Chiang Mai is a pretty neat city; we are staying in the Old City, a small square area in the center surrounded by a moat and walls! It is a very touristy area, so after our fun experience in Ayutthaya, we decided to rent another bike today to get outside of the moat and explore some other areas too.

Rose hasn’t been feeling great for the past couple of days, so we took it slow after we picked up the bike. Eventually, we headed out towards a Burmese restaurant recommended by a YouTuber that we like, but it was closed. Luckily, there was a spot next door where Rose got khao soi, a curry from this region of Thailand, and I got mala beef noodles. Mala is a spicy profile from the Sichuan province of China, blending the numbing Sichuan peppercorns with spicy, dried red chiles. It is one of my favorites, and this bowl of noodles was one of the tastiest bites on the whole trip so far!

Afterwards, we went to a very hip coffee shop that could’ve been in the middle of Austin somewhere. Then we drove over to an outdoor museum of traditional houses from the Lanna people of Thailand. This group was around during the same time as the Ayutthaya Empire, starting like 500 years ago. The houses were all built at the end of this period, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and were relocated from their original locations to this museum to preserve them. It was neat to see how the locals stored their food away from rodents and built the walls of the houses with sliding slats to allow for a breeze during the day but keep the bugs out at night.

After the museum, Rose and I just drove aimlessly around the city, checking out different neighborhoods and enjoying the moped. We stopped at a juice stand before heading back to the hotel and dropping off the bike.

After cooling off in the room for a while, we took a taxi over to the night market, a huge area just outside the moat with tons of souvenirs, bars, and food stands. We tried a bunch of different stuff for dinner, including northern Thai sausage, which has rice in it like boudin, plus lots of lemongrass and galangal flavor. It was awesome. While we were eating, a local guitarist was playing classic rock covers on a stage nearby. It was a great vibe.

After we ate, we played a few games of pool nearby and ended up getting whooped by the owner, who joined in for a few. Clearly, the dude plays a lot! We finished off the night with a very raunchy and funny ladyboy cabaret show. When in Thailand!