Awesome Asia
So how awesome is Asia? It's awesome. The Thai people are friendly, other than airfare it's one of the most inexpensive vacations that I have been on. The food is good and you can get plenty of souvenirs for next to nothing (Christmas shopping). Plus you can stay at the Elephant Nature Park. They are also very (how to put this delicately for us over 60 women-restroom friendly!
You can visit temples, caves, and monasteries in Chiang Mai. I signed up for guided tours as I didn't have a car and would not have wanted one. Everyone rides scooters over in Thailand. Very economical but...no. Anyway, I used GetYourGuide. I went on the Chiang Dao Cave and Hill Tribe Village tour (all day up in the mountains (we stopped twice to eat and three times for a bathroom break! Love it!) and the Wat Phra That Doi Suthep temple evening tour ($22 and it includes pick up and drop off at your hotel). I can't say enough about how knowledgeable and kind the tour guides are. It was a small group of 6 people. We went to the mountains and met some of the "long-neck" women who put the brass neck coils around their necks. They have baskets of jewelry and trinkets that you can buy for $1 or so. They are very sweet. To the right is a picture of a temple in a cave.
I stayed at the Thapae Gate Lodge for two nights, it's small and simple, nothing fancy but charming. Word of warning-the shower is in the bathroom right next to the toilet which also had a bidet. I couldn't figure out how to turn the shower on so I turned on the bidet and I was thinking this is a very cold weak shower!! I finally had the owner show me. It's on a side street by other small lodges. No elevators. The last night I was there I stayed at the Wannamas Chiangmai Boutique House-it was $71 total with taxes which included a wonderful breakfast! It was so charming it reminded me of an old Agatha Christie novel but no one got murdered.
Be prepared-a lot of the smaller hotels want you to pay in Thai Bhat cash and not use a card.
ELEPHANT NATURE PARK (click for more info)
The Elephant Nature Park is an ethical elephant sanctuary that has over 100 elephants that they care for that were injured or abused. It is about an hour from Chiang Mai. You can stay for 1/2 day or overnight or for a week. I stayed for two days. They feed you three buffet style meals a day, have a bar, smoothies, a gift shop. The lodge that we stayed in was really nice. Wi-fi is in the main lodge and there's no TV but who cares! There are a lot of elephant tourist places outside of Chiang Mai. If you are going to one make sure it is an ethical one-no bathing, no feeding, no tricks and no riding! I met people from all over the world-Australia, Toronto, Taiwan, France (a lot of people from France there). We followed the elephants around, cut up their food, and it was a lot of walking! They pick you up in a really nice van from your hotel and take you there and drop you back off when your stay is finished. Oh and did I mention that it was very affordable considering the adventure and the food. Elephants are cared for by mahouts who develop lifelong bonds with them.
Be prepared-I didn't pay for the entire stay when I booked it so when I got there they only accepted cash and there are no ATMs!
There are over 30 temples in Chiang Mai's Old City (that's where you have to stay if you go-there's a night bazaar, a lot of restaurants ranging from Thai food to a German beer garden, and it's safe to walk around. I even found a used bookstore all with English novels. You can get a brochure and walk to the temples. It felt really safe.
