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This video was taken on our balcony and on the motorbike around the corner from our house in Chiang Mai during and after a HUGE monsoon downpour.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpY1kGdZVTA&hl=en

You’d think that a trip to the Old City of Thailand is boring, but it might surprise you to know that it isn’t. A trip to Chiang Mai in Thailand can be truly fun, educational and unforgettable. You don’t get to see many places in Thailand where you can find old chedis and temples, but such still exist in Chiang Mai.

Chiang Mai has become one of the most loved travel destinations in Thailand with its beautiful architecture, delectable cuisine, pristine mountains and waterfalls, and many things besides. Yes, an authentic Chiang Mai Thailand travel is bound to be filled with so much fun and many surprises. Even though you can probably tour the entire city in one day, you will forever relieve the experience in your heart.

What’s to do in City? There are so many things you can do in this beautiful city! If you are bringing your kids with you, take them to Mae Sa and let them enjoy a ride aboard elephants or watch a football game played by elephants at the Elephant Camp, while you go look at the orchid nurseries.

Take a city tour of the Old City and ogle at the beautiful temples around, or why not have an original Thai massage in one of Chiang Mai’s spas and massage parlors? Thailand is known for these and you can find so many parlors and spas in every street corner.

The Wat Phratat Doi Suthep, a temple complex existing for centuries, is also a must visit. You have to take a 300-stair climb to see the chedi and the golden spire, and from there you can see the view of the city down below. While at the Suthep Moutain take time to visit the Zoo which houses over 6,000 animals, including two pandas on a loan from China.

Do you love shopping? Even if you don’t you would wish to bring home some souvenirs with you, wouldn’t you? These you can find at the Night Bazaar.  There’s an exciting array of gift items that you can buy at the Night Bazaar. You’ll find almost everything, from silk to handicrafts to even designer items, there.

Why not go to the Doi Inthanon National Park, too? Located at the south, the Doi Inthanon National Park is the tallest mountain in Thailand. Standing grandly and 8,415, the Doi Inthanon Nationa Park is very relaxing — a perfect stop at the end of a long day.

Whichever travel destination you are going to, it is always wise to plan ahead. Book your flight and hotel accommodation early, and research on the place you wish to go to. Planning ahead helps you organize your itinerary better, thus saving you a lot of time. Planning ahead also ensures that you will stay just within your budget.

So be a wise traveler, whether you are going to Chiang Mai, Thailand, or elsewhere. Before packing your things, know your travel destination by heart.

The enchantment of Thailand now amazing the world come and live the moment in Thailand: http://www.thailandmai.net.

We have a fair breakfast next door followed up with a good cup of coffee down the street. I wish myself a happy birthday.

We head across the street from our hotel to rent a motorcycle for the day. Can you believe it is only $6 USD for 24 hours. I wonder if insurance is included. We get a quick review, Victor takes off around the block and I get on. I think I might have been on a motorcycle once before and Victor used to have one, but doesn’t say if he ever drove it. We circle a few blocks of the old city and venture out to the BUSY street. We are not immediately hit by any vehicles and this builds our confidence and we cross over to the other BUSIER street. We only have to go a block to get to the gas station, but also have to cross the four lanes of traffic. For some unfathomable reason, I am perfectly calm. I later learn that Victor was not.

From our earlier walk and map review, I have the vaguest idea where we are and where we are going and direct Victor when to turn where to get over to the river so we can head south along the scenic shore. However, sometimes I give a turn direction just to save our lives from some threat ahead and eventually found myself confused as to which direction we were actually heading. Feigning confidence because I know I need it and assume Victor does too, I continue giving my best guess on directions and only have to occasionally remind him that he is on the wrong side of the street. (Like England, they drive on the opposite side from what we are used to.)

I am pleased with myself at finding the river and we cross over and head south. Victor seems to think he is on a bicycle and clings to the narrow edge of the gutter. Yes, where all the manholes and bumps are. I try to encourage him to boldly Take The Lane. It is actually worse to be on the side and have the traffic passing us than to just take the lane and go with the flow. My bottom is bruising.

Those who drive this way every day have a certain expectation as to what the other drivers will do, which is generally to speed up and not grant right of way. They know that and sneak into the lanes until they just go. Victor is ceding right of way and driving both cautiously and politely and the other drivers don’t respond as he expects… which is for them to go. They don’t go because they don’t anticipate his slowing down. In retrospect this is very funny, but did feel dangerous while we were on the street.

We hardly see much of the river and seem to quickly lose it again. Eventually we are going past rice fields. This is very pleasant as there is no traffic at all. We talk about stopping for a beverage as motorcycling is very parching. I tell him that he can stop whenever he wants and that I am ready. We go on and on and on. I remind him that we were thinking of stopping and he soon stops at a gas station. This is a very American response, all of our gas stations have a little convenience store. Here, this isn’t so. They have a refrigerator though and we take a cola and water. Now, being out of town we are not in Englishville and when I ask the price the gentleman holds up 6 fingers and then 10 fingers. I interpret this to mean 60 Baht, about $1.75. Very unreasonable. But I pull out my three 20 Baht bills and hand them to him. He takes one and brings me back four. I guess he meant 6 for the water and 10 for the cola, 16 Baht, about 45 cents total and very reasonable.

Getting off the bike is awful, because we have to get back on and our bottoms feel quite broken! We head out again and about a quarter mile down the road see a sign in English for Coffee Garden. We stop to either get a cup of coffee or see a coffee plantation. We aren’t sure which we are going to, but it turns out we have a wonderful cup of coffee and are back in Englishville. The owner sits with us and our maps and shows us where we are. We are not in a bad spot, actually almost in the direction I had thought, only about 10 miles further than anticipated.

We lounge a bit and then head off again. The town we are in is called Baan Tawai and is a huge export center with oodles of neat looking furniture, pottery, carved animals and any number of unique items ready to ship. There are no restaurants that we can see and it is very much lunch time.

We hit the diagonal road that will take us back past the Airport and right into the old town. Traffic is picking up, but by now we are old pros at this and just sail right in….and spend a difficult hour driving around old town looking for our hotel. We can’t find the little alley entrance and are quickly so twisted about that we no longer know which side of town we are on, though we are clearly on the same streets several times. We almost stop to ask directions.

Since we have contracted the scooter for 24 hours, we don’t really want to give it up yet. So we park and head to lunch followed by a great birthday massage. Returning to the scooter we decide to head up the mountain a bit out of town in the other direction and see if we can’t find some of the waterfalls. When we get to the BUSY street, it is rush hour and ugly. Victor takes us home again. I think this is a Grand Idea as my backside is complaining loudly with every little bump. I think we did something like 50 miles. We return the bike.

We decide to take a little walk and repeat our steps of yesterday when we were looking for a money exchange. We also want to find our alley way entrances from the main streets so we can confidently find our way home, though we may never need this knowledge again.

We walk up to the Queen Vic, which is far further than we remember. We have a beer and check our email as they have a computer for guests such as we do at the Hotel Charlotte in Groveland, CA. While Victor is signing on to the computer, my eyes wander over to the newspaper counter where the owner has a brochure display and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing…A Hotel Charlotte brochure. I am amazed and pleased and fire up the camera. I have Victor take my picture here with the brochure and quickly add quite a few more! I always travel with a handful in my bag, you never know where you will find your next guest!

We decide to eat at Tamarind and sit almost in the swimming pool. They have live music and a wonderful romantic setting. Once they lit the citronella candles and gave us an organic mosquito spray it was perfect. I ordered a duck curry with lychee which was one of the best meals I’ve had so far.

We walked back to the hotel and did not miss the entrance to our alley way. We finish our evening with another stop at the Karaoke place, which is very pleasant and we enjoy additional a beer and verbal camaraderie with Colin who has been here for 9 months. He has picked up a great deal of Thai customs and shares some great stories and observations with us. We are fairly well hooked on Chiang Mai!

What a grand birthday and we have many fond memories! More of our Asian adventures can be found online at www.RecipeResearch.blogspot.com.

Lynn Upthagrove, along with her husband Victor, own the Hotel Charlotte, in Groveland, on the way to Yosemite. http://www.HotelCharlotte.com