Thailand (Lonely Planet, 13th Edition) - China Williams [243]
FESTIVALS & EVENTS
Chiang Mai is famous for the Flower Festival, Songkran and Loi Krathong; make your travelling arrangements far in advance during these periods.
Chiang Mai Red Cross and Winter Fair (late December to early January) This 10-day festival is held behind the Chiang Mai City Arts & Cultural Centre and assumes a country-fair atmosphere, with food booths purveying northern Thai cuisine and cultural displays.
Flower Festival (early February) This agricultural celebration (called têt·sà·gahn mái dòrk mái rà·dàp) is held over a three-day period and includes displays of flower arrangements, cultural performances and beauty pageants. The festival highlight is the parade that starts at Saphan Nawarat, travelling down Th Tha Phae and then all the way to Suan Buak Hat.
Chiang Mai Chinese New Year (February) The city’s Chinatown heralds its cultural new year with a spotlight on Chinese food and cultural displays.
Songkran (mid-April) The traditional Thai New Year is celebrated in Chiang Mai with an enthusiasm that borders on pandemonium. Thousands of revellers line up along all sides of the moat to have a ready supply of ammunition. It is virtually impossible to stay dry during the five days of this festival.
Intakin Festival (mid-May) Held at Wat Chedi Luang, this religious festival (known as ngahn tam bun sw in·tá·gin) is centred around the làk meu·ang (city pillar) and propitiates the city’s guardian deity to ensure that the annual monsoon will arrive on time.
Loi Krathong (late October to early November) Chiang Mai’s riverbanks are alive with people floating the small lotus-shaped boats honouring the spirit of the river. In Chiang Mai this festival is also known as Yi Peng, and some kon meu·ang (people of northern Thailand) celebrate by launching cylindrical hot-air balloons, lighting up the night skies with hundreds of pinpoints of fire.
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SLEEPING
Chiang Mai is kind to the thrifty traveller: there are heaps of competing guesthouses, and resulting low rates. A new crop of concept/boutique hotels have recently filled in the anaemic midrange to top end to capitalise on the hopes of the city becoming a more upmarket destination. Many cultural students come to Chiang Mai for long-term stays and most places offer weekly and monthly discounts or a flat monthly rate with additional electricity and water usage fees.
There are basically two kinds of budget accommodation: converted family homes and multi-storey apartment buildings. The old houses typically have the best atmosphere but the least privacy, while the apartment blocks have solid quirkless rooms. In both, the furnishings are basic – a bed and a few sticks of furniture. Most guesthouses make their money from trekking commissions, which in turn subsidises the low room rates. When checking in, most places will ask if you’re planning on trekking and might limit your stay to three nights if you opt out.
Straddling the budget and midrange category, you will find the classic Thai-Chinese hotel: a multi-storey building that must have seemed sophisticated in the 1980s. Most are showing their age but there is a slight retro appeal. Several ‘flashpacker’ hotels offer excellent value for a tad more baht. Most will have grown-up expectations like stylish and quiet rooms, but they skimp on the services, such as bellhops and concierges, to keep the tariffs low. In this category, you can expect daily room cleaning, air-con, fridge and cable TV. In most cases, rates include breakfast.
Many budget and midrange places have bicycle and motorcycle rentals as well as free internet and wi-fi. If you phone ahead, some will collect you from the train or bus terminal for free to avoid paying a commission to a driver.
The top-end range is dominated mainly by huge corporate-style hotels, some of which are international chains. The more interesting ones are the intimate boutique hotels that tend to marry antique Lanna elements with modern amenities. At the summit of the scale are the destination resorts that have recreated a village setting