Chaing Mai on 2 Hours of Sleep

March 22, 2018

Nearly all vacations have one thing in common—time flies.

The law of time states that the more fun you’re having the faster it seems to go, and that’s how we ended up in an ally just off of Khao San road until 4 AM, knowing we needed to leave for our flight by 6 AM, but not wanting the night to end.

This morning we packed, or on two hours of sleep the more apt verb is chucked, the last of our belongings and took off for BKK for our domestic flight to Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai occupies the Northern part of Thailand and is largely considered a sleepy backpacker town—an image they are trying, but not succeeding, to shake.

Our flight arrived as scheduled with no lost luggage and we went to meet our driver, a complimentary perk afforded to the hotel. This is what happens when you say, “Stacey, with a Y”.

The river was on time, the drive was smooth, and it was immediately clear that we weren’t in Kansas, I mean Bangkok, anymore. Chiang Mai has an immediately laid-back feeling about it. We recognized it even before we left the airport—when a driver can park within 20 feet of the door, it’s safe to assume the airport isn’t busy.

We arrived at The Pingvman Hotel just inside the Old City walls. The hotel is finished in beautifully polished wood throughout and boasts a picture worthy swimming pool properly furnished with palm trees, cocktails, and sunshine.

Despite our self-inflicted sleep deprivation, we hit the ground running, walking in search of the temples that dot the Old City neighborhood of Chiang Mai. Scooters and mopeds dotted the side of the road. A few small street carts and several signs for backpacker hostels could be witnessed as we strolled through the little town streets. Occasionally we’d pass someone, but on the whole, it seemed as if the busy backpacking season had slowed to a quiet lull in Chiang Mai as they head into their rainy season.

There was a vast difference between the temples we saw in Bangkok—large and glorious holy monuments—to the temples we saw in Chiang Mai—small, less strict on dress code, and with only a few tourists lazily taking note. We visited Wat Chedi Luang, but women were unable to walk inside one of the two main temples, as it is believed that women menstruating humiliates and ruins the sanctity of the city pillar. It’s been quite some time since I’ve ruined any cities or their pillars, so I thought it best not to enter the temple as instructed.

We toured the second temple, and the overwhelmingly more beautiful one, behind the first temple. This one looked like ancient ruins with gorgeous stone carvings and a beautiful Buddha encased in the top of each of the four sides. Around the perimeter, gorgeous stone elephants could be seen guarding the temple.

From Wat Chedi Luang we made our way to Si Phum, where we each decorated a gold colored tin leaf with our Zodiac emblem in the center. I’m an ox—so I have to assume they must be independent and stubborn and love tacos, but I can’t be sure.

Wat Pra Sing was the last of our afternoon temple tour before making our way across the river for lunch on the patio overlooking the water. We filled up on tom yum, chicken basil, and Thai sausage before retiring back to the hotel for an hour by the pool. It’s in hindsight that I realized I should have booked days, not hours, at the pool.

Running on adrenaline and hunger, we climbed into a red truck taxi bound for our evening cooking class. These taxi’s are all over Chiang Mai and are basically a small pickup truck with a covered bed that you climb in and ride to your stop. Traveling in style you might say. Climbing in we quickly became friends with (because we were nearly sitting on their lap) friends from New Orleans and New Zealand.

The 11 course cooking class was a little long for someone going on 2 hours of sleep. We made papaya salad, spring rolls, red chicken curry, hot and sour soup, chicken with cashew nut, akha salad, akha soup, sapi thong, pumpkin in coconut milk, and mango sticky rice, a traditional Thai dessert served everywhere. I think my arms are still sore from grinding the curry paste in the mortar and pestle. I’m not sure what that says about my workout routine? Probably that I should get one.