Chiang Mai is a rather pleasant, well-heeled town by south-east Asian standards. At it’s centre is the old city, a neat square bounded by a moat and the remains of a wall built some 700 years ago. Traffic streams around the perimeter of the old city – there are far more cars here – but once within its confines there are quiet leafy streets and several ornate temples to stroll around. We decide to move hostels today as Panda House doesn’t have a room available for us on 30th December. We have found an alternative at Gap’s House where we can stay for as long as we like because they don’t take advance bookings. After moving our gear and having some lunch we make for the start of the temple walk, but we only manage to do one temple, Chiang Mai Man, before we get side-tracked by the street market that seems to engulf the old town on Sunday afternoons.
Gap’s House is just off the main street in the old town which is a much better location being in the heart of things and it doesn’t involve negotiating the heavy traffic that chokes the perimeter road just beyond the moat. The hostel itself is set in a lush tropical garden with a jungly feel. The rooms are in wooden bungalows with lovely polished floors and antique furnishings; much more homely and characterful – and there are no unpleasant smells. Not that the Panda House was bad, in fact the staff were very helpful and when we complained that we didn’t get the room we’d booked and were moving because they were fully booked, they did our laundry for free and provided a car at no charge to bring us over to Gap’s House!
After lunch we visited what is reputedly the oldest temple in Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai Man. Unfortunately most of the buildings are closed and we are only able to view this magnificently ornate building from the outside. All the way around the grounds aphorisms have been written on signposts in Thai and English, some of them very familiar like ‘More haste, less speed’ and ‘The pot called the kettle black’ (sic), ‘It’s no use shutting the stable door after the horse has been stolen’ (sic) as well as many of a more spiritual/philosophical nature.
On Sundays from 4pm until midnight the central streets of the old town are shut to traffic and given over to the ‘Walking Street Market’. This huge, sprawling market must occupy at least six streets with hundreds of stalls selling a huge selection of handicrafts, food, clothes, scarves, jewellery, handbags and more. Unlike the market in Luang Prabang this has a much more diverse selection of goods and come evening is absolutely heaving, for the most part with Thais; this is definitely not put on for the tourists. We spend about three hours shuffling round and we still don’t manage to cover it all and almost everything is so ridiculously cheap that it is not worth the effort to engage in haggling.
A few interesting observations: firstly the Thais drive on the left, which came as a bit of a surprise. Secondly, there are lots of sawngthaew plying the street offering a sort of private, unscheduled bus service. The sawngthaew look like pick-up trucks with a roof and open back with benches down either side. Flag one down, state your destination and if it going your way you can take a ride for a small fare. We haven’t yet put this service to the test and it sounds quite random, but it obviously works. The alternatives are either metered taxis, tuk-tuk or saamlaw (pedicabs) although we are yet to see any of the latter and are wondering if they still exist. Thirdly, Thailand is incredibly cheap despite it clearly being a much more wealthy and westernised than Laos, Cambodia or Vietnam. And in many ways it is reassuringly familiar – the shops have more western interiors with products that are recognisable; there is a Boots, a Carrefour and even a Tescos!