Today was labelled a ‘city safari’ in Chiang Mai using pretty much every form of transportation available in the city.
Kong and driver picked us up at the hotel in one of the city’s ‘songthaew’, the local form of public transit. The color of these small ‘buses’ identifies which route they take – ‘red’ is used for the old city, other colors define which suburb they service. Ours is a private hire and red.
Our first stop was at ‘Wiang Kum Kam’, an ancient city along the Ping River abandoned in the 16th century due to repeated flooding. The main temple of the town is Wat Chedi Liam which is still occupied by monks. As the sign says, ‘Lady Cannot Enter’ the temple as they are ‘impure’.
In the same archaeological area is the ruined temple complex of ‘Wat That Noi’. The ruins are in the center of a popular park.
We next boarded a longtail boat along the Mae Ping River. We’re in rainy season now and while we’ve dodged trouble during our tours, there has been quite a lot of rain in the evenings and the water level on the Ping River is high. It’s amazing how muddy the river is. The cruise lasted about an hour or so, taking us downriver to a small café where we had ice cream and botanical drinks. Pretty good!
Next ride was by rickshaw (electric!) and lunch at the renowned ‘Kaosoy Mae Pasi’, another Michelin Guide shop. The shop serves the famous ‘Khao Soi’, one of the dishes Northern Thailand is known for. Awesome!
Still on the rickshaw, we visited Wat Ket Karam, Wat Chedi Luang, & Wat Tho Tham, all close together and very cool. Whew – that’s a lot of Wat’s though!
The final leg of our tour was by samlor, or bicycle taxi. Samlor translates as three wheels. Thailand’s samlors are a throwback to a bygone era. Before motor vehicles, hundreds of these bicycle taxis plied their trade in Chiang Mai. Today, there are less than 70 samlors left on the roads of the city. Our drivers were all seniors, but you’d never know it. We were dropped at the Waroros Market to browse. The market was cool but couldn’t top the samlor ride. Good fun.
A short walk from our hotel was an interesting craft beer bar called ‘Grumpy Old Men. They are also a microbrewery. The taproom was a little odd. Antlers on the wall, Bob Marley tunes, high quality Rembrandt prints displayed for sale, with Asian bloopers on the TV. Good beer and they had wine for the Misses!
Dick