Explore the province of Chiang Mai on the back of an elephant

North of Bangkok, the city of Chiang Mai makes a perfect hub for exploring the hill country of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar.

If you wish, it’s possible to fly on the discount airline Tiger Airways direct from Singapore to Chiang Mai, bypassing Bangkok altogether, and thence fly north to Kunming in Yunnan, China.

Chiang Mai is more than 700 years old, predating Bangkok by over five centuries. Buddhist temples and shrines abound throughout the city. To understand more about the hill tribes inhabiting the north, a must-visit place is the new Hilltribe Research Institute Museum, in the grounds of Ratchamangkala Park (Suan Lor Gao) on Chotana Road.
Many visitors to the north choose to stay out of the big city of Chiang Mai. Just recently, the little village of Pai (set between Chiang Mai and the Myanmar border town of Mae Hong Son) has become the “Khao San Road of the North”, with a host of backpacker guesthouses, Internet cafés and restaurants serving dumbed-down Thai food. Pai is also an excellent base for visiting the hill tribes of the border region.