Having really enjoyed Sukhothai we boarded yet another bus to Chiang Mai. We got dropped off at a backpacker's hostel just outside the main part of the city. This city was my favorite CITY in Thailand. The main part of the city is surrounded by a giant wall with a moat. There are many different hostels to stay in and great food. We even found am great vegetarian place that had amazing curry with brown rice. We quickly became regulars there. The tables were short and we sat on the floor on pillows while enjoying the warm breeze from the open balcony. Chiang Mai also features a decent night market where tourists can go to get amazing deals on all sorts of products. The city has been very westernized but it keeps the strong Thai culture intact. There are many active Thai-Buddhism temples around the city which are very open to visitors. All the people are super friendly and everywhere you go there's people offering to take you to the tiger temple. We ran into the girls we met on the floating hostel again. This time we actually got to chat with them and found out they were from Canada. We decided to hang out with a couple of them one night and they wanted to go to a bar on top of a building in the main part of town. They probably thought it was kind of odd that Dayton and I didn't drink beer with them and that we weren't interested in getting them drunk and taking them back to the hostel. We had a good laugh about it later. I never thought I'd see so many white people in Thailand as I did in Chiang Mai but at the same time I think it was pretty advantageous. Lots of people around the city spoke passable English and it was easy to find good food and good places to stay. One afternoon we spent wandering around the city finding different temples to explore. On the grounds of one temple there were many trees with sign posts attached to them with different philosophical thoughts in Thai and English. One sign that impacted me a lot stated "The most valuable service is one rendered to our fellow humans."
All the great religions teach this simple yet profound principle. I feel like we are all just travelers in this life and we ought to render service to others along the way and tell them about the amazing experiences we've had so they can enjoy them too. The best part about Chiang Mai is it's a starting point for some great jungle trekking. Next Stop: The JUNGLE!
Having really enjoyed Sukhothai we boarded yet another bus to Chiang Mai. We got dropped off at a backpacker's hostel just outside the main part of the city. This city was my favorite CITY in Thailand. The main part of the city is surrounded by a giant wall with a moat. There are many different hostels to stay in and great food. We even found am great vegetarian place that had amazing curry with brown rice. We quickly became regulars there. The tables were short and we sat on the floor on pillows while enjoying the warm breeze from the open balcony. Chiang Mai also features a decent night market where tourists can go to get amazing deals on all sorts of products. The city has been very westernized but it keeps the strong Thai culture intact. There are many active Thai-Buddhism temples around the city which are very open to visitors. All the people are super friendly and everywhere you go there's people offering to take you to the tiger temple. We ran into the girls we met on the floating hostel again. This time we actually got to chat with them and found out they were from Canada. We decided to hang out with a couple of them one night and they wanted to go to a bar on top of a building in the main part of town. They probably thought it was kind of odd that Dayton and I didn't drink beer with them and that we weren't interested in getting them drunk and taking them back to the hostel. We had a good laugh about it later. I never thought I'd see so many white people in Thailand as I did in Chiang Mai but at the same time I think it was pretty advantageous. Lots of people around the city spoke passable English and it was easy to find good food and good places to stay. One afternoon we spent wandering around the city finding different temples to explore. On the grounds of one temple there were many trees with sign posts attached to them with different philosophical thoughts in Thai and English. One sign that impacted me a lot stated "The most valuable service is one rendered to our fellow humans." 
All the great religions teach this simple yet profound principle. I feel like we are all just travelers in this life and we ought to render service to others along the way and tell them about the amazing experiences we've had so they can enjoy them too. The best part about Chiang Mai is it's a starting point for some great jungle trekking. Next Stop: The JUNGLE!
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