More "Down Time" in Chiang Mai

May 30, 2017
Chiang Mai, Thailand

Monks, Malls, Motorbikes & Makeup - Spending productive & occasionally fun times in Chiang Mai

For the third time, we find ourselves hanging out in a Chiang Mai apartment after busy travel.  First, it was Tanny's condo on the south side of town after our initial Bangkok/Southern Thailand beach trip.  Then, after returning to Chiang Mai from Myanmar, we moved into Peter and Puy's Nimman neighborhood condo on the west side.  We left the condo for 9 days or so while going to Shanghai and Japan, and find ourselves back again before our final departure from Thailand.

So, while hanging out at our west-side Chom Doi Condotel condo during May, we found ourselves:

• Heading up to the Elephant Nature Park to commune with rescued elephants
• Walking over (and up) to the Huay Keaw waterfall in the foothills of Doi Suthep
• Taking our first songthaew ride up Doi Suthep to see the Wat Phrathat Temple & Royal Palace
• An evening at the Night Bazar and Ladyboy cabaret
• A repeat visit to the Cowboy Hat Lady  and Northgate Jazz Co-op for delicious, roasted pork and live music (respectively)
• Ex-Prisoner Massage X 2
• A long, hot bike ride, ending at the Prime Outlets south of Chiang Mai (Caroline skipped this and went to the mall in search of hair products instead)
• Hitting Central Festival Mall and the giant Tesco looking for hair products, mascara, make-up remover...and raincoats
• Taking the motorbike south of town to the "Grand Canyon" for a jump off a cliff (Scott) and a swim in the quarry
• Travel planning!
• Pool time
• Blog catch-up
• Plenty of laundry
• ...and making our own little American-land in our condo - cooking salmon with roasted cauliflower and spaghetti with jarred Prego sauce, and getting a VPN service and watching our Amazon shows - namely, Indian Summers, Catastrophe, and Zelda

The rainy season has officially begun, but any daytime rain hasn't usually lasted more than 30 minutes to an hour, so hasn't ruined any big plans. So while we've managed to keep ourselves vaguely "busy," we are ready to bid adieu to Thailand and head to Laos for the next part of our journey. Tomorrow we fly from Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang on a quick, non-stop one-hour flight.  Time to practice our Lao phrases!

Facebook Photo Album - Seen Around Chiang Mai