Corina and I spent the weekend in Chiang Mai... which you could probably deduce from the title. Anyway - Chiang Mai is a a super chill place to go to. It's more laid back than Bangkok, and from a vegetarian perspective, it's WAY better than Bangkok. It also has cooler weather, mountain biking, hiking, rock climbing... so basically - it's way better than bangkok.
we got a GREAT deal at the Chedi Hotel, and if you can get the same deal, stay there. It's hands-down the best in Chiang Mai, and probably one of the nicest in Thailand. This made our stay quite nice.
We did the usual temple-spotting, but being neither buddhist nor really caring about this crap, we went mountain biking. I'd recommend the mountain biking, but if you can - bring your own bike and arrange your own transport up the hill. Chiang Mai Mountain Biking was expensive (1550 baht) and they were just way too lax with timing for our preferences. for example, we started about an hour+ late, and "lunch" was then about 4pm. corina also got stung by huge wasps, so that wasn't cool either. the guide was a decent biker, but knew nothing about what we were bking through (what crops were being planted, what the flora or fauna were, etc.). if you're a dirty hippie backpacker, or some faux-adrenaline junkie, then it would be fine, but if you're there for real, then find a different way. anyway - we also got in a good session at the bouldering wall.
one side note - i picked up 2 kilos of chiang mai pork skins for my staff in bangkok. that part was cool, since i got to practice my thai, and it was fun to buy stuff in the local market, where there were no farang. carrying smelly pork skins through the airport like all the other Thai people was cool, too.
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