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Editor's note: This excerpt first appeared in photographer and author Harold Davis' recent Focal Press book, Photographing Flowers: Exploring Macro Photography with Harold Davis.
The closer you...
Chiang Mai is northern high altitude 150K population city that is known for
its great weather. For annual weather tables, please see www.AccuWeather.com. It
resides 700 km North of Bangkok and can be reached by air in 1hr for $100 one
way. A 2 x 2 km region in the center of Chiang Mai is known as "The Old City".
This area dates back to 1300 AD. Adjacent to The Old City is a large and popular
shopping district known as, "The Night Bazaar" (or, "Night Market"). Cafes and
restaurants dot the city. For details, please see Lonely Planet, or similar
guides.
Where We Stayed
We recommend that you stay within 0.5km of the centrally located Phae Gate, at
the Eastern side of The Old City. This will put you within walking distance to
much of the action. We stayed at Lai Tai Hotel, which is a 10min walk from this
point and provides a decent room for $25/day with AC and hot water. The food here
was not great, but they had 12 kittens on the grounds, and that alone justified
visiting this city. Below is a picture of our friend Patrick, who is eyeing a
tasty morsel.
Where we Ate
J.J.'s Bakery CafH is a popular spot near the center of town with western
quality food and service for reasonable money. The J.J. pie, with bananas,
apples, and cashews is to die for! Coffee refills are free. They have two
locations within 0.3km of Phae Gate.
The Art Cafe is another popular restaurant 0.2kM from Phae Gate with terrific
food and an extensive menu. Their spaghetti with meat sauce with fresh bread is
quite good. Yhe Tom Yum soup is spicy HOT! The pad thai is yum-o-licious!!
The Gallery restaurant, on the east side of the Ping river, is a swanky
high-end candle-light joint with great $10/dinner high-end food and service. You
can dine right on the water's edge, and it is terrifically romantic.
And don't forget Starbucks !
What We Did
The Night Market is the popular shopping, eating, drinking, partying section
of Chiang Mai.
The Wat Jet Yot Temple is a popular sight for tourists It is on Doi Suthep
mountain.
Personal Reflections
Amanda: Chiang Mai is terrific - it is the Cambridge of
Thailand!! Very relaxed, lots of various cuisines, and even Chiang Mai
University. It is near mountains and the weather is cool and comfortable. In the
winter it can even get a little chilly!
We stayed in a very central area. Nearby there was a strip of road that had
several interesting open-front bars - we walked past them one night and saw that
they were packed full of very young, very pretty Thai girls, each of whom was
paired with a considerably less young, considerably less attractive
Western-looking man. The girls sat next to or on the lap of their men, laughed at
their jokes and made sure they never stopped buying drinks.
The next night we decided to stop into one of these bars and were received
quite warmly. Glenn and I sat down and ordered soda waters, and the girls looked
at us approvingly. Curious about these girls, I decided to try to imagine what
their lives might be like by pretending that I were one of them and that Glenn
was my customer for the night. I sat close to him, played with his hair, laughed
at his jokes. But as I looked around the room, my imaginative exercise fell flat.
For at the end of the night I would be going home with my sweet, handsome
boyfriend, not with some stranger three times my age and my weight, who couldn't
speak my language. Toward the end of the night a friendly young woman approached
our table and staggered. She leaned into me and grinningly confided, "I drunk."
You know what sister ~ I would be too.
Glenn: Chiang Mai was perfect for me due to the weather,
somewhat modern accommodations, terrific restaurants, and modern cafes, and
decent Internet service.
