The next day we had our Thai massages, so we decided to take it easy and hired a car to take us to the Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, the most famous temple in Chiang Mai. We drove up the winding roads which had some of the most beautiful viewpoints we saw on our trip. Arriving at the bottom of the temple we took a cable car all the way to the top, you can either do the cable car or walk the 390 steps up. The temple is very impressive and drives thousands of tourists there a day. It took us a couple of hours to discover the entire temple since there was so much beauty surrounding it. We decided to take the mosaic stairs on the way down to enjoy the view. Once you exit the stairway to the temple, there are so many little shops where you can do your souvenir shopping.
Headed back to the hotel to get our incredible Thai massages, and honestly those massages were incredible I wish it lasted longer, all day even. But we had to get moving because we wanted to get dinner and explore the old town before our evening tour, which was the night safari, which in all honestly, we weren’t sure about. Now the reason we weren’t sure about the Night Safari is because we had such an amazing experience with the elephants, we didn’t think anything could top that. Also, we had heard some horror stories about animals being mistreated and abused.
Before the Night Safari we decided to go tour the Old Town of Chiang Mai that was already decorated for the Lantern Festival which we were missing by 2 days, but you can’t do everything. We decided to take a Tuk Tuk to the old town then we wanted to walk around and just get lost through all of the temples and shops until we had to back at the hotel for our night safari. This is literally one of my favorite activities when I visit a new city. I enjoy just getting lost and discovering little restaurants, temples or churches and local shops. Which is exactly what we did we discovered about 5 new temples, saw monks which was a new thing for us, and then we wanted to eat at a specific restaurant which of course we couldn’t find, and I think this was the best part. We got really lost looking for this restaurant and then it started raining. So, picture this 2-woman walking the streets of Chiang Mai, lost, and then it starts raining and of course there’s not a Tuk Tuk to be found. We finally find a Tuk Tuk, mind you these are covered but they have no doors, so we were still getting wet but at least now we weren’t walking. As we were stuck in traffic, because traffic throughout Thailand is just horrendous it makes Miami seem like a walk in the park, my friend decided to start Googling what this café might be called to see if we can find it. Also, our driver didn’t speak any English which was uncommon, English is spoken throughout the country, however, we were able to communicate with him where we wanted to go, and we went to the café which of course was amazing. Trust me when you can shop locally and eat locally 9 times out of 10 you won’t be disappointed.
Afterwards, we headed to the night safari, we were still not sure about, but we said if it’s the worst thing we did on this trip it’s fine because everything had been so amazing. The night Safari is a private zoo and it’s mainly a tourist attraction. I would suggest you skip the Tiger show because it was the saddest thing I had ever seen in my life. I honestly was not sure of my feelings throughout the entire show. I desperately wanted to leave and cry at the same time.
There were a few shows throughout the zoo which were a bit depressing however, the highlight was the tram throughout the park. They redeemed themselves here. This was an open sided tram and we drove through the pitch black seemed like forests. The lights would turn on just enough for us to see the animals and here they were in the semi-wild (they were fences so we had that in between us) natural habitat. There was a fence however, there were moments some animals got really close. For example, there was time we were in the complete dark and the guy behind us said he thought there was a boar (Pumba from the Lion King) at his feet, sure enough when the lamps turned on there, he was staring at us. Not threatening at all right? Then there were the wild zebras just running through the tracks right by us, literally if I stuck out my arm, I could have touched them or when the giraffe literally stuck his head into our tram. It was definitely an amazing experience and interactive to say the least. They really redeemed themselves. I would recommend it just I wouldn’t go watch the show again because I still have mixed feelings about them.
After the night safari we decided to head to the night street market for dinner and then we wanted to see the “Lady Boy” show right across the plaza. Firstly, the food in Thailand is absolutely delicious. It is very similar to what we consider Thai food in the United States however it is so much cheaper than what it is here and that’s because of the value of the USD. Also, eating in the markets is preferred I believe in our 14 days in Thailand we ate at 2 local restaurants however the rest of the time we ate at the markets.
Now on to the “Lady Boy” show, I had never seen Ru Paul’s Drag Race or seen a Drag show in person. I had no idea what to even expect. This club had a mx of about 30 guests and the performances were amazing. It was free, there was a 1 drink minimum which honestly was not a big deal at all. We also went with a group of people we had met during our night safari tour. One thing is for sure about Thailand is that everyone that visits is there to have a good time, there are a lot of couples but there are a bunch of singles there too, everyone is down for a good time and meeting people and solo travel more than I have ever experience in any other destination.
The next day we were meant to leave Chiang Mai and head on over to Phuket, our official last stop of the trip. I feel like we planned the trip nicely because in each city we had top bucket list things to do so it didn’t feel as if we were wasting time anywhere. Before leaving that day, we decided to do last minute souvenir shopping and have lunch. I’m embarrassed to say that because of me delaying the process of leaving the hotel we missed our flight to Phuket. In my defense we would have made it on time if it wasn’t for the fact that before entering the airport in Chiang Mai you must put your bags through security check and I had portable batteries in my checked luggage which had to be taken out put in my carry on and then my bags had to go through security again. Besides that, little hiccup everything else was fine.
For those thinking of doing this itinerary keep in mind that the trip from Chiang Mai is long. It took us 2 separate flights, not a long connection so lots of running through huge airports. Besides that, little hiccup everything about Chiang Mai was absolutely perfect.