Chiang Mai, located in the mountainous northern part of Thailand, is a popular destination for jungle trekking, elephant experiences, visiting hill tribes, and so much more. Founded in 1296, it was capital of the independent Lanna Kingdom until 1558. Its Old City area still retains vestiges of walls and moats from its history as a cultural and religious centre. There are many things to do here with plenty of activities to keep a fun loving family busy. We spent five days here enjoying the many sights and activities.
THE ELEPHANT NATURE PARK
You can’t visit Chiang Mai without having some kind of interaction with elephants. There are numerous places offering excursions allowing people to spend a full/half day with elephants, learning how to ride and command them, bathe them, feed them, and trek through the jungles on them. We wanted an elephant experience somewhere the elephants were allowed to be themselves. Thus, we chose the Elephant Nature Park, set up as a sanctuary and rehabilitation centre for rescued elephants.
Here, we got to feed the elephants (bananas, pumpkin, courgette and melon in huge quantities), watch them bathe in the river, and get up really close to these magnificent beasts, being able to stroke and touch them. Did you know…an elephant eats 200kg of food per day, that’s a lot of bananas!
As well as all the elephant interaction, we learned the sad truth about how many elephants are treated in Thailand – being used in shows, circuses, for street begging and trekking. Some of the stories are truly harrowing and very thought provoking. In order that these elephants behave and co-operate they are broken whilst they are young. This involves being chained up and mis-treated by humans so that their spirit is broken and they learn to co-operate with humans in fear of being hurt.
Read an account about volunteering at the Elephant Nature Park here.
GO ZIPLINING
Like the numerous places offering elephant tours, there are almost as many zip-lining facilities trying to entice tourists to the rainforest for fun and adventure. We chose to go zip-lining with Flight of the Gibbon, due to its amazing reviews on Trip Advisor and excellent safety record, and loved every minute of it. There were 34 zip-lines, a couple of wobbly sky bridges and 2 abseils. The longest zip-line was over 800 metres in length, high over the rainforest. The zip-lining took three hours and was loads of fun for us all.
TEMPLE VISITING
There are several temples worth visiting in Chiang Mai, and we we managed to find time for two – Wat Chedi Luang and Wat Phan Tao. Wat Chedi Luang is over 600 years old. Made entirely from teak, Wat Pan Tao is a pretty little temple. These two temples are right next to each other in the Old City of Chiang Mai so easy to visit together. Proper temple attire is required, long pants, no sleeveless shirts, and bare feet, although they do have sarongs to cover you up if you’re not dressed appropriately.
GO SHOPPING AT THE SUNDAY WALKING STREET MARKET
Every Sunday evening, from 4 pm to midnight, a large section of downtown Chiang Mai is closed to traffic. Along these streets a market appears, with vendors selling souvenirs, clothes and arts and crafts from northern Thailand. Arrive early – we arrived at 4.30pm and things were just getting started, by 8pm the streets were packed with people.
DINE AT DK DAVID’S KITCHEN, CHIANG MAI
For a special occasion or simply a night of fine food and wine then DK David’s Kitchen is a must. This restaurant offers top class cuisine, professional service and a wonderful atmosphere.
Click here for our trip advisor review.
For five nights we stayed at Rimping Village, a small hotel with a swimming pool. The location was perfect, close enough to walk to many shops and restaurants and just five minutes walk from the Night Bazzar. Rooms were large, spotlessly clean and very comfortable. The swimming pool was a real treat after a busy day. Breakfast was plentiful and the one night we dined here the food was excellent.
GETTING TO CHIANG MAI
We travelled to Chiang Mai overland from Sukhothai which took about 5.5 hours. You could however catch a sleeper train direct from Bangkok. Read Marquestra’s account of catching a sleeper train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai.
