Miles of Smiles

With more glitz and flash than a Japanese tour bus, the Chiang Mai Sunday Night Market presented a dizzying array of merchandise, food and entertainment on a balmy full moon evening. For two hours we negotiated up Tapae Road in
the Old City, eventually reaching the end, only to do a U turn and walk down the other side. Every available space was

jam packed by local vendors displaying various arts and crafts while food vendors spilled over from the surrounding temple grounds and street musicians occupied sections of the road. We had never before seen a night market of this scale, it just went on and on and on…

 

We had arrived in Chiang Mai after looping through some of the outlying regions of Northern Thailand. After a week in Pai, it was time to move on before we got so lazy and chilled out, our trip would grind to a halt. Just 2 hours up the road from Pai, was the very small village of Soppong, where we intended to spend a few days. Hopping off the bus, it was clear that we could check out the 6 or so places to stay rather quickly, since a slow

blink and you would be through the town.

 

Sitting next to the Pai River, we decided on the Soppong River Inn, owned and managed by the lovely Miss Joy. We spent a delightful 3 days at this Inn, relaxing on the decks overlooking the river and sampling the fine meals that Joy cooked up. After Pai, it was a refreshing change of pace. But, let’s be clear, in Pai there are lots of activities to keep you occupied, there are multiple restaurants and live music at night, night markets and people milling about – in Soppong, there is none of this – you come here to do nothing.

 

Outside of town there is the famous Lod cave. One very hot day we walked to it through the woods – about 6 miles – and decided on the way back to hitch a ride. Marge successfully was able to secure a ride on the back of a motorbike, but unfortunately, I was skunked and ended up walking the 6 miles back into town. Nonetheless, we both enjoyed the town of Soppong, our pick for sleepy town of Thailand.

 

Next stop was Mae Hong Son, another 4 hours by local bus, a destination I was really looking forward to and was most disappointed in once we arrived. The town itself is not attractive, in fact it’s kind of grungy, and although we found a couple of really cute places to stay - Piya Guesthouse and Jongkum Place - we decided rather quickly to move on

after just one night. Sorry, Mae Hong Son, maybe my expectations were too high, but it’s not worth the effort to come this far down the road to visit this little hamlet.

 

Our intended loop was to include a few days in the next village of Mae Sa Riang, another 4 hours by bus, but after our disappointment in Mae Hong Son,, we decided to just continue on the loop all the way back to Chiang Mai, a 9 hour bus ride, since everyone seems to love this town. Plus, we had made plans to be in Cambodia the last week of March, so

didn’t have that many extra days to waste, and wanted to stay put for a week.

 

So, after a not so bad 9 hour all day bus ride (you do have the option of flying from Mae Hong Son to Chiang Mai on a small propeller plane in about 30 minutes), we arrived at dark in the town of Chiang Mai, the largest city in Northern Thailand. They say that everything you can do in Bangkok you can do here, only on a much smaller scale. We settled in at the Tapae Place Hotel, centrally located and very comfortable. No sooner had our bags hit the floor then we were off to sample the Night Market (the daily Night Market versus the Sunday Night Market), something Chiang Mai is notably famous for. We also wanted to check out a few guesthouses since we knew we were going to stay up to a week here, and although we liked the Tapae Place Hotel, it is a hotel and not a smaller

guesthouse, which we prefer.

 

Local vendors line the streets in Chiang Mai selling most everything – lots of fabrics, local handicrafts, and best of all, street food. We’ve become so accustomed to eating the street food, that we’re not sure how we’re going to adapt once we return home – maybe spend all our money at the taco wagons around town? People here eat all day long, it’s just a series of small snacks which we’ve adapted to quite easily. Marge is particularly fond of the lemon shakes they make around here, and hardly passes a food cart that sells them without partaking.

 

There are two parts to Chiang Mai, the old city surrounded by a crumbling brick wall and moat, and the newer section, where most of the night market action takes place. We stumbled across this great little

guesthouse (again) – Mandala Guesthouse – situated between these two sections and moved the next morning (actually one of our better accommodations to date - $26/night includes wonderful breakfast – this place gets our 5

star ***** highest recommendation, although they really need to do something about those door locks which can be jimmied without a key in about 5 seconds).

 

The Old City must have the highest concentration of wats in any one area – amazingly, there seems to be one or two on every block – and we spent two days just wandering the streets and sampling the varying architectural styles of these wonderful temples. The city itself is very easy to navigate, everything is within walking distance, there’s tons of

shopping, and lots of aforementioned eating.

 

One day, I happened upon this wat where there was a lot of commotion going on – people were coming out of this building carrying these little kids (could not have been more than 5-6 years of age) on their shoulders all decked out in

colorful sequined clothing, holding these ornate and elaborate umbrellas over their heads. I had stumbled upon an annual ceremony to initiate young boys into the monk way of life. As the kids were carried from the grounds on the shoulders of their parents or relatives, they were loaded into pickup trucks and paraded through town. One cute kid was smiling through the window on the front seat and I managed to take his picture, at the same time

telling him ‘shogdee’, which is good luck in Thai. Besides becoming a respected member of society, being a monk grants access to better educational options and potentially, a chance to attend the university someday.

 

We both loved Northern Thailand, the people are very friendly, the scenery is outstanding, you have a variety of experiences to sample, from visiting indigenous hill tribes, to chilling out in fun loving Pai, or relaxing in small town Tha Ton and Soppong, to sampling ‘Big’ city atmosphere in Chiang Mai. We’d pass on Mae Hong Son, Mae Sa Riang, Chiang Rai and Mae Salong in favor of these other destinations.  

 

Our next adventure is a dip into Cambodia, the land of ancient kings, rich culture and evocative temples, a destination I’ve been looking forward to for many years.