Going to Chiang Mai

After giving it some thought I decided that 10 days in Bangkok would have been a bit over the top, eventhough I really liked the city. As everyone I met who had been around in Thailand just kept going on and on about Chaing Mai and how great it was, I bought a ticket there to see what all the hype was about.

My hostel buddy Paul was leaving for Phuket on the same day, so we decided on sharing a cab to the airport. After checking out from “Niras Bankoc Hostel & Coffee”, we went for something to eat and also had a go on these really delicious crepe-like desserts.  

It was a really close call for me catching the flight to Chiang Mai from Bangkok.
First we couldn’t get a taxi, then when we got it the traffic stood still for almost an hour. Thanks to the self check in of Air Asia, I managed to get to the gate in time and take off. With more time I would definitely have taken the sleeping train there instead, but 2 x 15 hours on a train seemed like a lot when I just had 6 days to go.

On the flight I met another swedish guy working with IT, currently trying out doing his job from a distance from Thailand. It seemed like a quite good idea and fit this guy perfectly. I had no idea he was Swedish, but there’s something that just makes you get that gut feeling about it. Funny :-)

Once in Chaing Mai I checked in to my hostel which was kind of a dissapointment, as it was directly on the street with the exhaust fumes from the cars coming directly in to the breakfast area.
I went straight out of there to get something to eat after some tips from the hostel staff, and I must say, after that walk around town I can’t really understand what the hype on Chiang Mai is all about. It is quite a nice little city, but come on, it is really touristy, at least to my standards. Maybe not as touristy as Phuket though, but I guess nothing gets close to that :-)
This is where I understood that I probably lived the closest to “real life” when in Pak Nam Pran doing the kitesurfing instructors course, as there were practically no foreigners there at all.
Parts of Bangkok were also really “authentic” as well, especially around the hostel where I lived, as there were very few tourists and you could find nothing in English. Chaing Mai on the other hand felt like an oversized flee market filled with stuff for tourists on an “eco trip”. And yes, almost all shop signs I came across were written in English, so there were no doubts of what customer group they were aiming at.
I would have been really disappointed if I came here for the city itself, only to get this touristy experience. Luckily I didn’t come to Chiang Mai for the city, I came here mainly for the nature treks. So the first thing I did once back in the hostel was to book a 2-day trek in the hills, something I definitely didn’t regret doing.

This made me think of a quote from the film “The Beach”, which I think most of you have seen. When Leo get to the shady Khao San flophouse where he first stays, seeing all the people in the hostel in front of an american movie, he reflects -
“…the only downer is, everyone's got the same idea. We all travel thousands of miles just to watch TV and check in to somewhere with all the comforts of home, and you gotta ask yourself, what is the point of that?”