Chiang Mai – Amy Cotler

Chiang Dao

December 26, 2015 Comments Off

Getting from Chiang Mai to Chiang Dao, Thailand Visualize the inside of a bus that looks like a 50’s dinner, with lots of chrome. We grabbed the last two seats, or so we thought. Turns out that what looked like two-to-a-row seating is three-to-a-row seating, which we found out as folks piled in at each […]

Thailand’s Elephant Nature Park

December 21, 2015 Comments Off

[wpvideo Csu0N4EA] Elephant Nature Park is a sanctuary and rescue center in Northern Thailand, about 40 miles from Chiang Mai. (See travel information at the bottom of this post under Practical Stuff.)

Wats up in Chiang Mai

December 16, 2015 Comments Off

Walk the streets of Chiang Mai, past the vendors hawking tours, selling chatzies, and you’ll spot dozens of ancient wats. (Buddhist temples.) Curlicue dragons, stone elephants, the works. It was festival time when we arrived, and the town was jammed with tourists. So, we decided to forgo the classic wat best picks, like the Phra […]

Chiang Mai Eats

December 12, 2015 Comments Off

We’re near the Chang Phuak Gate in Chiang Mai, in Northern Thailand. It’s around 6pm, and the bevy of food stands sit behind long tables filled with eating Thai and tourists from all over, mostly China. A woman in a cowboy hat dips into an enormous aluminum pot of rich stock, filled with large bobbing ham […]

First look at Chiang Mai

December 5, 2015 Comments Off

I love trains, always have. Something about the sound, the rush of scenery, the anticipation of arrival. Their history and lore in books and films. But I knew the 15-hour night train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai would not be like the Some Like It Hot train scene, with lots of upper bunk lower bunk fun, and Marilyn Monroe playing […]