A cycling day in Chiang Mai Old City~

If you asked me, what is the best mode to know more about a city during travelling? here is some of my thought about mode of transportation yea~ 
  • car -- u gonna miss out a lot of small attractions in a small city, unless it is a distance of more than an hour or it is only accessible by car
  • train/ mrt - i will use it if i really have no idea to reach that place besides train, because I have nothing to c in a tunnel beside tunnel =..=
  • bus - quite a good transport to have an overview of a new city, only if I know the routes and frequency of the bus. It is quite accessible in modern city such as Singapore and Hong Kong, but definitely not Thailand and Malaysia, bus service still underdeveloped
  • bicycle - always my preference to travel around in a small city ( only small city not big city) because it makes my travel experience more flexible. and FYI I adi cycled in Singapore, Chiang Mai, Hua Hin,  Putrajaya, and the recent one Hong Kong!
  • Walk - the most economic mode of transportation but always the most exhausting. But I do enjoyed walking in a busy city like Singapore and Hong Kong. Not Chiang Mai sorry because the weather was too unbearable. Heat intolerance haha. 
back to topic, n the first day we reached Chiang Mai in the morning. after a short rest we decided to visit Chiang Mai old city which is about 10 minutes driving distance from our hotel. Oh yeah we stayed in Nimmanhaemin  Road ( or called it Nimman Road, which is famous of cafes). I have no idea how my frens walked to Chiang Mai Old City from Nimman Road the day before our arrival which took them around an hour to reach the destination. Sounds crazy. 


because girls just too lazy to have a long walk, we took Song Thaew to reach to Chiang Mai old city at a price of 20 baht. as far as I know, the fare is always 20 baht if travel with Song Thaew around Chiang Mai city. A totally different and new experience! 

just before we departed to Chiang Mai old city, we had a simple lunch in Nimman Road. The tips to have awesome meal in Chiang Mai is... get food from the roadside stall or shop with Thai title. Usually they have a simple English menu with pictures with them. We just love it because the we can get the most original and delicious local food over these stalls, with cheaper price than restaurant!
basil pork rice~ 
one of the most famous food in Chiang Mai. I just love it especially the minced pork mixed with the rempah ratus~ never had it in Malaysia. a little bit spicy ( maybe spicy for others becoz my taste bud was trained with spice since young haha), definitely worth for a try. 

and how can we missed out the famous Tom Yam Gong in Thailand? but Chiang Mai is more famous with the green curry then tomyam gong haha. 
they really have a rich variety of ingredients in the soup, such as prawns, fish fillets, mushroom etc. the sour taste of tom yam gong really opened up our appetite to the maximum. 

besides that we had a plate of pineapple fried rice too. This is only for 3 of us the girls not including the guys. Guess what, we just spent around 120 baht for our lunch! which is approximately RM12. Too cheap too worth too delicious! 

since we not really familiar with the place so we decided to go to Wat Chedi Luang as our first stop. The landmark of Chiang Mai old city. for more information about our trip in Wat Chedi Luang, plz kindly click the link below : 
 http://celinechenyue92.blogspot.com/2014/07/chiang-mai-wat-chedi-luang.html
have a peek-a-boo of Wat Chedi Luang. Isnt this photo look too great? 
we also visited some small temples around before we decided to get a bike. 

and we get our bike here! cant really remember the exact location but it is just around the area. I remember there was quite a number of massage shops opposite the bicycle shop.
opposite Herb Basic

they rent bicycles and scooters too. We rent our bike at the rate of 50 baht per bike, and we can use it for 24 hours. The shop closed around 6pm, since we had schedule the next day so we just returned the bike at 6pm to the shop. still worth at the price of 50  baht. and we get a map from them too. the workers there were so nice and friendly ^^
we rent a scooter too, but we had to fill up fuel for the scooter on our own. 

so, here lets start our cycling journey!
the first stop of our cycling journey~ Wat Phra Singh, another famous temple in Chiang Mai city~ 

it really looks glorious to us~ read the link below to get more information about our journey to Wat Phra Singh ^^
 http://celinechenyue92.blogspot.com/2014/07/wat-phra-singh.html

Love this photo so much~ 

actually we don really plan our route, we just decide where we wanna go after we visited a place. And often we ended up with lost in Chiang Mai city. Bo huat, there is always a curse to get lost in a place when me, boss and ping an are together. haha. 
photos of my girls at the junction of Chiang Mai city while we were on the way to Three King Monumen. 
be careful while cycling in Chiang Mai because they don really have a specific cycling lane, and we did not wear any safety measures. Anyway it is still safe because Chiang Mai people drive at a slow speed. just enjoy the view of Chiang Mai old city during cycling~ 

and we reached the Three King Monumen in Chiang Mai city. 

then we headed to Wat Chiang Man, which is the oldest temple in Chiang Mai, built in 13th century.  
the outlook of Wat Chiang Man. 
FYI, Wat Chiang Man is famous of houses two important and venetrated Buddha Figures, the marble Phra Sila and crystal Phra Satang Man. Wat Chiang Man also have beautiful and colourful murals about the life of Buddha on its wall. Worth for a visit. 
but this also our last temple visit of the day because we just want to keep some interest to Wat Doi Suthep before we get bored of temple visit. 

photography session together with our scooter and bikes~ 

after a tiring day, and we decided to get a 
MASSAGE!!
took tis pic secretly when Pat was enjoying her full body massage. I fall asleep when I was having massage. ishh I did this everytime when I had massage. 

we enjoyed our massage in a temple. actually the real massage technique comes from temple! in short, temple massage service has the most traditional and original one once again, at the cheapest price. We had an hour of full body massage or foot massage, each at 130 baht. 
standard price of massage in Bangkok for an hour is almost 200 baht. 

after we charged our battery we cycled again~ we went a few city gate before we returned the bike at 6pm. 

then we went to the north gate because there was a night market there and we enjoyed a lot of local delicacies. we shared our food together so we can tried more variety of food in one time. 
**the pork satay sold at 10 baht per stick an we really had a lot!


I just cant stop my mouth from eating the pork noodle. It tasted soooo good! although it looks not so tempting on its appearance, but after the first spoon we all just crazily fall in love with it. 

thailand famous Pad Thai. since it is a must try in Thailand. Taste soso compared to what I had last time. 

and finally a big cup of mango juice at price of 20 baht with 2 big mangoes without additional water! I missed it so much here huhu. 

and here is the end of my cycling day in Chiang Mai city and I hope you guys enjoy it ^^
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7 comments:

  1. It's great to cycle around the place to experience the city.

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  2. yes! that is y i love cycling so much when i travel to other places~ most interesting, healthy and economic way

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  3. wow...seems so relaxing...i like Thai massage....need a full body massage indeed!!!! XDDDD

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    1. Yupp!! wont get enough of thai massage all the time Xp

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  4. Just a Chiang Mai local stumbled upon your blog.

    If I don't read that you are Malaysian I would think you are an expat. Lost of Thai tourist places in your blogs. :)

    Me and my girl also have some connection with Chiang mai University. We both graduated here. Same as 70 percent of all my friends.

    I cannot read any of your blog about Wat Prasingh or Hmong village! Hahaha...like most Chinese-Thai, we (I mean Thai and Chinese) mixed together quite well. So most of Chinese-Thai don't understand this language. They use Thai instead of Chinese even in their family. If you meet some Thai who can speak Chinese, 80 percent of them learn it for business purpose.

    BTW. In http://celinechenyue92.blogspot.com/2013/03/special-day-tour-in-bangkok-and-thai.html ครัวอัปษร = Krau Uppasorn

    Glad to know that you seems to like my country and my hometown. Thailand is not different from other countries. We have good and bad people. Hope you meet all the first.

    Welcome you and all your friends and family to be our guests again anytime.

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    1. Hi, thanks for the reading and comment ^^
      ya i really enjoy to tour around in Thailand, go there almost like once in a year haha. Because I miss the food in Thailand soooo much~ going there again this year for Khao Yai haha ( still in planning)

      Ya usually I mix up my blog writing, esp when Im bored in typing in english then I will switch to Chinese. And I just found out my blog could not be translated in to english by Mr.Google =..= sorry about that ya

      anyway do enjoy my blog and wish you a good day ^^

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    2. Hi!

      2 years passed since I commented on your blog. Today I've accidentaly come across it again. Seem like you have a good life. ALso graduate (I guess from your pic in oter psost_ Belated congrat! Me and my girl also become Assist. Pro. here at CMU (no not in faculty of medicine) Time flies.

      At first I thought if I should pot another comment. but then I think you ove to travel and seems to love culture. In case you tired of some cliche' destinations/events in TH, here's a secret event at CM (or I would say at CMU). It has been practiced yearly since 1964. Students, esp. freshmen, of CMU would walk 14 kms (including the path in the campus) to Wat Pratat Doi Suthp to pay respect. There's only one simple rule: leave no man behind. If your friend tired, you have to help. If your friend is a disabled person, you have to push his/her wheelchair. If your friend cannot walk, you have to carry him/her to the top.

      http://wander-lush.org/chiang-mai-university-doi-suthep-temple-thailand/

      https://www.facebook.com/teammorchor/videos/481998295506680/

      https://youtu.be/tAeuN8t7tP4

      https://youtu.be/EKoYxSDQKdc (for this vid you can hit Cc for sub)

      The event draws more and more attention countrywide. There are news about the ceremony (or even a dog like this one https://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/advanced/1084301/shorty-the-dog-leads-chiang-mai-university-up-doi-suthep ) Many people plan to view and take the pictures of the trkking, alumi or not doesn't matter. It opens for all to see.

      Normally it would be held during the second week of September. If you have free time and intrest to see, contact your Thai friends from CMU (hope you still keep them in touch) They ususally know what date it will be.

      BTW,may I suggest some tip about traveling. I don't know about other country but here in TH (esp. in CM), if you can, choose your accommodation near any university or education institutes. The food is usually cheaper (with more quantity) than the food in other places. Simple reason: for these food shops, their main target are students who 1. don't have much money to spend 2. need a lot of food to support their activities and growing.

      Sory for any typo. I do that all the time. Have a nice day. :)

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