Travel from airport:
Only option really is taxi we agreed to pay 800 baht to our hotel outside of town. While my husband got money I talked to the driver about our plans in the area. He said we could call him Thai (not his name). He graciously agreed to drive us for an additional 200 baht anywhere we wanted to go. We thought he meant each destination but he meant just one extra fee for everywhere we wanted to go (Sweet!)
Walking:
Downtown is relatively small and easy to walk through. Our taxi driver suggested we book our cooking class before we drove out to our place. We went to one but it was not offering classes while we were there so “Thai” suggested one not in the guide book, Baan Thai, Thai Cookery School. We booked for a couple days from then.
The day of our cooking class we had Thai drop us off at the cooking class. The cooking class includes a brief stop at a market where they teach you about the unique local ingredients. After the trip to the market, you go back to the cooking class where you are divided into groups based on the recipes you selected and then handed the ingredients to cook. Everyone involved loved the class and got sent home with a recipe booklet. We then walked to a festival downtown. Thai picked us up and took us back to our place.
Around town:
After booking our class and dropping off our stuff, Thai drove us to the suggested Maetaeng Elephant Park, where most of the packages didn’t suit us except for the bathing of the baby elephants offered at noon. They provided us with clothes and introduced us to Namtong and Bank our baby elephants. This package is not listed on their site but cost $40 a piece when we were there. Thai came back for us and drove us to Tiger Kingdom. Definitely the most expensive part of our trip but when do you get to pet tigers? This place claimed the never drugged their tigers, while I can not vouch for the validity of this info, we liked the thought. Plus none of them were on chains and all appeared very awake.
Language:
Thai. A few people had a grasp of English in charge of tourism but most workers did not. We still were able to get by and communicate.
Food: In Chiang Mai food was not street food like in the capital but rather small restaurants. Our hotel included breakfast of which our favorite was the noodle dish.
Our time: The mountain region of Chiang Mai was beautiful with temples and green hills. We highly suggest time here and wish we had spent more than three days there.
Only option really is taxi we agreed to pay 800 baht to our hotel outside of town. While my husband got money I talked to the driver about our plans in the area. He said we could call him Thai (not his name). He graciously agreed to drive us for an additional 200 baht anywhere we wanted to go. We thought he meant each destination but he meant just one extra fee for everywhere we wanted to go (Sweet!)
Walking:
Downtown is relatively small and easy to walk through. Our taxi driver suggested we book our cooking class before we drove out to our place. We went to one but it was not offering classes while we were there so “Thai” suggested one not in the guide book, Baan Thai, Thai Cookery School. We booked for a couple days from then.
The day of our cooking class we had Thai drop us off at the cooking class. The cooking class includes a brief stop at a market where they teach you about the unique local ingredients. After the trip to the market, you go back to the cooking class where you are divided into groups based on the recipes you selected and then handed the ingredients to cook. Everyone involved loved the class and got sent home with a recipe booklet. We then walked to a festival downtown. Thai picked us up and took us back to our place.
Around town:
After booking our class and dropping off our stuff, Thai drove us to the suggested Maetaeng Elephant Park, where most of the packages didn’t suit us except for the bathing of the baby elephants offered at noon. They provided us with clothes and introduced us to Namtong and Bank our baby elephants. This package is not listed on their site but cost $40 a piece when we were there. Thai came back for us and drove us to Tiger Kingdom. Definitely the most expensive part of our trip but when do you get to pet tigers? This place claimed the never drugged their tigers, while I can not vouch for the validity of this info, we liked the thought. Plus none of them were on chains and all appeared very awake.
Language:
Thai. A few people had a grasp of English in charge of tourism but most workers did not. We still were able to get by and communicate.
Food: In Chiang Mai food was not street food like in the capital but rather small restaurants. Our hotel included breakfast of which our favorite was the noodle dish.
Our time: The mountain region of Chiang Mai was beautiful with temples and green hills. We highly suggest time here and wish we had spent more than three days there.