CHIANG MAI ITINERARY

What to do:

1. Elephant Nature Park: A major highlight of our trip was visiting Elephant Nature Park. I had watched a Ted Ed a while back about how elephants are in fact highly intelligent, emotional creatures, so it was truly exciting to get to see these magnificent animals so close. When we visited in 2017, this park was home to 75 rescued elephants, nearly 570 rescued dogs, 100 rescued water buffalo, and so, so many cats. We had learned prior to going that some parks allowed the riding of elephants, which is a debated topic. We sought out a park with no inhumane or questionable practices and Elephant Nature Park was the place we chose. My only warning here is don’t get close to the water buffalo. I may or may not have been charged by one. And there may or may not be a photo capturing that moment later in this post.

2. Lantern Festival: One of the primary reasons Lauren and I picked Thailand was because we wanted to attend the famous lantern festival, or Yi Peng. But it wasn’t as simple to attend as I thought it would be. The dates aren’t on a set day each year so in my crazed research, I struggled to decide the best time to book our flights. Finally, I found the most likely time based off of predictions on a random blog (like mine), and with that, we booked our flights hoping on the bet.

   The lantern festival was an utterly enchanting experience. The lanterns floating so nearby in the sky that it made it feel like we were floating among the stars. It felt so surreal to finally see them with my own eyes after months and months of research. But it wasn’t all magical. There were lanterns caught in trees (that thankfully never caught the tree on fire), rogue lanterns that floated dangerously close to people’s heads (with screams accompanying), comical cheers after lanterns finally broke free from power lines to join the other lanterns in the sky. It was a crazy and unforgettable night to be certain.

3. Explore temples:

   1. Wat Dok Ueang: This is the first temple we visited in Chiang Mai. It was by chance, and we were awestruck by the intricate details. We had no idea that all temples following would be just as incredible.

   2. Wat Rajamontean: We first stumbled upon this temple around 2 or 3AM after getting traditional bamboo tattoos around midnight. We were a bit too late to take a tuktuk home, so we set out to walk. Going up there and sitting right in front of the Buddha statue in full moonlight was incredible. My friend and I sat there, the temple all to ourselves, and observed the silence around us. We made it our mission to come back in the daylight and it did not disappoint

   3. Wat Lok Molee: Another temple we visited around 2 am with colorful lanterns during Yi Peng.

   4. Wat Chiang Man: One of my favorite temples, though we only saw it at dusk. There was such a harmonious balance between the gold and ancient stone, and it’s supposed to be one of the oldest in Chiang Mai, built in 1297!

   5. Wat Phan Tao: I remember seeing pictures of this place when researching Loy Krathong. This would be the ideal place to see the lanterns go off as the monks release them from a spot near the picturesque tree. But, I just could not for the life of me find the name of it beforehand. By a stroke up luck, we stumbled upon this place by chance just a few days later!

4. Thai massage

5. Sunday Night Market 

6. Get a stick and poke tattoo

What to eat:

1. Khao soy: This soup is the emblematic food of Chiang Mai and you can find this staple all over. Lauren and I stopped off at a random location and we marveled at how perfectly all of the diverse flavors came together - creamy coconut curry broth, pickle-y mustard greens, tart lime, tender juicy chicken. Be sure to have this dish when in Chiang Mai! 

2. Khao man gai: I have a deep love for this dish. It’s so simple, but so perfect. In the depths of the internet, I found reference to a particularly incredible location, but it wasn’t on Google Maps just yet. Lauren and I wandered around looking at pictures online until we matched it up. I’m proud to say that I actually helped get this added to Google, so now you can find it more easily! Click here.

What to drink:

1. Graph Coffee: I’m exposing myself here but I have an unhealthy obsession with frou-frou coffee. When I heard about this place, I knew I’d have to go multiple times during the trip. I just didn’t expect it to be multiple times in a day. When Lauren and I arrived, we were overwhelmed with excitement over the menu. We wanted to try them all. And well, we almost did. We stepped up to order and I ordered two things and the woman taking my order expected it to be for me and Lauren. Then Lauren followed and did the same. Once we finished, we went back up to order more. They must have been concerned for us, their faces certainly looked shocked when we came back up to order more. The charcoal latte and charcoal cold brew were truly the winners for me, though they were all absolute magic.

2. Ristr8o: The baristas here are phenomenal. Really. A lot of them are worldwide champion latte artists. You can’t get iced coffee here because they have particular views on coffee, so don’t expect a cool drink on a hot day. Still, it was worth it. My latte art was a dragon breathing fire and was simply mind-blowing.

Where we stayed:

1. Airbnb condominium with pool

Karen Tribe Visit

I regret not doing more research prior to going on this tour. I presumed the Karen Tribe visit was just going to be a small stop along the way to Doi Inthanon and Wachirathan Falls, which is what we booked the tour for primarily. It was when the tour guide tried to get us to walk through someone’s living room that Lauren and I looked at each other mortified.

A bit about the people we visited - The Karen Tribe are a group of people who escaped an ongoing conflict in Burma and are living as refugees Thailand. 

I have since read that Thailand has the intent to send Karen people back once the conflict is resolved (and in some cases already have). So currently, they live without much legal status. Now, I don’t know if some would like to return home once it is safe to do so or if most seek Thai citizenship. What their current lack of recognition as a people means though now is that local governments deprive them of entering the Thai education system and restrict the types of employment they can have. It’s possible these complications trap them in the world of tourism as a means of work.

Most Karen get commission from Thai tourism companies and they also sell crafts which, from what I hear, is now very much their livelihood. I understand that the folks who allow tourists to saunter through their homes have agreed to allow this. But, I can’t speak to how this agreement came to be. I can’t speak to how much profit they make vs. the tourism company makes. I can’t speak to how self-perpetuating of an issue this may be with Thai government possibly thinking tourism justifies them not providing better assistance to Karen people. I also imagine that there are other problems I don’t even know to think about.

To me, with my limited knowledge of this situation, it felt that people profiting off of a group of refugees who aren’t recognized as they should be feels exploitative. The situation is extremely complex. For now, I would not recommend this tour.