Chiang Mai - A Short Stopover

After driving back the infamous road with its 762 curves from Pai to Chiang Mai, I had 1.5 days to explore Chiang Mai, Thailand's 2nd biggest city.

Once I arrived in 36 degrees heat, I met up with Yasmin who I met in Pai to explore a beautiful temple and the vibrant, but very busy, night market. Later, Isiah joined and we picked a nearby rooftop bar for some drinks, as I would part ways with the two the following day.

The next day I signed up for a day trip to the 'sticky waterfalls'. The sticky waterfalls are essentially just normal waterfalls, but you can walk up the waterfall on 'sticky' stones, i.e. they are not slippery from all the water running down. It was quite a surreal experience and I never really trusted the 'stickiness' of the stones, but it actually worked very well.

In the evening, I found a couple of fellow travelers that joined me to watch an official Muay Thai fight (or eight fights to be precise). Sitting ringside, we were offered the best seats for the spectacle. From a total of eight fights, six of them were decided by a knockout - it was a great evening!

There is loads more to explore in Chiang Mai, but most of the activities were not appealing to me enough to stay longer (i.e. visiting an Elephant Sanctuary - seen them in Africa, a cooking class -> rather expensive and I prefer to actually eat, beautiful cafes -> went to one in Chiang Rai, but the ones here look amazing to be fair, trekking -> did it in Chiang Rai plus it was 36 degrees).

So after only a short period in Chiang Mai, it was time to head south. First Stop: Khao Sok National Park.Read more