22. Chiangmai – First Impressions After 14 Hours
17.10.2023
Technically they aren't my first impressions as I have been here many times. In fact, I consider it my second home. Between 2013 and 2015 I spent several months in the city and absolutely loved it. There are only 3 places in this world where I have spent more time and that is my birth town Berlin, my current home Brisbane and a campsite in Austria where I enjoyed 7 summer holidays staying for 2-5 weeks each time. A bit anxious how things might have changed since then I now have returned to Chiangmai, also known as Chiang Mai or simply as CM.
My flight from Bangkok was delayed by 1 hour but I didn't mind. Flight time was less than 75minutes.
Getting out of the airplane and picking up my luggage was super quick. I stepped out of the airport terminal and looked for a red taxi. Those special taxis have 2 wooden benches at the back facing each other. The red coloured taxis zoom around the old town of Chiangmai and also in the suburbs around it. There are other colours like white, yellow, green, not sure about blue. The colour indicates the routes they are operating on. Generally speaking colours other than red are more for regional travel.
When I arrived at the airport it was after 08:00pm and therefore dark. I scanned the huge parking lot and the roads but no red taxi was to be seen. I hadn't really thought about what I would do in that case. A normal taxi would be around 150-200 Baht and while that is not very expensive – you know my mindset. My ad hoc plan was to start walking towards the old town of Chiangmai and once would come across a red taxi I would flag it down. The old town is around 3km from the airport so if there was no taxi support I would walk the whole way by myself although I wasn't looking forward to that. It had been a long day, I was dehydrated and only some crumbs of my special Chanthaburi rice crackers with muesli topping were left at my nutritional disposal. After less than a kilometre I paused to snack while keeping my eyes peeled and indeed I spotted a red taxi coming towards me. The driver asked for 60 Baht and I countered with 40. 30-40 Baht is a good price. For travel within the old town 20-30 Baht is a regular rate. The driver went down to 50 Baht but I declined and was about to continue my journey by foot. He also pretended to start driving away but then renewed his offer. We went back and forth and finally my common sense kicked in. Was I really turning down a taxi that would bring me to Chiangmai in less than 10minutes and risk instead to drag my 35kg of luggage for another few kilometres hoping to catch a taxi and save 10-20 Baht converting to less than an Australian dollar? - I accepted and hopped into the back. I was the only passenger so there was no detour. I got off at the Chiangmai Gate, around 400m from my hotel but I wanted to walk the last stretch by myself and take in the night market ambience.
I immediately felt reconnected with the city. I identified the 7Eleven shop I had bought hundreds of litres of water from over the years. But I also noticed that things seem to be less busy than what I was used to. I took a couple of photos, bought some bananas for the next morning and walked to my hotel for the first night which coincidentally was only two shops away from the bike rental where I used to rent my bikes from during my stays.
On top of that the hotel was directly opposite of the bike shop where I bought my Merida Speeder 300D that I imported to Australia in 2015. It is one of my most cherished posessions and it has become an existential item in my daily life as commuting, shopping and recreational vehicle.
Time to skip to the present. I am sitting at a little desk writing on my laptop until I have to check-out in 15min. My hotel room doesn’t look as nice as presented on booking.com. The mattress is frankly terrible but for one night it was okay.
After my arrival, I only unpacked some essentials and checked google for vegan/vegetarian restaurants still open after 09:00pm. The nearest one was Vegan Heaven on Loi Khro Road, one of the most frequented streets in Chiangmai after dark with dozens of bars, cafes, restaurants pubs and massage parlors. Add a few souvenir shops and that already sums up 95% what the entire street consists of.
When I arrived at the Vegan Heaven restaurant I realised that I had visited the place on my last full day in Chiangmai in 2015. Back then it hadn't been opened officially and wasn't fully furnished. Good to see it still exists 8 years later. I was told, however, that other restaurants the owner had opened didn’t survive the pandemic that forced so many businesses to shut down their doors. (Edit: Unexplicably, I did not take any images in the restaurant…since I am back in CM right now 3 months later, I will get some before I leave).
After my meal I walked around for an hour revisiting a lot of spots to compare them with my memories of them. Fortunately, most of my favourite shops are still operating but it is apparent that a lot of buildings are abandoned, for sale or ready to be knocked down. I can see that Covid had a devastating effect on tourism. I estimate that there are 30%-50% less tourists in town compared to 2013-2015. Maybe it is just because it isn’t high season yet. I think I can make a more accurate comparison next Sunday when I check out the night market on Walking Street. It’s always been so crowded there that you have to slowly push yourself through the masses of people.
Another observation of mine is that unsurprisingly all the internet cafes are gone – everybody has mobile data on his phone nowadays or visits a cafe/restaurant that offers free wifi. Instead cannabis shops/weed cafes are booming. Even the Vegan Heaven restaurant sells THC infused coconut oil. I counted not less than 10 cannabis cafes during my walk. They attract a certain clientele. I have seen a disproportionate high amount of people with nose rings, mohawk/tribal hair styles and of course plenty of tattoos frequenting them. I don't mind as long as I am not forced to inhale the fumes coming out of those shops.
This morning I went straight to the Noble House, the place where I spent most of the time whenever I stayed in Chiang Mai. The striking orange-green-white facade of the hotel has totally faded or has been repainted with a much less attractive colours and the hotel has visibly aged all around. (Edit: Comparing the two images below reveals they did a bad job at repainting.)
The Noble House facade in October 2023 with a Songtaew (Red Taxi) passing by.
The Noble House facade in October 2013
Upon entering the reception area I got some pleasant flashbacks when I recognised that they still have a lot of the same furniture items, the same pillows and the same layout for their office space. And then I saw something that struck me and let me feel warm inside. They use a little cupboard standing on top of a table as altar for buddha statues and framed buddha depictions with some offerings around them - a very common thing to see in any Thai home and business premises alike. What made it special for me was the frame at the back showing a buddha statue in a park environment. It is the photo I took, framed and gifted to the hotel as my farewell present 8 or 9 years ago!
A few minutes later the manager entered the reception and we talked a bit. She was surprised to hear the backstory of that photo she probably never paid much attention to. I asked if about the previous manager and she informed me that sadly during Covid a lot of people got laid off, the manager's salary got cut severely and at some point she had to find a new job. Damn Covid!
Anyway, I enquired about the rate of a room per night and also for a monthly rate. In 2013-2014 I paid around 7,000-8,500 Baht per months. The hotel’s website, apparently not updated since 2016, showed a price of 9,000 Baht for a room plus 8 Baht per unit for electricity and a 200 Baht for water usage (and there is an exit cleaning fee of 300 Baht). With that in mind I was expecting to be offered a price of 9,000-10,000 Baht/month plus extra fees but to my amazement her response was: 5,000 Baht as base rate! That's around AUD $215.00 / USD $137 per month or AUD $7.16 / USD $4.56 per day – for a 32 square metre room with aircon and balcony. OMG! Excitement!!! Unfortunately, the rooms not facing the street don't have balcony access anymore because the hospital next door raised complaints about too much noise at night time. Now guests can only look at their balcony from the inside but not enter it. I have been told rooms at the top floor facing the street are available and I will rent one of them for one night only to determine if the mattress is alright and everything else is okay. If so, I will get a room for an entire month. I really hope it works out because staying at my favourite hotel at such a low price would be fantastic.
Below are some pics I took in the morning before check-in at the South side and South-East corner of the old town surrounded by wall ruins, remains of gates and a lovely moat with one-way traffic on each side.
