🇹🇭 We discover Chiang Mai and experience the Loy Krathong Festival of Lights✨

After 13 hours on the night train, not in the sleeping car as expected, but in the compartment with seats, with the windows open, fans running and the lights permanently on 🤯 (luckily each of us had ear plugs and a sleeping mask at hand), we arrived on November 15th 2023 in Chiang Mai.

We ordered a Grab taxi to the train station, which took us to the accommodation within a few minutes. When we got there, we were greeted with bad news. The owner had a heart attack: “No guest can check in at the moment.” That’s the information. The people present were very upset about the incident and asked us to find something new. Of course we agreed with them. We got two bottles of water from them and took out the cell phones to look for a new place to stay. Chris found what he was looking for relatively quickly. Although this was a little over our budget, we didn't care at that point. We called a taxi again and drove to the next accommodation.

We were able to stay here 🥳 we had a huge room with two bedrooms, a bathroom and a kitchenette and there was plenty of storage space and a seating area both inside and outside on the balcony. It was only a few minutes' walk to the old town and there were plenty of good, inexpensive restaurants on the way there. In general, the north of Thailand is incredibly cheap. We discovered a specialty that became our favorite food: Khao Soi. Definitely try it!!🍜

We had a good time and let ourselves go from day to day. We were able to discover everything in and around the old town on foot. For example, we visited the Buddhist temple “Wat Chedi Luang” and the “Three Kings Monument”. If you keep your eyes open, you'll also spot some street art in Chiang Mai. The range of cafes, restaurants and night markets is huge.

One afternoon we trained in the gym. The training area was extremely cool thanks to the air conditioning. The next day I was 👩🏼 sick again. 🤧 As soon as Christian was feeling well again, I started to weaken. It couldn't be true! We extended our stay in Chiang Mai and changed accommodation. We moved to a hotel, again near the old town, but in a different location 😊

An absolute highlight was our paramotor flight with Flying Bird on November 19, 2023, over the mountains of Chiang Mai 🪂 There was a WhatsApp number in Instagram that I wrote to and then everything important was handled via telephone chat. We had to give our names and weight, chose the day of the week and had the choice of whether we preferred to fly at sunrise or sunset. We chose the evening flight. Together we paid €150, the price includes: a flight duration of 15-20 minutes, the transfer (there and back) and we were allowed to film with a GoPro during the flight. And what should I say?! Everything worked out perfectly and was a unique experience. ☺️ We felt very safe and in good hands. I would do it again at any time. 🪂

Of course, during our stay in the city, we didn't miss how beautifully everything was decorated.🪅🎏🏮 We learned that the annual Thai light festival “Loy Krathong” is taking place across the country on November 27th and 28th, '23. It is said to be particularly beautiful here in Chiang Mai. So we decided to extend our stay for the third time 😁 and planned to travel on to Chiang Rai on November 28th, 2023 .

We moved again for three more nights. Again in a hotel near the old town, but again in a different area. We booked this hotel with breakfast (on the top floor with a view of the city) and a pool and it was on a busy street. We didn't have much choice anymore because, of course, a lot of things were already fully booked through “Loy Krathong”. Who would have thought 😆

On the evening of November 27th, 23 we went into town. Our destination was the Nawarat Bridge, outside the old town and near the “Tha Phae Gate”, because we read that lanterns are released into the sky there and that there are festivities there. That's how it was, the number of visitors was enormous. The police had cordoned off the street and when we arrived at the square we spotted a parade. We and thousands of other visitors followed the parade towards the bridge. There was music and dancing and we were thrilled by the atmosphere. However, the closer we got to the bridge, the narrower it became. The people were armed with krathongs and lanterns and wanted to launch them into the water at the bridge and let the lanterns rise. We were just pushed through the crowd...the bridge was full of people and it was now impossible to get through. Chris then said: “Let’s get off the bridge and go to the left bank. Then we have a better view.” No sooner said than done.

From the river bank we had a good view of the bridge and what was happening on the opposite bank. Countless lanterns rose into the evening sky, but one got lost in the trees and lit a fire. This tradition isn't all that safe, we even heard about bans by the police, but nobody stuck to it here or that evening. Visitors let their krathong boats into the water on a jetty.

When we had seen enough, we slowly walked back. People were still coming toward us with lanterns and krathongs. The further we got away, the emptier the streets finally became. We had some dinner in an Indian restaurant, listened to the live music next door and then went back to the hotel. The next morning we left for Chiang Rai. We stayed in Chiang Mai for a total of 13 days. A Grab taxi took us to the bus station, after 4 hours we arrived in Chiang Rai, it was already dark.