Travels in Thailand - Last Stop Chiang Mai
Our final days in Thailand were spent in and around the City of Chiang Mai. This was probably one of our favorite cities in Thailand. It's fitting that I'm writing about the finish of our Thailand trip as in 1 day we are off to begin another once-in-a-lifetime trip - a three week visit to Central Europe. But, back to Thailand for the moment. The weather was a bit cooler in the northern City of Chiang Mai. This cooler weather makes for a great reason to stop here if you visit Thailand.
Chiang Mai
We really enjoyed walking through the markets (especially the night markets) in the downtown, near the hotel where we stayed. Our guide also took us through the "permanent" marketplaces to show us where locals shop. He also helped us to sample foods and goods as he normally would.
Temples
There are literally hundreds of temples in the Chiang Mai Provence. One of the ones we visited is Wat Phra That Doi Suthep a gorgeous temple on the top of a hill near the city.
This wat is also called "Doi Suthep" even though this is actually the name of the mountain where it's located. It is a sacred site to many Thai people. The temple is 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from the city of Chiang Mai. From this temple, you get incredible views of the City.
We were able to view some (adorable) local performances (and performers) at the temple the day we visited.
Our visit to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep was very spiritual and moving.
While I certainly don't have the space here to share everything we saw in Chiang Mai including all the fabulous markets, incredible restaurants and beautiful shrines, I would like to mention a dinner we had a local Thai woman's house the final evening of our trip.
What a gorgeous open air home she had! I felt like I could move right in.
She lovingly shared her Thai curry recipe with us as we watched and helped her make dinner.
All things being equal, it was probably the BEST meal we had in Thailand!
After dinner she had us outside to release lanterns into the night sky.
A perfect final evening for our visit to Thailand!
More Thailand Trip Info
Thank you so much for following along as I relived our trip to Thailand! If you missed the first post from this trip, you can find it here.To view many more photos from our time in Thailand, please visit my Thailand Photo Collection on Flickr.I hope you will continue to follow as I start posting from our next trip to Central Europe.Next stop....Warsaw, Poland!