Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai I think is the Bristol of Thailand, where an exciting mix of young people from different cultures have come together and produced a lively and vibrant city that feels more like a village than a city. It is homely, a little rustic, a city that is made up of what seems like a thousand narrow streets and back alleys. As the city spreads out from it centre, instead of high rises going up (although eventually they do right on the outskirts), boxed buildings that are little unruly, a little ramshackle, beaming with character and a history of being lived in crowd over each. Under street lights, where insects vibrate with confusion trapped in the snare of it's light, locales flip over heavily salted grilled fish or fried chicken, friends and family sit on stools taking a swig from a beer whilst chatting amongst themselves. Stray dogs trot from place to another in search of scraps of food. The narrow streets snake through the city, curving one way or the other following no obvious course other than the one that it had haphazardly designed for it. As one road turns off, it turns into a new back alley, which turns into further alleys, they're never ending, each one has its own surprise or story to tell.

Chiang Mai consists of five things, and five things only. Coffee shops, bars, food joints, massage parlours and artisan shops, I don't think anything else exists here. It is a perfect place for digital nomads, and they exist in their thousands here. Being driven through the thousands of winding streets in a tuk-tuk you would think you are in a European country, there seems to be more white people here than there are locales. So it seems. I can see why. The coffee is fantastic, the food even better. Each food stall as something that sizzles of the grill that arrests the senses. Khao Soi Gai, the locale speciality is a delight and perhaps the best thing I have eaten on my travels so far. It is a curry noodle soup, normally served with chicken but also available with beef, which I prefer. The mix of textures between meat, fresh and fried egg noodles served in a rich coconut broth breaming with various spices and aromatics is a pure joy. With the sheer volume of tourists here I would expect some hostility or coldness aimed at us but it has been anything but. It is a city where young Thai people (As well as other asian immigrants) have taken to its popularity and met it halfway with enthusiasm and making something out of it, owning it and forging a new direction from the mix of different cultures to form a new identity. The more cynical amongst you may be thinking of Hipster central, and to be fair, it is, but it is undeniably exciting. The locales speak with a passion about how to live, focusing on being social, forming friendships, being in the moment, eating and sharing traditional and fusion food. It is infectious, and in some ways it is the first time I recognised some of the openness and ethos of nepalese life in Thai people - an air of relaxation, forgetting your woes and enjoying life with a smile. It is a very sociable and happy place. Considering everything is effectively barbecued here, it has to be right?

There isn't actually much else to do here other than drink coffee and gorge on as much street food as one could possibly wish to. And that is ok. That is travelling too. It feels in many ways a home away from home. Chiang Mai has an historical centre, the old city, which is dotted with various temples, and remains of a city wall, but it now mainly exists as hub for tourists to venture further afield, maybe further up into the mountainous regions to visit Pai or Chiang Rai, or to visit an array of wildlife sanctuaries west towards the Myanmar border.

Wat Doi Suthep, sits 12 km just outside Chiang Mai, on top of a local mountain, forget the temple for now, this a banging climb to cycle on, 10.7km climb that averages 6%. It's KOM (King of the mountain: fastest time) sits at 25mins 20 seconds. Yes I checked that on Strava. Sorry! It is a climb that offers a mixture of everything going up or down. It's has hairpins, which sometimes are off camber, long stretches where you can set a good tempo going upwards with time to take in the thick jungle vegetation and the odd opening giving you glimpses of the stunning views over the city, but descending, the road eases into opposite directions, swinging lazily this way or that, sometimes into long raking corners that would test the grip of your tyres as you pick up speed from the gentle nudges the terrain leans into, making it a fast and enjoyable race back into Chiang Mai. Even the tuk-tuk driver fancied himself as a bit of a Colin McRae on the sweeping roads. There have been a surprising amount of road cyclists in Thailand. I can see why, the roads are perfect with terrain to suit everything from time trailing through to punishing mountainous climbs. Even in the mountains the roads are pristine. I don't think I could hack cycling here though. I'm sweating writing this. It's that hot, yet there have been a surprising number of riders fully layered up with long sleeve jerseys or leg and arm warmers. I don't get it!

Back to Doi Suthep! Doi Suthep sits on top of a mountain that overlooks Chaing Mai. The Stupa and Buddhist temple is one of the most sacred for Thai people. It is a quaint little complex with a fair climb of stairs to reach it. In many ways it reminded me a lot of the temples in Nepal, in that, despite the gold stupa and wonderfully crafted porcelain statues and stairways, it is very much understated. Despite the hundreds of tourists, the complex is quaint and spacious giving you fantastic views over Chiang Mai. The views and the fresh mountain air given you the time and space just to get away from everything for a little while which I really appreciated, especially given that is also a few degrees cooler up there too.

To the west of Chiang Mai sits a pretty extensive nature reserve which is home to quite a few, if not tens upon tens of elephant reserves. I spent the day at Dumbo elephant spa, where we fed, walked, played with and washed a small family of elephants. The spa was perched high up in the mountains. Even here the roads were pristine. The climb here would be a cyclist killer. Some sections the van even struggled with 1st gear. The hairpins so frequent and small that I wonder whether a stiff road bike could get round them without you hitting the deck. The elephant spa was a fantastic day out. My main fear was the treatment of the elephants and whether the place practiced ethically. I'm happy to report that for the most part of the experience I think they were. The main thing was whether the elephants were happy and healthy and they were. The 5 month old calf and family were sprightly and full of energy and were relatively free to roam. The elephants weren't chained, ridden or roped to anything, the staff repeatedly making points of this, and won't allow their elephants to interact with projects that do so. On a visible level they made all the right noises, but there were a couple of moments that looked suspicious and I did wonder if anything peculiar was happening behind closed doors. In one case, one of the younger workers had something in his pocket that he used a couple of times to hit the elephants to make them comply with him. I understand that these are large animals and in some cases they need to be controlled for the safety of customers and staff but the whole thing felt a little bit weird and not quite right. One of the other staff also drew on the elephants with a permeant marker which he tried to deny and say was charcoal, and the baby elephant behaviour changed when given a juice drink becoming more hyper and aggressive whilst also sometimes losing control of his behaviour. I don't whether I was being overly suspicious and he just entered 'playtime' mode or there was something there I picked up on, but I wasn't the only person to do so. These were in the grand scale of things minor infractions but enough to dilute my experience. After all I think everybody wants the welfare of the animals to come first. The elephants themselves are beautiful creatures, whose numbers have fallen from over 50,000 down to 6,500 within Thailand in the last 50 years. Asian elephants are much smaller than their African counterparts, but they are still magnificent creatures. They were playful, the young male even a little randy. I wouldn't think they would be so if they were mentally and physically not there. The activities themselves were fun, you really got hands on with the elephants who just ate and ate and ate. Devouring bananas, bamboo trees, forest shrub, more bananas. Everything. Feeding them it was surprising how graceful and gentle the elephants were taking food and moving around us. The adults at least, the calf not quite yet aware of his size, space and physicality. But she seemed to really enjoy herself. The mud spa was as muddy as you can imagine, but the elephants really came to life when we washed them in a waterfall. They really enjoyed submerging themselves fully under the water and the wash from the fall. It was a spectacular experience.

Aside from waking here and there, and to an art gallery that doesn't exist anymore, most of the week was spent at Thai Thai hostel, which was fantastic. Like Zostel in Pokhara, I think I have made a few friends for life here, some themselves extending stays a little longer because they were enjoying it so much. The staff took us out to try new food at local food markets or taking other people out to night markets or other places. it was a wonderful place to spend a few days. Next place is Bang Tao, In Phuket. It is a relatively quiet beach where I'm hoping to catch up on sleep! Like last time I am already here and it's rather nice! , just a little bit behind with everything.

All the best Joel.