Chiang Mai Conclusions

Laid back and relaxed Chiang Mai was a place definitely worth visiting, especially after the craziness of Bangkok. Exploring a few of the hundreds if not thousands of temples, going on an all day cooking course, and the couple of day trips we tried have left me with many beautiful memories I will cherish for years to come. I wish I had had the opportunity to stay a little longer to try some of the activities recommend to me by so many, such as meditation courses and yoga classes. Oh well, next time!

The guesthouse we stayed at, Bow Chiangmai House, deserves to be praised as it provided us really amazing quality accommodation for a mere £4 a night per person! It is run by Bow, a lovely woman who does the most amazing job at keeping her travellers happy.

The highlight of the whole trip was without a doubt (and I'm sure this comes as a real shock) food related! There was a special dish at one of the restaurants we had dinner at, Peppermint Coffee House, that must have been one of the best dishes I have ever tried. They prepare this dish called Khao Soy which is uses noodles that are characteristic of this region, cooked in coconut cream with spices and served with either chicken or beef.

What makes travelling in Southeast Asia such a pleasure is how easy it is to organise travel and trips. There are travel agents EVERYWHERE capable of getting you transported ANYWHERE without you having to do any of the hard work, research, or booking tickets separately. Included in the 1,600 baht (£32) that we paid for the three day journey from Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang were bus and boat travels, border crossing transport, overnight stay at Chiang Khong, dinner, breakfast, and packed lunch for the boat ride! The only research we did was deciding which method of travel was best suited for us. We could have chosen between slow boat, speedboat, or bus, and after reading about the various options on several travel blogs we found out that Lao buses more often than not break down on the road, and that getting on a speedboat means having a death wish meaning we were left with the slow boat option - which I really didn't mind actually.

Goodbye, Chiang Mai!

Next stop: Luang Prabang!