Day 2 - From Bangkok to Chiang Mai

After another restful night at our hostel in Bangkok, we got up early, got most of our stuff ready for check out, and ate the same breakfast we had the morning before. We then headed out to do a little last minute sight seeing before our flight to Chiang Mai. 

We quickly grabbed a tuktuk and jetted over to the Grand Palace for a very reasonable 40 baht. On our walk from the tuktuk to the entrance, yet another middle aged Thai man stopped us to ask where we were going. We said we were heading to the palace, and he assured us that it was yet again closed to tourists until the afternoon, and suggested we go to one of the many places that we were directed to go to the day before. I just thought he was being nice, but Benji was not convinced. After parting ways, we headed to the Grand Palace in spite of the man’s warning. Luckily, Benji was right on his hunch, and we got in for no problem. We can’t be certain why all these random, middle aged Thai men wanted us to see other tourist attractions, but we have a couple of theories. Benji believes it may be because those other attractions don’t get enough tourists, so it’s just a way to bolster the tourist economy. He also thinks that all these men may also have relatives that work in the industries we were sent to support (handmade suits, tourism, boats). I’m not sure, but it definitely seemed odd.

Once we finally made out way into the Grand Palace, we were very happy that we saved this place for last. It was extraordinarily beautiful. We felt especially lucky because we got there in the morning (9 am), when the sun was hitting the gilded pagodas perfectly. In spite of the massive amount of tourists, it was still our favorite Bangkok attraction that we saw.

After the Grand Palace, we booked it back to the hostel to grab our things, check out, and then call a Grab (Thailand’s version of Uber) to the airport. Once there, we waited in a hefty line to drop off checked baggage (you’re only allowed 7 kg on board), flew through security, and still had time to get coffee and Benji some lunch. We flew Nok Air, which Benji appreciated only because of the logo. Otherwise, the 1 hour 20 minute flight was uneventful.

Once in Chiang Mai, we ordered a Grab to our hotel, Namamema Boutique Hotel. At first, I was disappointed because I thought the rooms would be more unique, but all in all it’s a fine place to stay. The breakfast is their redeeming quality, with both a traditional Thai plate served a la carte, as well as a more western style buffet (cereal, toast, croissants). 

After dropping off our stuff, we decided to just explore in the Old Town part of the city where we were staying. We immediately agreed that we enjoyed the ambiance of Chiang Mai more than Bangkok. For me, it’s the fact that the city is very walkable that makes a huge difference. To Benji, it seems as though Chiang Mai is more active, especially at night than Bangkok. 

While walking around the streets and perusing through a few shops, Benji and I picked up a smoothie and spring rolls to snack on. Eventually, however, we needed a real dinner. We perused TripAdvisor and found a popular place nearby called Cooking Love. We moseyed over there and put in our names. The girl simply handed us a scrap of paper with the number 3, to indicate our place in line. We were pretty hungry so we looked at a couple of other nearby places, including a place named Lert Ros that my Lonely Planet book highly recommended. We decided to stick with Cooking Love that night, and save Lert Ros for the future. When we were finally seated, the food was clearly well worth the wait. We got the traditional Northern Thai dish, Khao Soi, as well as a young coconut shrimp curry, and crispy tofu to start. We were both extremely happy with our meals, and left feeling full and exhausted. We decided to head in early to get some sleep.