One thing I’ve discovered the past few days is that if I stay away from my computer (or at least non-work related things on my computer) I get so much more done.  It just can really suck you in.  Gosh, what a discovery!

Our trip up to Chiang Mai was nice.  It is low season here in Thailand and things were deserted up north.  One evening we went to the famed Night Market and it was so empty, I had wondered whether there were any other tourists in town!

Chiang Mai is a popular city, and I enjoy many of the things it has to offer.  But part of me hasn’t ever really liked it, ever since my first visit in 2000.  The core of the city – the Old City – looks and feels a lot like Khao San Road, the backpacker paradise in Khrungthep.  As Tawn points out, that’s a lot better than Pattaya, the whole of which feels like Patpong, the sex bar district in Khrungthep.

We arrived mid-afternoon on Friday and within minutes of stepping out of the airport terminal the afternoon thunderstorm, an event to be repeated daily throughout the weekend, had started its downpour.  The staff of the resort, Yaang Come Village, used a large umbrella – the sort you see in the middle of your outdoor dining table – to ferry us from the taxi to the front steps and then from the lobby after check-in to our room.

The resort is gorgeous just as in the pictures I posted in the previous entry.  It isn’t very large so the staff quickly gets to know you and your preferences.  They are friendly to a degree that is just hard to describe and well-trained.  I’d recommend it for anyone visiting Chiang Mai who wants to stay in a resort.

I will add that I’m not sure I’m really the resort type of person, as I rarely spend a lot of time sitting around the pool or strolling in the gardens.  But this was a beautiful resort.

Friday afternoon after the rains, we headed to Nimmanahaeminda Road Soi 1, an artsy district near Chiang Mai University.  Tawn had read about this soi in Elle Thailand and it seems like an up-and-coming corner of the city.  Apparently, many artists and designers from Khrungthep have relocated to Chiang Mai.

Many of the old houses have been converted into shops.  Some are boutiques and others are galleries and all of them are very cute.  Here are some pictures:

Above: A cute hair salon.  Below: The front car park and entry way of a shop.

Above: The extravagant entry to Suriyan Chandra, one of several combination art-furniture-music “lifestyle” stores.  There is a new store called Avatar by the same owner, located a few blocks away.  Avatar is in the midst of a six-month “pre-opening” even though it looked fully open.  Eventually, he’ll have a cafe there, too.  Sadly, it was too dark by the time we arrived so I didn’t get good pictures.  Below: Tawn inside the Suriyan Chandra garden on the other side of the wall above.

We walked through this neighborhood, a series of small sois that have a number of interesting shops.  Along the way I encountered this tree, below.  Any guesses as to what it is?

If you guessed “papaya”, you’d be correct.  For all my time in Thailand, I hadn’t seen a papaya tree.  Maybe I can get one for the balcony!

In the late afternoon the last of the stormy skies had cleared and even Doi Suthep (Suthep Mountain) which stands sentry over the city’s northwest, was unshrouded as the clouds dissipated after the storms.

For dinner, Tawn suggested another Elle recommendation.  The House is a self-styled “restaurant & wine and tapas bar” with a little Thai cafe on the side.  It resides in a renovated colonial home, is very cute, and has attentive if somewhat unpolished service.

It is an attractive place, one of many European restaurants in a city that caters to a large population of expat retirees.  It is my observation that Chiang Mai probably has a better quality of European restaurants than Khrungthep.  What I’ve tried so far has been pretty good.

The food was generally nice but the preparation lacked nuance.  One item in particular, a crab bisque, was a disaster.  When it was served to Tawn, the wide bowl had a brown broth strewn with small bits of crab meat.  There was no cream in sight, which by the very definition of the name is required in order to make the soup a bisque. 

Tawn tried the broth.  Very bland, as if water had been used to make it instead of stock.

A minute or two later, the waiter arrived with a small bowl of a thick cream and a spoon.  He explained that this was a “do it yourself” bisque where you added the cream.

That was a terrible idea.  The soup was not piping hot and when Tawn added the cream, it curdled, forming small, unappetizing lumps in the broth.  We each tried a spoonful and agreed that the bisque was now even more of a mess than it had been before.

Tawn called the waiter over and explained that its was not edible and ordered something else for an appetizer.  The waiter seemed a little befuddled as to what to say, but eventually did admit to us – rather candidly! – that several other people had said the same thing about the bisque.

The remainder of the meal was better.  I had a beef carpaccio that was pretty tasty.  Our main courses, a pan-seared sea bass fillet on white bean puree with fresh veggies for me (below) and potato croquettes with avocado salsa and vegetables for Tawn (above), were enjoyable although I definitely wound up with the better selection of food.

We did enjoy a really good wine find: a 2004 Madfish Cabernet Sauvignon Rose from Western Australia.  It was very fruity but also very dry and crisp.  I’ll be poking around the wine shops here in Khrungthep to see if I can find a half-case.

Finally, for dessert we shared a stalk – that’s it, just one stalk – of rhubarb poached in grenadine syrup, served with raspberry whipped cream and a scoop of rum raisin ice cream.  It was an interesting concept but the syrup was simply so sweet that it overwhelmed the natural tartness of the rhubarb.  Still, it was a light end to the dinner.

From there we headed to the night market and walked around for a little while.  As I mentioned earlier, the place was deserted.  After an hour we decided to return to the hotel, exhausted from our first afternoon in town.

I’ll leave you with a short video clip shot in the back of a Tuk Tuk as meter taxis are rare in Chiang Mai.

More soon…