Monthly Life Update: January 2018 in Chiang Mai

Ever since moving to Chiang Mai, I feel a pang of guilt every time I write these updates. Am I still allowed to call myself a travel blogger? I’ve literally left the city twice in the past 3 months. (And let’s not even talk about the amount of time that I spend at home working in my pyjamas!)

But, over the past month, I’ve become so much more accustomed to Chiang Mai than I was before. November was life admin month, December was settling in month and January was the month of getting to know the city better. I said in my last update that I was going to try and do more things around the city and I definitely succeeded in trying out new restaurants, visiting new green spaces, meeting new people and checking out different co-working spaces.

One thing that is getting me down about Chiang Mai is that is can be difficult to be mobile without a scooter. I can’t drive, Veeran doesn’t have an international license and, to be honest, I probably wouldn’t be the confident in going out on the back of a bike if he did. The driving here is insane and makes Korean bus drivers look like Japanese taxi drivers. (AKA polite, patient and pretty unlikely to get in a car crash or run you over!) So trying to find things to do in the city that don’t involve eating and drinking in the usual expat hotspots, but are still accessible via Uber, has been difficult.

If any of you guys have spent much time in Chiang Mai and have some suggestions, I’d love to hear them!

Highlights of January 2018 in Chiang Mai

Royal Park Rajapruek

There’s nothing like being a tourist in your own home so we decided to spend the day seeking out photo-ops at Royal Park Rajapruek. This botanical garden was very well manicured and not too disimilar to the Garden of the Morning Calm in South Korea- that’s probably why there were so many Chinese and Korean tourists there, too. This park is full of cute (albeit pretty cheesy) photo ops but it s a nice place to spend a few hours. We managed to get an uber to take us down here and made of the most of being this far south by treating ourselves to a Sunday Roast at September Brasserie afterwards.

Catmosphere Cat Cafe

Even though this technically stills falls under the category of hanging about in cafes, it was great to have a little bit of feline companionship rather than being surrounded by laptop toting digital nomads. I miss all the cats that have ever kept me company in my life- even the wild kitty that I looked after for a while back in SK! Catmosphere didn’t disappoint. There were so many grumpy, too cool for school cats with squished faces and I was in love.

I also discovered how cool the Chiang Mai University area is- among other cheap and great food, there’s a Korean fried chicken shop, quirky clothing markets and a lovely lake for walking round. Defos going to be back there soon!

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Chiang Mai getting all da love!

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A post shared by Nicole Arnott (@weegypsygirl) on Jan 14, 2018 at 3:19am PST

What’s Happening in February!

Chiang Mai’s burning seasons, which usually starts in March, seems to have started already. Because of this smoky time, February is kind of like the “Chiang Mai closing party” before people head down to the islands or elsewhere in South East Asia to wait for the smog to calm down.

One day I will live somewhere with a consistent AQI of under 100!

It’s a pretty busy month and we’ve already been Jai Thep Festival over lasy weekend (which is why this post is coming out late!) and will be going to a TED Talk this weekend. It’s really cool to have so much going on in this little city but sadly, loads of people are leaving!

We’re cooking up some plans to get down to Koh Lanta in March. Part of the reason for this is to escape the smoky season, but we’d also love to be near the ocean and see how the island looks as a potential workbase for next year if we decide to stick in Thailand.

In healthier news, I’ve decided to do Whole30 this month, too! My diet has been havoc since we started travelling and I don’t even bat an eyelid at eating so much rice, noodles and sugar-laden foods anymore. (Even a simple pad-thai from the market contains about as much sugar as a Mars Bar but I’ll still have a banana roti after eating one!) So, I’m giving my body this month to have a wee rest and treat it to some good food. If I could shift a few of those old travel stones in the process, that would be nice, too! Hoping that the 30 days shouldn’t be too difficult with all the yummy healthy restaurants here.

But, for now, it’s over to you? What are you up to in February? Any chat from last month? Leave me a comment and let me know!

And, until next month!

Keep gypsying,

Nicole xx