I FOUND A GOLDEN RETRIEVER IN THAILAND. I miss my pup and almost had to snatch this one and put it in my bike basket.
We went to a night market the first night and one part of the market had artists everywhere drawing the most realistic pictures. That guy drew this lady from the picture in his hand. Amazing!
Neat waterfall we found on the way up the mountain.
Waterfall with a cute couple picnicing. We will just pretend that it is Stephan and I.
One of the perfect views from the waterfall. That's Chiang Mai down there.
And another view of Chiang Mai.
The steps up to Doi Suthep.
Cute little Burmese girl dressed in a traditional outfit. There were little girls all along the steps dressed in these outfits. They were trying to get the tourists to take pictures of them for money. They were beautiful.
A monk walking around the temple.
Part of Doi Suthep.
Everyone checking out the sunset. I caught this cute little girl posing too.
Such a beautiful sunset!
Doi Suthep.
Doi Suthep. It was unbelievably beautiful after the sun had set.
More Doi Suthep.
Another temple we stopped at while exploring Chiang Mai.
We got a little fancy one night and had a glass of wine. Getting fancy in Thailand is a very rare occasion.
This is Stephan's latte from Ristr8tto. They used the picture on the left to draw the dragon into the latte.
Chiang Mai has been my favorite place in Thailand so far! It is located in the very North of Thailand--far far away from where I am living. We had to take two flights, because we live in such a baby town, you can only fly to Bangkok from here. I was so excited to go somewhere with a cooler temperature, so the day we left, obviously I threw on some blue jeans--one of the first times I have worn pants in this country. Once we arrived in Chiang Mai though, it was a scorcher and I was quickly regretting my pants decision. It was hot and we were hungry. And we had no place to stay. So we decided to cool off and stuff our faces with some western food. Stephan and I both needed a break from the rice soup we have been eating every single morning. So we opted for omelets and gingerbread pancakes. Delicious. Once we ate, we had energy to conquer the town and figure out where we were going. After our first meal I was so excited for the rest of the meals we would be eating. We even had Mexican food our first night there. Most of you would think that the Mexican food was mediocre, but if you have been living in Thailand for 8 months, you would think that it was the best thing you ever ate. And that's exactly how Stephan and I felt about it.
Chiang Mai consists of an old city and a new city. The old city is squared shape with a moat and parts of an old city wall surrounding it. The new city is outside of the moat. The town is fairly flat and loads loads of people ride bicycles (not to get confused with motorbikes) everywhere. It was nice seeing calmer pace to the traffic and people actually able to function with bicycles and people walking around. Nakhon is far from that and I think you would have to be prepared to get hit by a car every time you go out on a bicycle in this town. Anyways, that being said we rented bicycles as soon as possible and set out pedaling and exploring the old city. We rode by the moat and then drove through the cute alleys and streets that make up the old city. The town has so much character and so many places to look at. We stopped at art galleries, neat stores selling hand made items, and a juice shop with the best fresh juice. It was exciting to think that there is a town in Thailand that actually has everything to offer. I really enjoyed the character of the city and the people. I loved how most of the Thais were used to seeing white people, so we never felt singled out for being a "farang".
Our following days were left for going on runs in the morning, stuffing our faces with delicious food, exploring the city, finding neat temples, drinking coffee and cruising on our bicycles and then a motorbike. One of my favorite things that we did, was drive up the mountain to one of the most famous temples in Chiang Mai called Doi Suthep. Driving up the mountain, we could feel the temperature dropping and I was slowly feeling my first dose of goosebumps and chills in Thailand. It was great! Along the way, there were the most amazing views of Chiang Mai. We snapped some pictures and continued our way up the mountain. Once we got to the temple entrance there were stalls after stalls selling all kinds of goodies. I browsed quickly and then we walked up some steps to the temple. We decided to walk around outside of the temple first to try and catch the sunset. We couldn't have had more perfect timing. The sun was setting over Chiang Mai behind another mountain in the distance. It was so beautiful and it felt so good outside! After we watched the sunset, we went into the temple and walked around. The temple is made of the most beautiful gold and it just glistened off the lights and the dark color of the sky. It is definitely my favorite temple so far!
On our way back down the mountain, we passed a market and decided to stop and shop around. It was such a neat market with really awesome clothes and things.
We also found a neat coffee shop that we went to almost everyday the rest of our time in Chiang Mai. It is called Ristr8tto. The owner is a latte artist and studied latte art in Australia. The coffee was really delicious and on the last day Stephan got a big ol' coffee with a dragon drawn into his latte. It was so neat! Anyways, Chiang Mai was amazing and I can't wait to go back!
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