so you're coming to Thailand and
stopping by Chiang Mai but you don't
know where to start with your planning
well I've been living in Chiang Mai for
about two months and I've got some tips
for you oh my god hi my name is Gigi I'm
in Chiang Mai Thailand and I'm traveling
the world and truly today I am
travelling the world because I'm leaving
Chiang Mai I've lived here for two
months now and literally I'm in my last
few hours before I head to my next
destination which is going to be Bangkok
Chiang Mai is the second biggest city in
Thailand and the largest city in
northern Thailand and there's so many
things to do so if you come in here for
as long as I've been here or if you're
just coming for a few days here are 10
of my recommendations for you to pursue
and I don't have that much time because
like I don't go I gotta leave I need to
finish packing and cleaning up this
stuff so we're just going to go through
it really really quickly first off if
you're planning your trip around
November around Thanksgiving you might
want to consider the e Peng festival
this is truly a beautiful event the
thing that I planned my entire trip
around and it was well worth it to see
all these floating lanterns go up into
the sky all at once not only is it just
visually stunning but Chiang Mai is
really truly alive during that time
there's so many people coming in all
over the world to see this festival and
if you're open to an experience that
might be moving to you if you want to
send up thoughts and prayers for someone
or something or some hope or some dream
this is really the event so I highly
recommend planning of your trip around
that time and while we're talking about
timing make sure that when you're here
you include a Sunday in your itinerary
because on Sunday nights there's a huge
huge market they basically shut down the
central streets of the old city you can
find so much stuff here
this I'm asked there which I really
enjoy some of the stuff you can find at
the other night markets here in Chiang
Mai there are a ton here in Chiang Mai
but this one in particular brings out
the entire community lots of stores
closed down for this event it's a really
cool market
now if you'll tease for a good show to
go to all your in Chiangmai look no
further than the cabaret show in a new
Tsar market which is a drag show that's
just incredible I've actually got to go
with some friends who knew some of the
girls were performing and it was just so
much fun since my friends knew the
performers they were able to arrange
some surprise for me where they
basically had me go up onto the stage
and they stripped me in tag-team lap
dance band yeah
I had a lot of fun and I really enjoyed
meeting the girls and a lot of straight
people there everyone's there having
like a new experience everyone's still
really respectful of these girls no
one's treating them as disrespectfully I
think it's just a good time for
everybody I think what makes Chiang Mai
exceptional is that there are a ton of
things to do outside of Chiang Mai and
well check Michael your hub there's tons
of nature and small little towns just
hours away for you to go and visit so I
highly recommend that if you're visiting
Chiang Mai maybe you give up a night to
go over to PI which is a small little
mountain town about three hours away now
the trip there is super windy you're in
a minivan and you're going up all these
switchbacks to get there so it's not for
the faint of heart but when you get
there it's beautiful I highly recommend
renting a schooner going around to all
the different sites just a warning I'm
not saying that you're going to be
totally safe up there because there's
tons of tourists who go out there and
injure themselves because they think
they can go do it there's a lot to see
in pi a canyon the temple on the hill
and it would make for a good overnight
trip if not a few days now if you don't
have that much time to go visit an
entirely new town I would recommend
going over to maan gem hill village this
place is kind of out of the way it's
definitely a road trip but when you get
there it's really kind of cool so it's
basically like this tourist destination
that kind of is like a replica of a
mountain village the premise of it is
dumb but there are incredible views all
around this village and this makes for a
good place to take photos but it's also
a good place to just be inspired by
nature and the beauty of Thailand with
the hill terraces it was totally worth
it even though there's really
only like 20 minutes of things to do if
that you could have lunch up there have
a cup of coffee and take your photos get
your sightseeing in and to and from
there there's there's there are things
to stop and do like their strawberry
farms and ziplining and the tiger refuge
and so you can plan more activities on
your way there also what makes for a
good trip is the Hong Kong Grand Canyon
this is known as the Grand Canyon of
Thailand it's really just a man-made
reservoir it's just really beautiful and
you can do cliff diving and this was
where I experienced a little bit of a
profound moment where I confronted a
fear of heights it left me with this
desire to conquer any challenge moving
forward so I loved it it was rasuu / fun
and if you are risk-taker then you even
have no problem with this and if you
need to conquer some fears go for it
because it's just it's just fun bringing
it back to the main city there's a ton
of things to do in the old city but I
would recommend branching out from there
there's a really cool neighborhood
called Nieman Heyman in this place is
where all the University students hang
out so there are a ton of really cool
restaurants and bars and lots of
different little cafes for you to slip
into a lot of expats live in this
neighborhoods so if you're looking for a
place to stay on a little bit more
long-term basis you can find apartments
here there's a great wall right next to
the highway that provides lots of
resources like really good internet and
western food if you need your fix of
that I really love this neighborhood and
that this is the neighborhood I've lived
in and it's cool to visit too so you
should check it out but we can't talk
about Chiang Mai without talking about
the food Chiang Mai is really a food
mecca of Thailand there's a unique
quality about northern Thai food that
you don't necessarily get in the Thai
food that we know in the West and so if
you are coming to Chiang Mai
definitely
sit down and have a bowl of khao SOI
because it's delicious it's something
that you could be a lot of my favourite
cows why place is cows awakuni i which
means grandmas khao SOI and it's right
on the northern part of the old city and
you'll love it now if you walk around
the streets of Chiang Mai you'll really
notice a high density of temples temples
are everywhere and especially if your
trip takes you to a massive temple
complex first like Angkor Wat or gone I
bet you anything you would be temple
debt but I would highly recommend if
you're going to do at least one temple
is to go up to the mountain joycie tab
there is a temple up there that has
fantastic views of Chiang Mai and the
Chetty or the stupa is really really
magical and tucked away within the
temple so there's like this very
dramatic reveal of it and it's it's very
very special
it's very overhyped and has a lot of
tourists going there but this was my
favorite temple to go to okay boys so we
saved the best for last because I love
this experience I think I learned the
most about Thailand and northern
Thailand's history and culture from
going and doing this go to a cooking
school it's a really good insight into
the local culture it's totally
accessible it allows you to learn
through cooking which is always a great
way to learn the culture now I went to
the Thai aqua cooking school and I had a
really fantastic time and I'm very
biased towards that school has really
cool concept it represents an ethnicity
that you don't hear
about but there are plenty of cooking of
schools in Chiang Mai for you to do with
varying prices and different kinds of
philosophies so I would recommend doing
a little bit of research before you get
here if you want to do a cooking school
to really pick the right one that suits
your interests so those are my 10
favorite things to do in Chiang Mai
maybe you could choose a few of those
for a couple of days or you can probably
get them all in in maybe like a two week
trip one thing that I did leave out
because I didn't even have a chance to
do this was go to visit elephants yes I
know Chiang Mai elephants that's the
symbol of the city I get it but I didn't
have the opportunity to go this time and
that's okay because this gives me an
excuse to come back here and see
something new my friends who have gone
say it's a tremendous experience
especially if you go to the more ethical
ones we're not riding them so anyway let
me know in comments down below if you
visited Chiang Mai and if there's
something that I'm missing that you
really enjoyed because I really want to
come back here and have new experiences
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