While it wasn’t our intention to visit so many temples or wat during our brief stay in Chiang Mai—being too templed out from our previous Asian destinations—it was totally impossible not to bump into one while walking along the streets of the old walled city.

So besides the massive Wat Chedi Luang, which can be found at the center of the city’s moated grounds, we also got to visit six more temples within a span of two days.

CHIANG MAI TEMPLE DETAILS

With temples in the area eclipsing the three hundred mark, one simply cannot ignore all those graceful multi-tiered roofs, the intricately decorated walls, and the impressive and weirdly intimidating naga creatures that guard their entrances.

Join us, unwilling participants. To the Chiang Mai temple run we go.

Last summer, I visited Chiang Mai for the second time. During my first time here, most of the dishes I’ve sampled were mostly from upscale restaurants and hotels. It was a rare treat (once!) that I got to taste what street food was like in the city. On this latest visit, I vowed to see the other side of the coin. I wanted to explore and brave what Chiang Mai has to offer when it comes to street food.

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CHIANG MAI UNIVERSITY NIGHT HAWKERS

ADDRESS: SUTHEP ROAD, CHIANG MAI, THAILAND | OPENING HOURS: EVERY EVENING | GPS MAP: 18.789611, 98.966739

KUAYTIAO LAD NA, LOOKS YUMMY EH?

Even if we were still dizzy and reeling from the three-hour ride from Pai, a town northwest of Chiang Mai, the first thing we looked for upon arriving was food. Cheap, real to goodness street food. B and I, our friends from the city, knows just the right place for our grumbling tummies.

Branches on a row of golden shower trees were bowing with the weight of its bright yellow flowers. It starkly contrasted with the fading blue of the late afternoon sky. The low-lying clouds were hinting of joining the cacophony of yellows; warmth, indicating a slowly setting sun on the east. I stood under one of the trees for some minutes, my eyes transfixed at the majestic temple ruin in front of me, Wat Chedi Luang it was called in the vernacular tongue.

BUDDHA OUTSIDE, BUDDHA INSIDE AT WAT CHEDI LUANG

The Temple of the Big Stupa, as we foreign to Thailand calls it, is arguably the most popular temple in the whole of Chiang Mai. And indeed, it was quite the stupa. With a base diameter of 54 meters and an original height of 82 meters, it stood as the highest structure in Chiang Mai for more than 500 years.

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A CURIOUS SIGN ON THE TEMPLE GROUNDS

It was as impressive as it was probably as hard to build. In fact, it took about a century and a half to completely construct. Originally intended as a burial place for the ashes of King Saen Muang Ma’s father in the 14th century, it took until the mid-15th century, by another king, for it to be finished.

Don’t worry, that goes down very very deep, my friend nonchalantly told me as we saw some guy jump from a cliff at the so called Chiang Mai Grand Canyon. He made a big splash at the emerald waters below and we all went, awwww! The dude landed badly on his side, making his buddies all laugh. Not the best cliff dive of the day but that guy definitely has guts.

THE MAN-MADE CHIANG MAI GRAND CANYON IN HANG DONG DISTRICT

This was my second time in Chiang Mai, and I thought it was all about temples and Lanna culture before our friends, who were semi-permanently staying in the city, told us of a canyon where we can jump and swim.

And of course, we cannot but go.

After almost an hour of driving and getting lost, we finally arrived at our destination. It wasn’t quite the grand canyon that we pictured it to be, but more of an old quarry resembling a canyon of sorts at Chiang Mai’s Hang Dong District.

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A huge rubber tree, the oldest in Chiang Mai, gently swayed with the morning breeze us as we sleepy wended our way to the al fresco restaurant for breakfast. Yesterday, we spent the latter half of our day traveling from the artsy town of Pai back to Chiang Mai. We arrived at our resort of choice later than we really wanted to and immediately fell asleep. It was only now that we were seeing how gorgeous Yaang Come Village was.

YAANG COME VILLAGE’S ORNATE OPEN-AIRED LOBBY

I love how strategically located Yaang Come Village is. It’s about ten minutes away from the airport and a hundred meters away from Sridonchai Road where the Chiang Mai Night Bazaar is found. Chiang Mai’s Walled City also is a short ride away, but we usually just walk there from the resort for the requisite Chiang Mai temple tour.

OUR VILLA, INSPIRED BY TAI LUE ARCHITECTURE

From the alley leading to my villa at the Siripanna Villa Resort, I spied a swimming pool hidden behind green hedges. Without dropping my bag, I immediately went looking for its entrance. Going through it, an elevated pool, mazelike in its unique design, greeted me. It also made me want to drop my backpack and strip. I wanted to swim through the pool’s meandering pathways right there and then.

Siripanna Villa Resort & Spa is our home for two nights in Chiang Mai. From the lobby, I can already see that this is no ordinary resort; its architecture and interior design is fashioned after the Lanna tradition of northern Thailand and it looked awesome—and not to mention, expensive.

►LANNA WHAT?: LANNA FOLKLIFE MUSEUM

Who’s for shopping and who’s for massage? So goes our host’ usual line after all the activities of the day has been done and dealt with. Those two, however, only leads to a single place. For two consecutive nights, the Chiang Mai Night Bazaar was our go-to place to unwind and relax after busily running around the city.

The Chiang Mai Night Bazaar or night market is a kilometer-long stretch of road along the bustling Chang Khlan Road at the east side of the walled city. The place is already filled with shops during the mornings, but becomes even more alive at night with street vendors setting up makeshift stores along the sidewalk.

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I gazed, lost and fascinated at the mural painted on one of the walls of the Lanna Folklife Museum. It tells of lives past in the northern region of Thailand, all colorfully done with a few unfinished ones. It’s almost like hieroglyphs, although you won’t need an Egyptologist to translate it for you. Somehow, you can discern what’s going on throughout the massive painting—that is if you have the time to see to its every detail.

It was the last day of the Thailand Connect: Hip & Heritage Business Events tour, and for this day, we were free to choose where we want to go. We visited the Bo Sang Umbrella Village and a small temple, Wat Buak Krok Luang, earlier and after having one of the best Hainanese chicken at the Kiet Ocha Khao Man Gai, we requested if we could see a museum to complete our cultural experience.

Satay, khao man gai, khao man gai tod, khao, and a variety of dips, sauces and soups filled our tables at a hole-in-the-wall hawker eatery in Chiang Mai. We’ve been eating nothing but fine Thai cuisine on posh restaurants and hotels the past few days—this was actually a refreshing treat for us.

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Well, okay I don’t know about my companions but I love eating on these kinds of places. I love having meals where the locals do. Not only do you get to taste the legit flavor of the place but you also got to save a bit on your travel funds. Food in these places are unbelievably cheap.

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One would think that since we’re in Thailand, we’d have loads of Thai temple pictures stuffed in our camera’s memory cards. Well, we could’ve done that, but our host for the Thailand Connect: Hip & Heritage Business Events tour tried to steer clear of the usual touristy areas.

It was only on the last day of the tour that we got to visit a temple, and it was in Chiang Mai.

Wat Buak Krok Luang was the chosen temple for that day. Located at Chiang Mai’s capital district, it sits on one of the quiet streets of the town near the massive Dhara Dhevi where we had dinner the previous night. There were hardly any tourists when we visited—it was just us, a single orange-robed monk and a faithful, offering prayers to a dark statue outside the temple.

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Tigers can swim?! I was flabbergasted to find out as I sat on an amphitheater with my mouth agape, staring at an unbelievably huge tiger making its way across the water.

We were at the Chiang Mai Night Safari and we were watching an animal show even though it wasn’t even dark yet.

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It was drizzling on and off the whole day, but after alighting at the main hall of the Chiang Mai Night Safari, the sky finally lightened up.

Situated ten kilometers from the city center, it is a sprawling park at 819 acres large. That’s twice the size of the more popular Singapore Night Safari. This zoo currently holds the title as being the largest of its kind in the world.

Close your eyes. Now imagine a whole Thai-inspired house fitting inside an exhibition hall. I opened my eyes and a whole Thai-inspired house showroom fitting inside an exhibition hall opened right before me. The structure is huge, but the hall is even bigger. Welcome to the Chiang Mai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.

As part of the Thailand Connect: Hip & Heritage Business Events tour by TCEB, we get to visit Chiang Mai’s biggest convention center. Situated on a sprawling 53.6 hectares of land, it is by far the largest of its kind in the northern region of Thailand.

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Our hands were lathered with bright, colorful hues. Given only ten minutes to design our umbrellas, I was still undecided on what to paint. The clock ticked away, but I’m obsessive like that; always wanting things to be perfect, always wanting to do things the right way.

The clock ticked some more.

And finally, colors popped into my head and swirls imprinted itself on my mind. I have my design, but I don’t think I have the time to finish it.

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We were at the Thailand Creative & Design Centre, inspecting the first regional design center after Bangkok.

Like a spark plug, the center was put up to ignite passion for creative thinking in Chiang Mai. It was quite impressive, with modern libraries filled with nothing but books, DVDs (I saw a lot of classic anime) and all sorts of media about art.

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Hmmm… The guys from TCEB told us we’d be having roast chicken for lunch but I’m not really sure what’s on my plate. Scratching my head, I checked the menu; Roasted Spring Chicken on green vegetables and couscous sweet basil, with mint relish on a demi-glace infused with green peppercorns.

Alright then, it is indeed roasted chicken. It says so right there, yeah?

Our group was at the 137 Pillars House in Chiang Mai. The boutique hotel’s curious name immediately piqued my interest. Upon arriving at the hotel’s sprawling grounds which really looked more like a resort than a hotel, our host explained to us where the name came from.

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Wearing a colorful hat and an intricately embroidered garb, a kid from Doi Mon Cham playfully posed for our camera. We saw him sitting on a grassy part at the Diamond Mountain Jam viewing deck; everyone immediately forgot about the view and turned their attention to him.

I later learned that he was from the Hmong tribe, one of the six major hill tribes populating the mountainous northern part of Thailand.

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For most tourists, stopping by Chiang Mai won’t be complete without visiting its hill tribe people. While there have been debates raging online regarding the ethics of doing such—its authenticity and its cultural effect on the tribes among others, our focus in Chiang Mai, while still part of the hill tribes, is Thailand’s Royal Project.

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Our group held on to the last remaining lantern at the grounds of Dhara Dhevi, waiting for the air inside to heat up and make it buoyant enough to rise across the deepening night sky. Quicker than expected, I felt it pull upwards, wanting release. Silently, each one said their personal wishes and let it go.

Chiang Mai was the second city we visited for TCEB’s Thailand Connect: Hip & Heritage Business Events tour. The city is second only to Bangkok when it comes to MICE tourism in Thailand.

From the Don Muang airport, we boarded a THAI Airways flight to Chiang Mai International Airport. Like our previous ride from Manila to Bangkok, it was one of the most comfortable I’ve ever had. After quickly checking in at the Siripanna Villa Resort we proceeded to Dhara Devi Hotel Chiang Mai for dinner.