Out of one hotel and into another. The hotel that the tour agency booked for me for the first two days in Chiang Mai was just outside the mote, north of the old city. There were street food carts right outside every evening and a shopping mall about half a mile to the west. It was fairly quiet there, which I would come to appreciate later. Double-decker tour buses are fairly common; this one was parked outside the hotel for the two days I was there.

I would be spending the next two weeks in a new hotel that I had reserved in Chiang Mai more then a month ago. It is about a quarter mile south of the old city and within walking distance to many things. The staff at the new hotel was absolutely fantastic. Cheery, smiling and happy to help with directions and even made an effort to teach me some Thai phrases. Breakfast, lunch or dinner was available from 7 AM to 7 PM and laundry was 50 baht (or was it 60?, about $2.00) per kilogram, and ready the following evening.

This room had the same power control device near the door that the other hotels had. Inserting the key fob turns on power to the room and removing it turns it off. The one difference here was that the refrigerator also gets turned off with the rest of the room’s power. I liked to have the power on while I was gone to charge my computer tablet, camera battery, or phone and in the other hotels, I plugged the chargers into the fridge outlet. I did eventually find a work-around that kept the fridge powered up and let me charge my devices.

This hotel was in a more exciting location and it was only $23 per night. One of the two weekend markets in Chiang Mai was only 100 feet or so from the hotel. The Saturday Walking Street Market draws crowds of tourists and Thais alike, though mostly tourists I’d say. There’re vendors selling everything from food to jewelry, clothes to art.

The police close off the road to vehicle traffic mid to late afternoon as the vendors come in and set up their stands. The market is about a kilometer long (almost 3/4 of a mile), and branches off slightly down side alleys, and into parking lots.

My room at the hotel was right on the street, so traffic was a bit noisy, especially in the mornings. There was also a loudspeaker on the utility pole 10 feet from my balcony, and about once a week or so the monks would say prayers to the people over this PA system… Starting at 7:45 AM and continuing for hours.

It actually only took four to five days to get used to the new environment and then I had no trouble sleeping through the night with only the occasional loud noise pulling me from slumber.

The “Old City” was surrounded by a huge brick wall long ago. Most of the wall is gone, but the four corners and several gates (or gateways) have been preserved and rebuilt over the years. This new hotel is near Chiang Mai Gate where there is a daily farmer’s type market as well as food carts set up every evening.

 

I spend a good bit of my time out riding around, exploring, and looking for new places to eat. About a half mile or so outside the old city to the southeast I found an american style restaurant called Butter is Better. Most breakfast entrees that you’d find in any american diner could be had here. I opted for Eggs Florentine and coffee.

I venture back there for breakfast once a week or so, though I’m still looking for a place that makes great huevos rancheros.

While I’m on the subject of food, I’ll share this photo I took of a sign at a 7 Eleven; a Ham Burger.

It has long been Thai tradition to leave your shoes at the door when entering a home, or most definitely a Temple. Some places you leave your shoes on, others you take them off. The best way to know what to do is to look to see if there’re shoes outside the door where your entering. At my hotel… it was a shoes off policy. I had no problem with this, but it quickly got me thinking about buying some flip-flops or sandals like the Thais wear.

Another place I went to was a shopping mall, southwest of the old city, near the airport. I’ve mentioned before that motorbikes are the most popular transportation here, and this photo will help to make the point…

This was one of at least two parking lots for motorbikes. I parked in another one just as big. There is separate parking for cars, but I’d say that the scooters easily outnumber the cars by two to one or more.

Well that’s about it for now. I’ll leave you with a couple photos of Temples that are just amazing with their gold, silver, brilliant colors, and dragons…