Chiang Mai is a noisy busy city where we managed to find a nice guesthouse with a garden- a sanctuary from the hectic city.
We visited all the Wats (temples) of note on a hot 40 degree day.
We visited all the Wats (temples) of note on a hot 40 degree day.We did a cruise on the river that runs through the city and saw river fish farms and these fishing cranes.
The cruise usually lasts 1 1/2 hours but the boatman was so interesting it took us 3 hours and we were the only ones in the boat. He came from one of the hilltribes and talked about his family life there. We visited a farm upstream and he showed us all the vegetables, herbs, and spices that the Thai use in their cooking.
We even spotted this enormous butterfly in the garden.
Chiang Mai has a moat surrounding the city and we stayed inside the original walls of the old city with its narrow lanes.
There were many tourists even though it is the low season.
We met this young Austrian guy. He bought a 1957 Honda 100cc motorbike in Vietnam and rode it through Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and was heading to the south of Thailand. He paid $150 US for it and didn't even get a flat tyre in his 3000 kms of travel! He did get sunstroke though!
