We watched as Braeden shuffled on his knees up to the gaunt monk who was sitting, cross-legged and placid, swathed in orange robes. The boy held out his wrist respectfully, eyes wide.
The man in orange looked at him with a glimmer in his eye, nodded, and gently tied a cotton bracelet around the boy’s wrist. The monk then slowly pressed his hands together in a “wai”, murmured a low blessing, and watched as Braeden backed away on his knees, out of the hushed and gilded wat.
We looked at each other and grinned.
Settling Down for a While
After busy weeks in Dubai and Bangkok we were looking forward to being able to stay put for awhile, and I had been anticipating our next destination, Thailand’s northern city of Chiang Mai, for over a year.
Chiang Mai was supposed to be a great place to visit and a better place to live. It wasn’t exactly clear why it was such a wonderful city, but I bought into the hype anyway and had been eager to see it ever since we put it on our itinerary over a year earlier.
Chiang Mai didn’t seem like much when we first arrived. The airport was relatively small, and our short taxi ride through the city didn’t show us much more than small city streets with a Southeast Asian feel.
Later, when we were able to walk down the 4-lane Huay Kaew Road from our apartment to the supermarket down the street, we didn’t take note of anything spectacular.
Even on that first day, though, we felt it. Chiang Mai was familiar, somehow, and there was something comforting about it even though it was most definitely a Thai city.
For the first few days we did little other than roam around and sample various restaurants. We took care of some administrative tasks, like setting up our new apartment and getting Braeden registered in a local preschool. He had been eager to get back into school ever since we’d left Mauritius in November, and even though most schools in Chiang Mai were going to be closed for a winter break, we figured it would be worth it to get him into an environment with other kids.
The Little Ambassadors Bilingual School was big, beautiful, and modern, and he happily ran in the door every day to play with his new friends. This left Juliann and I with time to wander around the city a bit, which we gladly did.
Diwali in Mauritius, and Victory Over La Pouce
I also joined the local CrossFit gym, CrossFit Chiang Mai, and Juliann started practicing yoga again, this time at Wild Rose Yoga in the Old City.
By the end of our first week we were sold: we loved Chiang Mai. The streets were small and strangely quaint in a Southeast Asian way, the city was easy to get around, the surrounding mountains made it a breeze to get out and spend time in the outdoors, and the people were friendly and warm.
We were particularly enamored with the Old City, which was a bewildering warren of tiny streets lined with cramped shops, restaurants, bars, tattoo parlors, and hostels of every imaginable type. Gorgeous gilded wats dotted the streets everywhere. A few nights each week we would take an Uber to a random location and wander streets we hadn’t seen before. When we got hungry we would stop into a restaurant and have an amazing meal.
The restaurants…whew. We tried so many. They ran the gamut, but all had delicious, cheap food: Yayee, Italics, Cooking Love, Salsa Kitchen, Trailhead, Dash, Rock Me Burgers, Butter is Better, Street Pizza, the Whole Earth, Ole, Kanjara, and on and on.
So much to love, and 5 weeks were going to go by fast.
Finding New Digs
After our disappointing experience with our AirBnB in Mauritius, we decided for Chiang Mai, our next long-term stay, that we would book a place for two weeks only and use some of that time to figure out better accommodations for the final three weeks.
Our apartment in the Hillside Condo was fine. It was beautifully renovated and had plenty of room for us, but the pool area was a bit worn down and depressing, and the area of town that we were in wasn’t the best for walking. There was little to do in a 10-minute walking radius, and with a 4-year-old in tow that can make things a bit difficult.
So after a week we hunkered down and looked for new digs. It wasn’t easy because the holiday season is busy in Chiang Mai, and most of the places we managed to find weren’t available for the three weeks we needed them.
Crying Over Ice Cream in Paris, and the Musee D’Orsay
Juliann used her awe-inspiring apartment-hunting powers and found us what looked like a beautiful place in a brand-new building on the opposite side of town. It was available at the right price, and we reserved it through the owner. Relieved to have a place locked in, we relaxed and enjoyed the city for the next several days.
The day before we were to move in, the owner messaged me and said, “Hey Nathan, you don’t need wifi in the apartment, do you?” (paraphrased from broken English)
Two fun facts:
- Yes, I do need wifi. I have a business to keep tabs on. And Facebook will get lonely without me checking it every 20 minutes.
- The listing clearly said “wifi included”.
What the f**k?!?
I patiently explained to her that yes, I did need wifi, and if the unit didn’t have it we couldn’t move in. She said she couldn’t install wifi in the unit because the regular renter didn’t want it.
After tearing out most of my hair, realizing that was a mistake, then scotch-taping it all back in, I informed our would-be host that we wouldn’t be taking the unit after all. Juliann then picked up the phone and called the building’s front desk to ask if any units were available to rent. There were, and in just a few hours we had another apartment secured.
We moved in on a Friday and were all settled into our new place in short order. It was a beautiful brand new unit – much smaller than the Hillside apartment – but with great views and a gorgeous rooftop pool.
Next time we’ll be sure to check on a prospective area’s busy season before being so lax in booking accommodations. Everything worked out well, though, so we can’t complain.
The Temple on the Hill
Doi Suthep is a mountain right next to Chiang Mai, and it’s clearly visible wherever you go in the city. When we first arrived here the sun was glinting off of something on the side of the mountain, and we could tell that whatever it was was big and very, very shiny.
A little research told us that the “something” was actually Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, a huge golden temple on the side of the mountain. Wat Doi Suthep, as it’s commonly called, is one of the most-visited and most sacred temples in Thailand.
One morning we decided to make the trek up to see the temple so we did what all good pilgrims do: we called an Uber.
The trip was short – about 30 minutes – and soon we were standing at the bottom of the 306 steps up to the temple complex amid the bustle of tourists below. Braeden was fascinated by the dragon railings that cascaded down the stairs in glittery golden undulations, and in no time we were at the top, looking at the shining temple complex.
We shucked our shoes and entered the most sacred part of the temple complex, the central pavilion, which housed the stupa, or chedi, and what looked to be a few hundred Buddha statues and engravings.
The complex was busy and filled with tourists, but we’ve come to expect we’ll be sharing the sights with others, so we shuffled around with them, gawking at the wonders of the temple.
It seemed everything inside was shining gold. Offerings were everywhere, including fruit, sodas (Buddha needs to pound his pancreas just like everyone else, I suppose), incense, and long, thin reeds with cash attached to the ends. Because Buddha loves the green, folks.
People knelt in front of Buddhas in silent prayer, smoking incense sticks clasped in their hands, as others snapped photos and tour guides held flags aloft, reciting the history of the place in what seemed like a dozen different languages.
Juliann and Braeden found a smaller interior temple and slipped inside where a monk was giving blessings. Another monk chanted rhythmically in the corner. Braeden decided he wanted a blessing as well, so he waited his turn, then crept respectfully up to the monk and sat silently while the gaunt man in orange blessed him and tied a thin cotton strand around his little wrist.
Then we exited the central pavilion to explore the outer complex for awhile, taking in the views of the city and the ornate structures of the temple.
We spent about an hour exploring the temple and the grounds, taking in the views of the city from the mountainside and marveling at the architecture. Then we walked back down the steps, taking the opportunity to practice Braeden’s counting along the way.
Our Uber picked us up and whisked us back down the mountain and into the city where we grabbed some lunch and returned to our apartment for a quick afternoon nap.
We couldn’t nap for too long, though, because we had to start getting ready for Christmas.
Christmas in Chiang Mai!
If you like the sound of that introduction, trust me, you are going to fall in love with the city just like I did just on my first visit there?