Chiang Mai

On New Year’s Day, I flew by myself up to Chiang Mai. It is a famous city in the northern part of Thailand. The hostel I stayed in was not as nice as the one in Bangkok, but I met some really nice people there. The location was really good, quite close to the University, with some cute shops and restaurants. On my first full day in Chiang Mai, I went up to Wat Doi Suthep, a temple on top of a mountain. It is a temple dedicated to the white elephant. It has a nice view of the entire city, but it was a bit overcast that morning. Since it is located at the top of the mountain, I hopped in a “taxi” to the base of the temple, then walked up many, many steps. It was a very beautiful temple.
After looking at the temple, I went to the downtown area to try to reserve a spot to the Elephant Nature Park for the following day. On my trip to Cambodia, I met an American girl who was living in Chiang Mai. She told me about this elephant park where you get to spend the day taking care of elephants. I knew I had to do this. I tried to book online, but it was fully booked for the entire month of January. So I went to their office to ask if they could squeeze one more person in for tomorrow. They said yes, and I was quite happy.
That afternoon, I got another massage (#5!), then walked around the Night Market. The Night Market in Chiang Mai was really nice, lots of interesting things. I am just so bad at haggling. I was shooed away from one booth because I was squishing the merchandise. I had American food for dinner, which I enjoyed even though it made me a little sick.