Before we went to Thailand I really didn’t know much about it, and most of my travel reflections are starting from a clean state. I of course knew some things; people went there because it is affordable, there are elephants, and it had the bad reputation in my mind for sex tourism. The only one of those things that were present though, or at least apparent, was the affordability.

We spent all of our time in Chiang Mai, and it surprised us in the best possible way.

Food

I love Thai food, particularly curries, so for me this was the premier food destination of the year. The food did not disappoint, and was in fact the best we’ve had all year to this point. That’s saying a lot considering we had great food in Japan. However, the ease of access, personal preferences, affordability, and quality set Thailand at the top of the list.

Restaurants

There is one restaurant called Srifaa’s that we ate at the most. It was a small hole in the wall place that was essentially open air and was operated entirely by one woman. She most likely lived above the restaurant, and also took the orders, bought the food at the nearby markets, did the cooking, and collected payment. This was the single best Thai food we had, which is why we went back so many times.

Other favorites included T-Ten and Boat, which were both very near our condo. Neither of those could match both the quality and affordability of Srifaa’s. T-Ten was high quality but expensive, and Boat was medium quality and cheap. At Srifaa’s the meal would typically cost only $10.

Grocery Store

The main grocery store we went to was called Rimping at Maya mall. The food quality here was good, and it was a nice clean and spacious grocery store. The prices felt high at first like they always do for the initial grocery runs. As we found in our February budget though, the price per meal at home was only $7.50. That’s very reasonable and means we could eat there for a full month on $675. The food we ate at home was typical stuff for us, not anything local to Thailand.

7-Eleven

We were surprised to find that 7-Eleven was on par in quality and variety with a Japanese 7-Eleven, but it was even cheaper. We ate several meals from 7-Eleven, got many snacks, and it was all fantastic.

Accommodation

Overview

Our Airbnb in Chiang Mai was ridiculously nice, the best place of the year. It had everything going for it – ambience, aesthetics, functionality, and comfort. The look of the place was modern industrial, and it had cool bedrooms with glass walls. The beds were super comfortable, and the temperature was always perfectly maintained.

Kitchen & Bathroom

The kitchen had tons of space and everything we needed to easily cook at home. There was also a bench style table in the dining room that we loved to use for eating and school.

My favorite thing that we’ve had twice now in Asian Airbnbs is the toilet being separate from the shower. It makes one bathroom feel like three bathrooms. This place had that feature and it made the place so much more usable, with virtually no waiting for the bathroom.

Courtyard

There was a courtyard area that we loved to sit in, and where we met some of our neighbors. This was particularly great because we met a Chinese family that we talked to a lot, and that we still talk to today. It was almost like a hostel effect, where you are forced to run into people that you are sharing a similar experience with. That aspect of the condo was fully positive, whereas I was a little hesitant before we arrived.

Also in the courtyard there is a shared laundry room with a washer/dryer, and also a water filter where we got all of our drinking water. This was a bit of a leap of faith that they maintain the filter correctly, but it saved us around $60-$70 on drinking water.

Right across from the washer/dry room was an outdoor bathroom that we found helpful when we needed a last minute bathroom stop before getting in a Grab or walking out. Also it was nice if sitting in the courtyard and not wanting to get the key out to use the bathroom.

Location

The location of the condo, next to the Chiang Mai University, was also a huge bonus. We were able to go walk around the rugby field and the reservoir any time we felt like it. The walkability was a huge improvement over Vietnam, and certainly Manila.

Safety

Chiang Mai felt equal in safety to Japan, although I haven’t looked up the numbers to see if they back up that feeling. If JC wanted to go walk around by herself at midnight, I wouldn’t be worried. We did go walking around together late in the evening once, and it felt safe and quiet.

Language Barrier & People

I was expecting Thailand to feel hard in the way Japan did when it came to our lack of knowledge of the local language. It was so much easier though, to the point where I never even worried about speaking encounters. The Thai people at convenience stores, restaurants, the gym I joined, and really everywhere seemed to have functional english. They were also very nice to us, and I’m sure kind in general. The language part was way easier than Japan, Vietnam, Costa Rica, and honestly easier than Manila.

One thing I’m going to miss about Asia in general is that being white we stand out, and for language that is a good thing. Upon seeing us the locals either immediately speak english, or go into charade mode. I asked Xuen (our new Chinese friend) about this and she confirmed that yeah it’s not as easy for her being Chinese. She has to preemptively lead off with english, or they start speaking Thai to her.

Ride Hailing

We used Grab to get all of our rides, except for one tuk-tuk ride back from the grocery store that we paid too much for. Grab was pretty good overall. It was reliable and affordable, but it was not all that quick to get a ride. We would have to wait upwards of 10 minutes most of the time. In the case of the planetarium, it took us more like 20 minutes to get a ride.

Alcohol

There were some bizarre alcohol rules and laws. From what I understood, we flat out could not buy alcohol during certain hours of the day. I believe it was 11am-2pm and maybe 5pm-8pm when we could buy alcohol at stores, although I think bars were exempted from that. The bars were not exempt however from the rule that outlaws drinking around election times. We were cut off at 6pm one night because of this rule.

In addition to those rules, I read on a 7-Eleven alcohol refrigerator that it’s illegal to even consume alcohol after 1am. I’m not sure how effective these rules are at curbing whatever they are trying to curb. Maybe they’re doing something, but it seems like people would just adjust their buying schedules.

The price of alcohol was also really high. We avoided drinking at one place because it was just going to be an absurd amount of money, at least framed in Thailand costs.

Fitness

In Vietnam we had a gym in our condo complex, and it got us back into proper workouts. I wanted to carry this forward to Thailand, and found the gym “The Wall” which turned out to be great. The equipment was clean and plentiful, it wasn’t too crowded, the front desk ladies were really nice, and it was a typical gym crowd I’m used to. There was a heavy expat presence in the gym, but also at least half were locals.

I bought whey isolate protein and creatine from The Wall as well, so I had the full set of tools going and made amazing gains. I was basically reset back to newbie status after not lifting for so long, and I got fast newbie gains.

Climate

We were in Chiang Mai at an ideal time of year in late January, early February. The mornings felt crisp, and the days were warm. Our condo, with all the brick acting as thermal mass, stayed at almost the perfect temperature even if we didn’t run the AC. By the end of our stay in later February it started to get noticeably warmer though. I imagine Chiang Mai would be pretty hot in the summer.

Favorite Activity

My favorite thing from the trip was hands down the planetarium. I’m into space stuff anyway, and this place had good visuals and information, as well as a planetarium show in english.

This also gave us a look at what it’s like to be clearly out of the expat/tourist area. We were the only whites in the planetarium, and it was obvious the locals were surprised to see us. Many of the students on field trips said hello to us, and JC impressed the students in the bathroom with her memorized Thai phrases. They even clapped for her. AC also had bathroom encounters with girls her age who wanted to talk to her. We were out of place in a very fun way.

Parting Thoughts

Thailand was flat out amazing. It along with Guam are the only two places I already want to get back to. It is my favorite location of the year. There are too many good things to list about Chiang Mai in a summary, so I’ll just say it was all good, and there was literally nothing bad. Thoughts of Thailand will occupy a lot of time in my mind through my life, and I’m sure we’ll find a way to go back.