanhaemin Road (or Nimman Road), we were right in the thick of it. The entire experience was so different than what I had imagined, and isn’t that the point? If everything were just what we expected it to be, maybe we wouldn’t need to travel at all. “Tha’ts why we play the game”, as they say.

Food was a main character during our stay in Chang Mai and Khao Soi, the famous Northern Thailand dish, was top of mind. We chose a highly recommended restaurant, the Michelin rated Ginger Farm Kitchen, not far from our place. We enjoyed flowery cocktails and a (dehydrated) shrimp salad so spicy I could barely feel my mouth. But it was worth the burn! Then they brought out the main attraction - a beautiful bowl of Khao Soi, with a whole chicken drum in it, and crispy fried noodles stacked high. The depth of flavor and silkiness of the broth was like no other khao soi I’ve ever had! I wanted to swim in that broth.

Afterwards we walked through One Nimman open air shopping complex and the White Market, a small market by Thai scale, mostly featuring art and crafts.

Two Dinners for Night Two

After our long day hiking the Monk’s Trail to the mountain temples, we must have thought we were starving to death because we ate not one, but two dinners. We tried to, anyway. Appetizers and salad at Camellia Cafe filled us up more than we expected. Arriving at Nara Thai, we ordered more salads and some curry, only to ask for boxes after a few bites of each. We had to reassure our server that it was us..not the food!

Cycling the Old City

We woke up on Day 3 in Chang Mai with a plan to find bicycles to rent. It was our first time entering the gates to the old city and we found the place, aptly named Cacti Bicycles, tucked a couple of blocks in. The owner was working away inside but came to greet us at our calls of ‘sawadee ka!’. He told us he would need a deposit and our passports to rent bikes to us. We were EXTREMELY hesitant to hand over our passports. This is just rule number one of traveling. He said copies wouldn’t suffice, but we talked him into taking an extra high deposit instead.

And boy was he right to cover his assets because we had no business riding those bikes around that city! But man did we have fun doing it. The traffic was intense as we bopped and weaved from one old temple to another. At one point we left the old city and found ourselves on the extremely busy ‘regular’ streets of Chang Mai. Cutting across traffic to try and get out of the grand prix, we were briefly separated. Once I landed somewhere I could stop for a second, I turned around to see Jamie riding down the middle of the road, surrounded by cars, looking terrified and exhilarated. I think we must have been a sight, but no I don’t remember anyone honking or yelling at us.

We stumbled upon Chinatown and being that we were there during Chinese New year, there was a big celebration going on. We checked out the food stalls and found a few harmless looking food items we were willing to try, then watched a pageant and parade happening.

We paused for a beer at Lucky Bar, then crossed over the moat that surrounds the city and re-entered through the Tha Phae Gate. The traffic had died down considerably and the city lights had come on, illuminating all of the old temples. Taking them in from the seats of our bike felt so beautiful and precious.

We rode down from one side of the old city to the other on Rachadamnoen Road, the illuminated Wat Phra Singh as a our guide. Lanna Oriental Hotel was our final stop for a quick refreshment before returning our rides and taking a tuk tuk home.