We arrived at our hotel in Chiang Mai, Thailand after 10pm to find that it was right in the middle of one of the busy night markets in town.

And the room. It was easily the worst room we ever rented. I think the “good” reviews–most of which said it was a little dirty–were from backpackers who were glad to have running water and a private toilet. We just couldn’t get past the dirty sheets and the ants dancing a conga line to the music coming through the walls. Sometime around midnight we checked back out and moved to the nearby Marriott: it was a different world.

The next morning, after breakfast, we grabbed a local “red bus” and headed to Doi Suthep Temple. These red trucks are everywhere and serve as shared taxis. You flag one down and tell the driver where you’re going. If he is going that way you jump in for the ride. Keep in mind that it may stop to pick up or drop off other passengers along the way. They were less than a dollar, per person, pretty much anywhere in town.

The temple is on the mountain next to town. There was so much smoke in the air you couldn’t even see it from downtown. I read an article that said that the air quality in Chiang Mai was the worst on the planet the prior day (March 12, 2019). Most of the smoke comes from farmers burning crops in neighboring countries. I would avoid coming to Thailand, especially northern Thailand, in March and April to avoid the smoke.

The climb to the temple was a great time for self reflection. Most of it centered around needing more exercise and less hamburgers.

The temple itself was worth the effort. It’s a working temple, and most of the visitors (from China) were in the midst of their prayers in the various shrines around Doing Suthep. The temple and grounds were stunning.

While there we sat for a bit to watch work on restoring a set of painted doors. The artists were quite skilled and the work was fascinating.

After the temple we rode a tuk tuk to the North Gate (or Elephant Gate) night market for dinner.

Before the trip I watched some of Mark Wiens’ food videos where he recommended looking for the stall with roast pork cooked by the lady in the cowboy hat. I found the stall (sans cowboy hat) and tried some.of the pork. It was really good when eaten with the greens (served separately) and drizzled with the spicy vinegar. Yum! It also included parts of the pig we usually don’t eat, so you may have to close your eyes for a bite or two.

We also had some roast duck over noodles and sprouts. Their stalls always seemed busy, but the duck was a bit dry. Tracey liked it though.

The highlight of the market were these little round crunchy pancake-like treats filled with coconut custard. I walked away to find a drink, and when I returned, I was quite surprised to see that Tracey hadn’t eaten any of them. But the filling magically changed to taro and creamed corn (she ate all of the coconut ones and felt guilty).

We hoped to find more during the trip, but like our street food treat in Penang, this was a one time event.

It was a full and enjoyable day with more planned.