Well we’ve spent a good few days in Chiang Mai and now we’re heading up to a place called Pai.

I’ve really enjoyed Chiang Mai. The locals are super nice, and so are the expats (except for this one really horrible American guy but that’s a different story).

Amy and I met these two Spanish doctors, Pedro and Julio, in Sukhothai (where we stayed for one night before coming up to Chiang Mai). The four of us had got along really well, so we headed up to Chiang Mai together, and we ended up hanging out quite a bit. They are “la Ostia” (as they taught me to say).

There is tons to do in Chiang Mai, from trekking, to elephant tours (see last post), to cooking classes (we had one booked for yesterday but we didn’t get home until 5am the night before and we were a bit hung over when we woke up, so we cancelled), to meditation courses (we took one from a lovely Czech expat and his half-Thai son last night – it was incredible!), to having your fortune told (did that too from some guy on the side of the road whose English was quite limited – apparently Amy is going to be married at 29 and have two kids, and she is to avoid motorcycles; I am going to be married – get this – next year! And have THREE kids…both of us are to avoid whiskey), to the night bazaar full of amazing painters and fun Thai souvenirs, to catching a Muay Thai match (did that the other night – a Canadian was fighting a Thai and oh YEAH he won – it was definitely because of Amy and my Canada bandanas and tattoos). You’d never get bored here, and if you do, you just aren’t trying.

The nightlife in Chiang Mai is pretty bumpin’. We really enjoyed the Rooftop Bar, where we played “I Never” with the Spanish boys and a big group of guys from Britain. We really liked Riverside Pub, where all the locals go, and the live band rocks Nirvana, Green Day, and other 80s babies favourites every night of the week. Fabric nightclub was not my favourite place – as I said to Amy, it was like Japan on steroids, and they charge foreigners (and only foreigners) 300 baht entrance fee. We really wanted to hit up this club called Heaven Beach but for some reason, none of the tuktuk drivers or locals knew where it was.

We’ve been staying at this backpacker’s hostel called Julie’s Guesthouse. I wouldn’t exactly recommend it. It’s not very clean, and definitely the noisiest place I’ve stayed at in my entire five months in Southeast Asia. The restaurant/ pool table lounge area is always packed full of backpackers – which can be fun sometimes, and annoying other times. The first night, our room had a vague hint of urine smell, but we moved rooms after that and it’s been fine. The restaurant, however, does make the best muesli-fruit-yogurt I’ve had yet.

One cool thing about Chiang Mai is that you meet tons of cool people. It seems like most of the travelers that come here are fairly seasoned and can offer good advice. We’ve been chatting with quite a few backpackers who all seem to say that Pai – a town three hours north of here – is among the best places they’ve been in Thailand. The thing is, it’s completely lacking in Thai culture. It’s a sort of spiritual/party retreat that draws backpackers by the dozen. Our meditation teacher told us last night that he avoids it and recommends that everyone do the same. But we’d like to see the place and draw our own conclusions. Then we’ll probably head into Laos on October 6th or 7th.

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