Jessica's Travelogue

If there is one place you should visit in Thailand, I would highly recommend visiting Chiang Mai. It is a beautiful city filled with culture, history, and great people. There was so much things to see and do there that one week wasn’t nearly enough for me to do everything that I wanted to do. Some of the most famous things to do in Chiang Mai is visit elephants and go to the Sunday Night Market. This blog post will talk about other things to do in Chiang Mai and explain a little bit of why Chiang Mai is such a cool place to visit.

Chiang Mai is a Thai city located in the northern part of Bangkok. When the city was built, King Mengrai planned the city in such a way that it was well-protected and prosperous. The city center was surrounded by a square moat and tall fortress wall that helped protect it from invasion. The Ping River to the right allowed trade and markets to thrive. And the five gates allowed people and merchants to easily travel via land or water. This little history of Chiang Mai has a big influence on the layout of how Chiang Mai is today.

The city center is often referred to as the “Old City“. It was the original location where Chiang Mai was built on. Today, many of the attractions of Chiang Mai spread out from this city center. To the right of the Old City, we have Warorot Market (Chinatown), the Hmong Market, and the famous Sunday Night Market. The Chiang Mai Train Station is a little out further past Chinatown and the Ping river. And to the left we have Chiang Mai University (with an awesome and lively night market), the airport, new modern malls, and the new Nimman outdoor mall.

One of the main reasons why I loved Chiang Mai so much was because it was the perfect size city. If you stayed in the city center, you could easily walk to the one of many great attractions. There was also a lot of beautiful, old, and well-cared for temples in the city center so it was fun hopping from temple to temple as each temple was so unique and different from each other. If you wish to venture to Warorot Market (Chinatown), the Hmong Market, the famous Sunday Night Market, or the university, it was super easy to do. I stayed at Roseate Hotel at the top north of the city center and only had to walk a max of 25-35 minutes each morning to get to the places that I wanted to go. If walking 25-35 minutes is too much for you, or if it is too hot, you can always take a grab or a songthaew to the location you wish to go. But I recommend walking as you get to really explore the streets, find random gems, and enjoy the peaceful atmosphere of Chiang Mai.

The moat surrounding Old City Chiang Mai is a beautiful sight that I truly cherish. It was so peaceful. And since the moat surrounds the entire city center, it’s also one of the most recognizable image of Chiang Mai (other than the Phae Gate). Throughout the day, you can see various people resting by the moat, jogging in the early mornings or evenings, or just taking a stroll. Most of the Old City wall has been demolished over the centuries for one reason or another but you can still see reconstruction of some parts of the old city wall and the gates.

The Phae Gate is probably the most recognizable image of Chiang Mai. Lots of tourists come here to take photos of themselves in front of the gate as well as the wall. It’s rarely ever empty here. I also wanted to take a photo of the gate but it was hard since there were so many tourists that visited here. So early one morning, I was finally able to take a photo from across the street when there was considerably less people around. But even though it was early in the morning, there were lots of tuk tuks surrounding the area and people walking out and about. The Sunday Night Market actually starts at the entrance at this gate! So if you don’t know how to get to the market, just follow the map to The Phae Gate and you will easily find the market. There will be people everywhere.

One of the things makes Chiang Mai so awesome is the amount of temples there is in a small space. I loved just walking, finding temples, and venturing in. I couldn’t do this in Bangkok because everything was so far away, you had to pay to enter the temples in Bangkok, and sometimes you had to take boats to get to them. So I was so thankful that I was able to experience temples in Chiang Mai. The temples in Chiang Mai also had green grass and more nature incorporated so it felt much more peaceful and like a temple. The temple above is my favorite one in Chiang Mai. It is called Wat Chiang Man. It is the oldest temple in Chiang Mai and was built by King Mengrai. It was really close to Roaseate Hotel so I just walked there one morning as I had time to kill before going to do other things for the day. The buildings were so beautiful and detailed! And the Chedi was magnificent! There were beautiful elephants engraved into the chedi. I really recommend visiting this temple in the early morning. The glistening of the dew on wet grass, birds singing, peacefulness, and the glinting of the gold in the soft morning light makes it a magical place to visit!

Chiang Mai is rich in culture. Many Chinese, Indian, Karen, and Hmong people have been living in Chiang Mai for generations. As the Ping River was a major trade route, many Indian and Chinese people live by the Ping River. The Hmong and Karen people tend to live in the mountains. As a Hmong person, I found it to be really cool to see how my people live and where they come from. Also, it was fun to finally understand what people were saying as I didn’t understand Thai. I loved how rich in culture Chiang Mai was. And everyone was so kind to each other! There wasn’t really any segregation that I saw. In Chinatown, there was a mix of every culture! And it was cool because, for the first time, I didn’t have to explain to people what Hmong was when asked about my ethnicity.

In Chiang Mai, you can also see traditional Thai dances and enjoy a traditional Thai meal! I grew up doing traditional Thai/Hmong/Chinese dancing so I really wanted to experience seeing it in person. I didn’t know where to find it as I looked it up online but everything was from 10-20 years ago, didn’t exist anymore, or is not currently showing because of COVID-19. My mom told me to ask the hotel staff so I asked and they gave me a website. I went on there and booked a reservation for the “Khantoke Dinner at Old Chiangmai Cultural Center” for the next evening. They had a vegetarian option as well! So I was able to enjoy my meal with no worries. The show was great! They played live music and the dancers did such a great job dancing and showcasing the different cultures in Chiang Mai. Also, at the end, they come and ask people to join them on stage to dance. I was so shocked when the dancers came up to me and asked me to dance with them. But it was fun! We do the circle dance dancing a lot at Hmong events so it was fun to do it again after not doing it for over 3 years.

You can book a reservation here: https://www.click2gothailand.com/tours/00242

Another place that is a must visit for tourists in Chiang Mai is the Three Kings Monument. My tour guide for one of my trips talked a lot about how Chiang Mai was built and about King Mengrai. It was really cool to learn about the history of Chiang Mai and the Lanna people. I think that was why I enjoyed my time in Chiang Mai so much. This monument is located in a square at the old town hall. It is right in front of a museum. The monument was built to showcase the three kings’ friendship. King Mengrai enlisted their help to give ideas on how to build the city.

The museum behind the statue is the Chiang Mai Arts & Culture Center. The building was so western and cool! I think it’s a colonial style building. It was my first time in a colonial building so I found it fascinating. I was able to learn a lot about Chiang Mai’s history through the culture center. Almost everything was in Thai and English so it was easy to walk around by myself, read through the plaques, and look at all the exhibits. They also had a section talking about the different minorities in Chiang Mai! They didn’t talk much about Hmong people but they did mention Hmong people once or twice! It’s interesting seeing my culture in a museum. I won’t share the images inside the museum since I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone, but I really recommend going!

Chiang Mai isn’t only filled with things of the past. The Jing Jai Market (also known as the JJ Market) is a newer farmer’s market that recently opened up. It specializes in organic produce and is only open on the weekend mornings. Many families come here to buy fresh produce, enjoy live music, and eat food. I definitely spent way too much money here. There were also stands selling clothes and hand made jewelry, purses, etc. The prices of things here were considerably higher. I would consider this place to be a more expensive experience. But the food wasn’t too expensive. Also, there was so much space and it was so clean and new!

I don’t think a lot of tourists knew about this market as I didn’t see many tourists other than a Chinese streamer who were walking around and advertising the goods that stores sold and a couple of tourists here and there. Most people were Thai families.

Is this post getting to long? I apologize if it is and all around the place.

I will do a post about the Sunday Night Market and Warorot Market (Chinatown) in Chiang Mai soon! In the mean time, I hope you guys enjoyed this article and I hope it helped you in some way or form. When I was planning to visit Thailand, blogs like this and YouTube videos helped me planned my trip and made things so much easier. I really recommend Chiang Mai if you like history, seeing ancient buildings, eating good food, nice people, and/or having lots of things to see and do. It was the most memorable and my favorite part of my Thailand trip.