Chiangmai the old capital city of the North… the highest mountains in Thailand.
And it’s just a 1 hour flight from Bangkok!!!
If you have about 3 days of vacation (more the better!!!)– Don’t miss a trip to Chiangmai as one of your stops in your must see destination list…
Chiang Mai means “new city”, sometimes written as “Chiengmai” or “Chiangmai” or Chiang Mai (all the same place). The local people speak Kham Muang (also known as Northern Thai or Lanna) and it sounds very sweet and considered the sweetest language in Thailand – kind of slow and ends with “Jow”…
Like “Sa Was Dee Jow” (Sa Was Dee = “Hello” in Thai, actually should be “Ka” for women or “Krab” for men).
Most tourists know about Chaingmai from the KOM LOY which are hot-air balloons made of paper and fly up to the sky as a blessing…
In recent years, Chiang Mai has become an increasingly modern city and has attracted over 5 million visitors each year…
So when you plan to visit Chiangmai, there are so many things to do to make your trip great!
I have some ideas of my favorite things to do…
No. 1 Doi Inthananon – Must know…It’s the “Highest point in Thailand”!!!
Lets talk about the mountain “Doi Inthanon”. It’s nice to visit and walk around to see the nature park.
It’s not just a lovely national park but Waterfall was fairly impressive, visit “Wachiratharn Waterfall”, the water fall is about 750 meters from sea level.
I like it – just too bad that I missed a chance to visit the other waterfall, Maeya Waterfall which is in the same area of Doi Inthanon. And it’s one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Thailand …
I will note for my next visit!!!
No. 2 The ‘long neck’ or ‘Karen long neck’ village….is a MUST See!
This village is run by a private onwer – but they are real hilltribes! They are hired to live and stay here for tourists… Don’t be worried or thought that this is the “human zoo”, think about this is their job and they need to live!
They are also selling many hand made things in here…
The admission is about 500 baht or $13 to visit the village. After you pay at the gate, nobody lead you in…you can walk to visit around the village on your own – talk and spend time with them!
No.3 The Orchid Farm — Must stop by!
It was funny for my first visit to Chiangmai when the tour company put a visit to the Orchid Farm on my list…Visit the Flowers?!?!?!
But I changed that feeling once I arrived there, Mae Sa Orchid Farm (nearby the Elephant camp). The admission fee is about 40-50 baht per person.
Its’ a very impressive orchids display, big blooms and very beautiful and different varieties and color mixes of the orchids. And it’s very interesting to learn how they grow orchids (North of Thailand is the best weather to grew Orchids). They pant orchids in the bottle to keep them moist…
Well, the other good than Orchid is The food at the restaurant (inside the farm) on the premises was actually really good!!!
There are so many butterflies in this farm as they do like the Orchids!!!
But there is more than one Orchid Farm in Chiangmai – do one of them if you can…
No.4 Chiangmai Zoo – Must walk!
The Chiangmai Zoo wasn’t much different than the others zoo in Thailand – only 3 pandas live in here!!!
Lin Hui and Chuang Chuang (their names) arrived at the zoo in 2003, and are on 10-year loan from China. Their daughter Lin Bing was born at the Chiangmai zoo on 27 May 2009, and will be returned to China when she is four years old. Lin Bing is one of just a few giant pandas born in captivity outside of China.
Pandas are very popular in Thailand – so most of Thai people go to Chaingmai Zoo visit pandas (it used to have reality Panda on TV)
Actually there’s over 400 animal species in this zoo but the place is huge – too much walking might not be a good idea when it’s hot out there…
But I do love the seal show – it’s nice and cute!
No. 5 The monkey and The snake show — Must Think (about it)
They are in different places. Nothing special but fun to see!
Start with the monkey school or the monkey show, the admission is about 200 baht, the show is about every hours during 11am-2pm every day.
It’s a cute show – you will see the monkey ride the bicycle, and work out!
Around the area, you can feed the monkeys as well…the cage is kind of poor, so many complaints from tourist – I hope they will make it better for the monkey in the future.
The Snake show
This is a very thrilling show to see vipers and cobras. For me, I think the snake show in Thailand is all the same, they play with snakes.
But the area makes it different – like this farm has the snake trees!!! I can’t even count how many hundreds of snakes are on those trees!!!
Just go to see how fast the Snake man is…
Well…these are some ideas that we provided for you but don’t forget the Elephant camp, I didn’t put it up here even it’s a MUST DO, find below for Chiangmai Elephant Camps and more trips in Chiangmai:
 Must See – Chiangmai Temples…Here are TWO worth a visit. Phrathat Doi Suthep Temple, And The Legend of The Four Buddhas’ Footprints |
 Chiangmai Elephant Camps – Must Do!Mae Sa and Mae Taeng – don’t miss a visit to at least one of the Elephant camps, this is a MUST do tour in Chiang Mai. |
 ***YOU ARE HERE***Ideas for Day trips in Chiangmai – Must Go! Doi Inthananon, the highest point in Thailand!, ‘Karen long neck’ village, The Orchid and Butterfly farm, Chiangmai Zoo, The monkey School and The snake show!!! |
 Chiangmai at Night – Must Try!3 things to do in Chiangmai at night like the Night safari, Khantoke dinner and Night Market (especially Sunday night market!) |
