Share Your Insider/local Chiang Mai

[Jingthing]

OK, I have been to Chiang Mai 5 times. I have done the tourist things more than enough. I have rung those mountain bells enough for a few lifetimes, so time to go deeper.

What is your real, special, insider Chiang Mai?

The stuff you would tell a close friend to experience when visiting, that they shouldn't miss, that they won't find in Lonely Planet? Nobody reads this forum, share your secret finds.

Frankly, my biggest interest is food, with a preference for spicy good value exotic, but am open to all oddball suggestions, such as special places at a certain time of day.

I know many of you love your city, share the love, I am coming soon for two weeks ...

[misterme]

not a secret, but

Love the foot massages and all the food within the Temple walls on Sunday at

what I call

"thanon kon gin"

aka 'Sunday Market' in the old city.

[Jingthing]

Thanks, don't take the idea of secrets literally.

Just the little things that make Chiang Mai feel like home to you.

[Paagai]

Thanks, don't take the idea of secrets literally.

Just the little things that make Chiang Mai feel like home to you.

Western food: Charlie's Fish and chips!

Alternative food: Eating raw pigs liver on ice, accompanied with pigs blood soup at Hmong (Spelling???) Muu Restaurant on Kampang Din Rd at 4 a.m. after plenty of Lao Kaao, YUMMY. Lets face it, you've gotta be to even think about it (Jing Jing ). Or if you're sober go for the Dtap Waan (spicy Grilled Liver salad) Arroi Maak!

Fun night out: BonTong (AKA Golden Ball on Santitham) for good thai food and drink, Dragon pub for fun, His Club for dancing and finishing up in some (Secret.......sorry, but you did ask!) Karaoke joint!

Bad night out: night Bazzar followed by Mandagay

Really Bad night out: Bubble followed by Spicy

Total Craziness: Drinking with the SSA boys in some snooker hall, shop, squat or whatever (Given your sig you should like that )

Real Danger: the motorbike ride home

Sex: This is Chiang Mai; all you need to do is smile good thoughts bring good things.

Hangover cure: Pad Kee Mao and a good massage

[Rinrada]

Walking along the banks of the Ping river on a cool CM morning just as the sun is coming up and when the air smells clean and fresh.......

[richard10365]

Outdoor exercise at the 700 year stadium in the evening is fun. There are always a lot of people there and the view is awesome!

[TheEmperorOfTheNorth]

* Ob Khan Gorge / National Park

* Chiang Dao area (See www.chiandao.com)

* Elephant Nature Park (pricey, but *EVERYONE* comes back saying it was the experience of a lifetime)

* Wat Doi Saket for the weird murals

* The 'Smiling Buddha' temple called Wat Umong on Ratchapakinai Road. Ask a monk to make the Buddha statue smile. Best combined with a morning walk through the old town where you can easily cover 10 temples.

* Don't confuse the above with 'Wat Umong' off Suthep Road, this is a forest temple and also well worth a visit.

* Thippanet Market for weird amulets and other magic stuff. " Get Yer Spells & Potions 'ere! " If you want to buy some Thai/traditional music, the record store there is also very good.

* The Sunday Walking Street Market: Hardly a secret, but this place NEEDS to be visited for your shopping. It's what the Night Bazar was before it became the current Night Bizarre, if you follow. Also you may actually find stuff at the Sunday Walking street market that ISNT all over Sukhumvit Road or Pattaya Beach as well.

* Rail trip to Khun Tan national park, if you're into hiking.

* Boat trip up Mae Ngat lake, this is easily combined with a trip out to Chiang Dao.

* Probably loads more, often involving a trip out of town.

* Then, food: http://chanchao.fotopages.com Hasn't been updated in a while so best don't look to much at the restaurants on it (especially the non-Thai food restaurants, which often don't last as well as some of the more established Thai restaurants featured), but it gives an excellent over-view of local foods that you'd find at markets and food stalls. For Western food though, Chiang Dao Nest (chiangdao.com) deserves a special mention. In town, I think 'The House' is a wonderful experience.

Edited October 30, 2007 by TheEmperorOfTheNorth

[rrose070]

The ride up to Samoeng is lovely, with some nice bungalow places, can't recall the names, but one has a fabulous waterfall and you can eat al fresco there. Also, there's a sushi place on the sidewalk on Huay Kaew rd., near the college, just past the 7-11 (I know, I should learn names...WHICH 7-11?!) Delicious and very cheap! For Thai and the youthful scene, the restaurant called "The Boat" just up and across the street from the sushi joint. For swimming, the 700-year, hands down! Also I love the fitness park on Huay Kaew, especially on a crisp morning. The monks laugh at me when I do my "steps" - "up, down! up, down! And never get anywhere!"

[mcgriffith]

The ride up to Samoeng is lovely, with some nice bungalow places, can't recall the names, but one has a fabulous waterfall and you can eat al fresco there. Also, there's a sushi place on the sidewalk on Huay Kaew rd., near the college, just past the 7-11 (I know, I should learn names...WHICH 7-11?!) Delicious and very cheap! For Thai and the youthful scene, the restaurant called "The Boat" just up and across the street from the sushi joint. For swimming, the 700-year, hands down! Also I love the fitness park on Huay Kaew, especially on a crisp morning. The monks laugh at me when I do my "steps" - "up, down! up, down! And never get anywhere!"

The sushi place is "Tsunami" and is right next to the large 15 story apartment building "Lanna 3", in a shophouse on Huay Kaew Rd.

[Flatouthruthefog]

Walking along the banks of the Ping river on a cool CM morning just as the sun is coming up and when the air smells clean and fresh.......

Nice one! Simple things are often the best - secret or not! I'd add:

* Mae Kuang Dam (reservoir), west of Doi Saket. Totally beautiful and much closer than the lovely Mae Ngat. Get a map and drive there (nice on a Honda Dream) or do a special deal with any yellow seelor.

* Huay Tung Taew or however you want to spell it. The lovely lake run by the Army just north of the 700 Year Sports stadium and also on the left. Adults 20b, kids free. Relax in a lakeside sala with cheap Thai food and beer, or take a pedallo out on the water, or swim or bungy jump or whatever. It's so big you can be as noisy or quiet as you want.

* The little known SATUDAY MORNING Walking St with so many old western items that don't qualify for the city centre markets. On the extension of Bumrungrad Rd past the British Consul and across the traffic lights towards McGilvary.

* The Air Museum at Wing 41. Almost totally unknown. Over 40 planes, 5 or 6 in flying order. Free walking tours start from the nearby Salad House Restaurant at 2.00pm on the first Thursday of every month. Lunch from 12.30pm there on those days if you really want to talk to the rivet-counters.

* The Foreign Cemetery near the river on Old Lamphun Rd, south of Antique House 2 restaurant and opposite the big electricity office. A time capsule of expat life here. Buy the well writtten and often humorous cemetery book 'De Mortius'. Then walk round the corner to the oldest club of any kind in Thailand, Chiengmai (old spelling) Gymkhana, and drink a toast to absent friends on the verandah at sundown. One of the most drop-dead gorgeous views in the city across that parkland!