My day started at 3:30 am, well really 6am thanks to a kind rooster, I have a feeling he'll keep me on schedule while I'm hear. I was able to watch the sunrise thanks to him, it was absolutely beautiful. It's also about 20 degrees cooler in the morning so I was able to sit outside and enjoy the surrounding beauty.
After toast for breakfast and some much needed down time, Maggie and I set to explore Chiang Mai. It began by trying to find the "Old City" where everything is. After about what seemed like thirty minutes of walking we hoped in a songthaew ( a passenger vehicle adapted from a truck or larger car that is a shared taxi and usually cost about 20 baht). We met three guys from Denmark, asked where they were going and if they could point us in the right direction. Turns out we had been in the old city for about thirty minutes and didn't even know it. So we went along for the ride out of town and then asked the songthaew driver to bring us back.
Once back in the old city we walked around for about 2-3 hours looking at small temples scattered around the city and visiting cool shops. We stopped for lunch at Artcafe and had delicious Thai meals. Now it was time to make our way back, it was getting really warm and I was pretty sure I was beginning to get heat exhaustion. We walked for about 45 minutes in the direction we thought was the volunteer house, turns out we were very wrong. When we finally asked a songthaew driver to take us there it turns out it was on the other side of the city. Oops...
Chiang Mai is somewhat similar to New York City. Different street venders everywhere, beautiful hidden shops in unsuspecting places and so much to see. Of course it is also very different from New York as well. But both have a 'je ne sais quoi' feeling that draws people in. I can definitely see why so many people want to visit Thailand. Everyone is so nice and easy going!
After toast for breakfast and some much needed down time, Maggie and I set to explore Chiang Mai. It began by trying to find the "Old City" where everything is. After about what seemed like thirty minutes of walking we hoped in a songthaew ( a passenger vehicle adapted from a truck or larger car that is a shared taxi and usually cost about 20 baht). We met three guys from Denmark, asked where they were going and if they could point us in the right direction. Turns out we had been in the old city for about thirty minutes and didn't even know it. So we went along for the ride out of town and then asked the songthaew driver to bring us back.
Once back in the old city we walked around for about 2-3 hours looking at small temples scattered around the city and visiting cool shops. We stopped for lunch at Artcafe and had delicious Thai meals. Now it was time to make our way back, it was getting really warm and I was pretty sure I was beginning to get heat exhaustion. We walked for about 45 minutes in the direction we thought was the volunteer house, turns out we were very wrong. When we finally asked a songthaew driver to take us there it turns out it was on the other side of the city. Oops...
Chiang Mai is somewhat similar to New York City. Different street venders everywhere, beautiful hidden shops in unsuspecting places and so much to see. Of course it is also very different from New York as well. But both have a 'je ne sais quoi' feeling that draws people in. I can definitely see why so many people want to visit Thailand. Everyone is so nice and easy going!