Author: Eric, your haikuist

One corner of the old city has become the traveller district, with your typical range of backpacker guesthouses and a couple of hotels, plus restaurants, laundry places (wash, dry, fold for $2/kg), your pirate- and goth-themed internet cafes (yes!), etc. But while the city is very visitor-friendly and has lots of attractions, that’s just one small part of the city as far as anyone living there is concerned, and you can sit in a third-floor coffee-shop or restaurant on the town’s main square and watch the everyday Chiang Mai foot, car and moped traffic go by in front of a 10-meter poster of the king while Thai pop blares from the city gates…. But while they’re always cool and inarguably photogenic, I’m a backwards, uncultured philistine and ended up spending less and less time checking them out as my journey across Asia went on. However, Wat Chedi Luang was the first one I visited for a serious length of time, and, to be honest, probably my favorite, since it’s all old and ruiny.