Our Asia Trip Diary – Part Nineteen
Monday we had our last day in Bangkok. We tired ourselves out while being here doing (too?) many activities. That’s why we decided to take it slow. We slept in, packed our bags as we would leave in the evening and went for a foot massage.
In the evening we took a public bus which brought us, barely in time due to Bangkok traffic, to the train station to catch the night train. Traffic was blocked and we were stressing out to miss the train. We spurted from the bus station to the train, guided by the staff in the train station and we finally settled down on our seats on this sleeping train.n It was our first time taking a sleeping train and it was a pleasant experience. We think it’s quite luxurious and the staff make the bed for you.
Our neighbours, two Thai women still want to chat together so they decided, without asking our opinion, that our beds can be made up later. We didn’t argue although we were quite tired and they appeared to be only Thai-speaking. When the staff woke us up in the morning, one hour before we arrive at our destination the ladies suddenly do speak English and started chatting with us.
It was quarter past six in the morning when we got off the train and arrived in Chiang Mai, in the north of Thailand. We took a songthaew to the old town where our hotel is located. (Songthaew is a public minibus where you sit in the back of a covered pickup truck.) We were lucky and could enter the room immediately where I took time to catch up on some sleep while Marnick was playing some games on his Switch.
When I woke up we discovered our new neighbourhood and found some cute places to eat. Chiang Mai really is food heaven if you ask us! Afterwards, we stranded at the hotel pool, where Marnick also finally could catch up on his sleep.
.
On Wednesday we still feel tired but we headed out anyway. We rented two bicycles and discovered Chiang Mai. The old city of Chiang Mai is located between the city walls and houses lots of bars and restaurants. Also, Chiang Mai is with its 300 temples one of the most temple-dense cities. We bike to several temples inside the old town, but also go outside. There we bike through Namman, a trendy neighbourhood and also visit this unique silver temple.
For those who are interested in all the names of the places we ticked off on our bicycle tour: Wat Suan Dok, Nimman, Wat Chiang Man, Wat Phra Singh, Wat Sri Suphan (silver temple), and some other temples we accidentally visited but not worth mentioning (also, we don’t remember the names).
Thursday was a day of planning. Not only did we research all the things we want to do and see in northern Thailand, but we also booked a flight to our next destination! Any guesses?
Friday we were ready for some adventure! We rented a scooter and drove to Nam Phu Chet Si National Park to climb its sticky waterfall. The ride was not so nice as it was mostly highway, but the 90 minutes drive was totally worth it. This waterfall is so fun!
This waterfall is special because the surface is sticky, which means you can walk/climb on it! This was way more fun than we expected and also the water is not cold at all. We had so much fun we climbed it twice! You should definitely add this to your bucket list.
After we let our inner child wild, we headed back to Chiang Mai. We already told you the city is made for food lovers, but this night we visited FOUR-night markets! All are located on the same street (Chang Khlang Road).
Starting at Ploen Ruedee Night Market which was the cosiest but also the most western night market and continuing to Halal Walking Street. This one we actually found accidentally. This walking street is only open on Fridays so we were lucky! Here we had some amazing fresh foods and the people were by far the friendliest from our whole Asia trip. Afterwards, we stopped at Kalare Night Bazaar which is huge but also quite noisy. We stopped our food tour at Chiang Mai Night Bazaar, which is only a bazaar with shops and no food stalls, so you can already imagine we didn’t stay for long at that place.
Saturday morning we took the scooter and drove towards Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep. This temple mountain is reachable with a good but curvy road. From this temple, you have a nice view over Chiang Mai but as it was so foggy, we couldn’t really enjoy the view. But, there were a lot of things happing at the temple and we spend quite some time exploring. We even tried shaking our ancient Chinese prophecy in one of the side temples.
On our way back we stopped at Wat Pha Lat. We think this temple was even more special than the famous one from this morning. It’s located in the middle of nature and it’s just so quiet.
In the afternoon we relaxed at the hotel, reading, writing, swimming… We ended the day with another night market! This time it’s Wua Lai Walking Street, which is a Saturday night market. We were overwhelmed by its size, it’s the biggest walking street we’ve been to this far. The market spreads over one large street and a couple of side streets and squares. Later in the evening, it’s getting a bit too crowdy so we decide to walk back home.
Today (Sunday) we take some more time for planning and searching. And of course for blogging! This afternoon we’ll pack our bags as we’re leaving Chiang Mai tomorrow. Tonight we have another night market planned, the Sunday night market!
