Everything! But here's just a few highlights...

by Sarah Chambers
(UK)

First meal out, night market area

Hi there,

I loved everything about our trip to Chiang Mai, as there's so much on offer, but it's far less hectic than Bangkok.

The fact that it is a bustling city with amazing architecture and wats, but also surrounded by forests and waterfalls wonderful for walking, trekking and lots of other fun activities makes it a fabulous holiday destination. We packed in so much, yet still came away relaxed.

Some highlights were: wondering around the nightmarket on our first night and sitting listening to live music surrounded by fairy lights. The array of goods, shops and great-value restaurants is just wonderful.

We also really enjoyed our 2-day trekking trip, which was exhausting but lots of fun, with elephant rides, white-water and bamboo rafting.

Getting up close and personal with 4-month old tigers at Tiger Kingdom was also pretty amazing!

And generally just wondering around the city is great in itself; ambling around the various wats that you happen upon, stopping for a refreshing beer, browsing the food and colourful clothes stalls and popping in for a very bizarre 'fish spa' was also a highlight!

Sarah Chambers, visitor in Feb 2009