CHIANG MAI : My First Impression

Another quick update, everyone!

So, after about 5 months living in Jambi, I’m finally back on the road again. This time, we decided to stay in Chiang Mai, Thailand and work remotely from here for about a month. ( All thanks to @PergiDulu who didn’t stop convincing us about this whole brilliant idea! )

So after a bloody long wait, we finally arrived here just exactly three days ago. We took a flight from Jakarta to Bangkok, and then another one from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. It was a horrible horrible day for us.

But the good thing is, we are now able to eat our way out around the amazing city. Seriously, you can easily find a lot of amazing cafes, amazing thai dishes and snacks at literally every corner of the city. I’m beginning to think that 30 days won’t be enough for us.

So anyway, I promise you that this post is just about my first impression and that it won’t be a long one. I just wanna show you why I fall in love with Chiang Mai, right at the first sight. So here you go.

LOTS OF GREAT CAFE

There are a huge number of cafes around here. Most of them look good even from the outside. And the best thing is, they are still in a walking distance from where we live, which is in Nimman area. We ended up renting a motorbikes anyway. It’ll make our Chiang Mai life a lot easier.

I remembered our first breakfast. It was at The Larder and it was amazing. I had this somekind of breakfast stack or something. It’s basically bread, with some greens, chorizo, sunny side up, avocado, and I don’t know, good stuffs.

PERFECT WORKING SPACE

We found (no, actually PergiDulu showed us) that some cafes are suitable for working, and some are not. We like the one with comfy chair and not-too-many loud customers. That way, we can concentrate easier and finish our work faster.

My favorite place for working so far is at Roll Me Bakery.

I had this decent Ice Matcha Latte for only 50 Baht (IDR 20k!). I don’t know how much this will cost you back in Jakarta.

LOTS OF GREAT FOOD

Aside from cafe, which I believe is easily found in any part of the world, Chiang Mai does offer a lot of amazing Thai dishes as well.

We only happened to try a few of them, so far. Here’s some of our favourite.

Khao Soy

Amazing, amazing dish from Northern Thailand. It’s basically yellow egg noodles with coconut-milk curry soup, meat, and another crispy noodle on top. I like mine with raw onions. It somehow gives an extra kick to the soup.

Sai Krok Isan

This sounds a bit odd, but sometimes people call it Sour Pork (or Sour Sausage?). Sai Krok Isan is basically fermented sausage made from ground pork, some garlic and stuffs, and also steamed glutinous rice. Packed with protein and carbs, in a stick.

Mu's Katsu Chiang Mai — Mu’s Katsu, Chiang Mai

CUTE PLACES

We also went to some places with adorable design and some with catchy industrial ambience. We love both.

Then we found this Pom named “Panda”. She happens to be around the cafe quite often.

And… of course, a Cat Cafe named Catmosphere. You don’t wanna miss this one.

AFFORDABLE PRICE

All of those things above won’t matter if I found those things to be pricey. So yes, all things here are very very affordable. I mean compared to Jakarta, it’s a lot cheaper here, so far.

Our coffee normally costs for around 40 – 80 Baht. Traditional Thai food for around 40 – 100 Baht, I think. And 20 – 30 something for light snacks. VERY affordable. We had a very nice smoothies the other day and it costs only 20 Baht. So yeah, that’s pretty much sums up why we love this city instantly.

So anyway, I’ll be back with more Chiang Mai related posts. Mostly about food, I guess.

For more CHIANG MAI pics, follow my Instagram.

Bye for now!

Sharon Travelogue

Indonesian Food and Travel Blogger