Chiang Mai, or Stuff White People Like: Thailand Edition

We came to the idea of visiting Chiang Mai rather at random, inspired by an article my mom saved me from a budget travel magazine. But everything we heard from fellow travelers seemed to confirm our hunch that we should go there, and just a few short hours after we had arrived in the northern capital we knew we couldn’t possibly have chosen better.

A riverside city of monks and markets, boho boutiques and divine vegetarian food, Chiang Mai seemed to combine the energy and excitement of Bangkok with the laid-back, beer-sipping relaxation of Khao Lak. We’d worked hard to give ourselves four full days there, and in truth we could have easily filled four more. We browsed night markets, ducked into art galleries, sampled curries, and sipped coffees.

And – though our cameras were already bursting with closeups of incense and long-range (rather stalker-esque) candids of monks – we couldn’t resist wandering through every temple we passed.

We made sure to mark out a full day for one of our trip’s “bucket list” items: a vegetarian cooking course at a delicious Thai restaurant. We racked our brains to select the nine dishes we most wanted to attempt, and felt like the hosts of a cooking show as we threw together pre-arranged ingredients into sour soups, curries, and Pad Thais.

The indescribable delectability of the feast we prepared that day will unfortunately be difficult to replicate in the United States. Not only because of the challenges involved in locating ingredients like kaffir lime leaves and galingale root, but also because our flavor will certainly suffer without a Thai chef eyeing our measurements and muttering, “No. Too much. Still too much. Okay good.” But the techniques we learned, and the flavors we sampled, were more than enough to make the day a highlight of the trip.

Our last day in Thailand found us actually rather sorry to leave. After so thoroughly enjoying ourselves in Chiang Mai, we would have been ready for a side trip to Cambodia or Vietnam, as we had originally planned before shortening our trip from six months to five. But one thing I’ve learned in traveling is that limited time and energy (and money) always force you into leaving some adventures for “next time.” And though it’s a project of mine to live in the present as much as possible on this trip, I don’t mind admitting that I look forward to a return visit to Chiang Mai.