RIVER CRUISE CHIANG MAI

We ended our week in Chiang Mai with a little city escape by taking a cruise on the Ping River. By Thai standards it’s quite expensive (1000 Baht for two), but the minute we stepped into the boat it was already worth it’s money. I immediately fell in love with the – from origin Chinese – guide, who is also the owner of the company. He starts talking from the moment the boat gets of the dock and doesn’t stop until you are back on land. His way of telling is enchanting and the pictures he uses to enforce his story really brings it all to life. On the river itself is not particularly much to see, but it’s nice to see the city from a different side – like fishermen trying to chase the catch of the day – and be away from the hectic. The stop at their lovely garden with an explanation of all kinds of fruit and herbs make the whole experience complete. After we got something to drink and the famous Thai ‘sticky rice with mango’ we got onto the boat again and went back.

During the boat trip we got a tip about the Sunday Market, which is also known as weekend market (it’s on Saturday as well, but in a smaller form) or walking street market. So after a good ‘street food’ meal – this time at the Northern side of the centre at the North Gate – we went for a stroll over the market. It really is a must-see as there are innumerable stalls with a great diversity of – mostly handmade – products. Also it’s less expensive then the regular Night Bazar because most of the makers of the products are selling it themselves.

To end the Chiang Mai experience I want to give one word of advice about transport in the city. To begin with it’s by far cheaper than Bangkok – so if you want to experience the Tuk Tuk, do it in Chiang Mai – but after trying all kinds of transport I can really recommend the Song Tao (meaning two rows, which indicates the two benches), which you can recognize by their red color and safari jeep kind of look. Today we got back in Bangkok again for a few days, and here we have discovered the Sky Train (BTS) – a super convenient and cheap way to travel!

For more info about the Scorpion Tailed River Cruise click here.