Thailand or Bust (Day 8)

May 29th (Friday)
Temperature High: 100 degrees

Today we had a free day to explore the city on our own. It started off with a quick planning section over our hotel breakfast buffet. It wasn't long before we hopped into our first of many red cabs for the day on our way to Talat Warorot Market. We spent a few hours getting lost shopping for all kinds of amazing treasurers. 

The market was great and our best find was our super, sweet towels we got for our last city that we head to tomorrow.After a very successful and hot morning shopping, it was time to find some place to find something cold to drink and get out of the heat. Audrey & I had both researched Raming Tea House and we were very excited to check it out.

This place definitely didn't disappoint! It was so adorable and everything was great. And when we saw mango sticky rice on the menu, we HAD to get it.

After a break from the heat, it was time to hit the road again. This time we found Wiang Kum Kam. We found it in one of our books and decided it looked pretty cool and we were going to see what it was all about. So we found our next cab for the day and off we went. 

After about 10-15 minutes we realized this was a little further out of the city then we realized but we were already committed and had a one way ride to who knows where. Once we got to the area, we figured we would walk around and check it all out. Silly us, you can't walk this, you have to take a horse drawn carriage around the ruins.

So we each hopped on our carriages, and off we went to see the ruins of a city that was lost in many floods. (At least that is what we could put together.) It was great to have some time to explore a very different part of the city is such a unique fashion.

Thankfully, when we got back from our tour, our driver had stuck around and give us a ride back. He dropped us off at the Old Fort and we were determined to find a late lunch. After a few failed attempts at restaurants the book recommended, we ventured off on our own to find some street food and we were pretty successful.

After our experience at the fish spa the other day, Eric & Audrey decided they were up for trying it. So the four of us headed back to the same place Jed and I had gone a few days earlier. This time around it was an EPIC TRIP. We laughed until we cried as I dropped my phone/camera to go swimming with the fish and Audrey struggled to keep her feet in the water.

After our super memorable trip to the fish spa, we decided to find dinner at a Northern Thailand restaurant called Huen Phen. It was good but not the best we have had. The street food in the area has been the way to go this far in Chiang Mai.

After dinner, we headed back to our hotel. The location of our place was PERFECT for the night bazaar. Chiang Mai is know for these markets and it is truly amazing to watch all these street vendors put up and tear down their booths each day.

Audrey had read about a place that came highly recommended for live music and since we didn't make it to any nightlife in Bangkok, we decided we would check out the nightlife in Chiang Mai. Lonely Planet recommended Sudsanan. You know it is going to be good when the book starts with "Down a dark driveway near Kad Suan Kaew...".

We hopped on the first tuk tuk we could find and even though the driver had no idea where we was going, we had him drop us near where we thought it was. After a while of us wondering in different directions, walking down random, scary, dark "driveways", we ducked into a hotel hoping they could direct us. This place is a well kept secret, that or they don't want tourists going cause everyone had no idea what we were talking about when we asked.

We finally decided to just give up and find a tuk tuk to take us back to a more populated/touristy area when we just randomly passed this sign.

WE FOUND IT!! We were so excited! We headed down the dark driveway and found the old wooden house. It was definitely a local joint! It was fantastic!! Locals would bring (or buy) a bottle of liquor and then this place would just keep it for them and bring it out whenever they came in. There wasn't much in English nor did many people speak it. It was so great. We had the best time!

The local music did not disappoint either. We sat and watched a few acts while snacking on the local fare and trying the local drinks.

There was even a dog that we had run into in the dark alleyway that decided he wanted to check out the music that evening and he came in and out as he pleased and no one batted an eye. So cool.

The music was great and we couldn't help but record some so we could always remember.

It was such a great day and a fantastically, memorable night.