Thailand: Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai

Posted by: rupy @ 07:39 PM March 5 2006

Overall; one of the coolest cities I have visited. Not as busy as Bangkok, not as touristy as Koh Samui and packed with tons of very friendly locals, great markets, awesome night life and lots of historical stuff - if thats your style. Everything is reasonably priced and living costs are very low.

Markets & Shopping
Couple of rules;
1) If the locals dont shop there, neither should you.
2) Always check the price at a couple of places, the thais love their one hit wonders (ripping you off bad).
3) Make sure you happy with your purchase before buying, its very unusual to return goods in Thailand.

Night Bazaar:
I wanted to burn the market to the ground. Go only for the experience, otherwise steer clear. Filled with annoying, harassing shop keepers, who continually hassle you and try to scam.

Student/University Market:
Really cool market with tons of high quality designer clothes (not the crap they usually sell on the sides of the street) and other interesting stuff. The shop keepers hardly bother you and are actually really decent. I dont remember the exact address, but if you are travelling away from town, down Huay Kaew rd its on your right (about 3 kms down). If you hit the aqua duct youve gone too far.

Warrorot Market:
Another good, cheap market. There is limited quality stuff here, but you probably wont get ripped off and what it lacks for in quality it makes up for in quantity - the place is huge.

Central:
Popular upmarket shopping centre. Here you will find quality stuff (mostly). Nothing too fancy here, but if you looking for designer labels, this is the place. Bear in mind even the designer labels are economical in Thailand.

Accomodation
No where else in the whole of Thailand did I find cheaper accommodation, and we didnt even look around, we just took the first room we found. We stayed 5 minutes drive out of old town, near Kiat Busaba in a room with 2 beds, bathroom, balcony, air conditioner and hot water for 30 days for 3000 baht! Amazingly after speaking with other travellers we found that there were even better deals than this to be found!

Transport
Getting around is very cheap.

Renting Motorbikes:
Best thing you can do. I wont lie, after 2 weeks of driving the thing you will probably hate it more than anything but it is the only way to really see the city and discover cool things.

Tuk Tuks:
Can be negotiated down, but still are more expensive, they are no where near as bad as the Bangkok breed of Tuk Tuks, but still be wary of them trying to scam you.

Clubs / NightLife
Spicy
The place everyone hits at 2am when all the other clubs close. Very cool hangout - lots of easy asian girls. Only con; its a little dirty :p

more to come soon...

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