We started our first full day in Chiang Mai earlier than expected, because Bill was giddy with excitement and simply could not wait to start searching for our motorbike. It was maybe around 8am when we started walking around for breakfast, and stopped at the only place that was open (we live close to the Night Bazaar and several night markets, so most things open late/at night). We had some decent pad thai and basil chicken for breakfast.
Bill had looked up the bike he wanted beforehand, so we spent a good chunk of the morning looking for that one specific bike – a 125cc Honda Dream. It was a hot and sunny day, and we didn’t even realize that we had walked around most of the city searching for the dream Dream. Even though this task took a while, we were able to explore the city by foot and take in all that was around us. After an hour of searching for the right bike through the several “POP” rental stores, we came across a quaint and unassuming rental place called Marbles.
They had the Dream! It was 125cc, a cool colour, and the right price. Woop. We got our motorbike! (It cost us 2100 baht for two weeks, which is $84 CAD). Bill was very happy with this, and remembered that he now actually had to learn how to ride it. Luckily it only took a few spins in the alley beside the shop, and we were off. First stop: gas station. (By the way, a tank of gas costs 110 baht, $4 CAD).
Bill was feeling more confident and we were both feeling a mix of caution and excitement. Naturally, we decided to take our first “road trip” to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, one of Chiang Mai’s must-see temples, conveniently located 15km outside the city – a perfect distance for our first trip.
On our drive down from the temple, we noticed the Huay Keaw Waterfall on our left, so we decided to check that out as well.
We were feeling pretty hungry and wanted to try a bunch of different foods from the night market we had seen the previous night. We both agreed on going to the one near our hotel, except we forgot that we had gone to three the night before (all near our hotel) and we weren’t thinking of the same one… So, we stopped at two, before stopping at this one, which was still not the one we were thinking of. In short, we live near like 10 night markets and have no idea what any of them are called, but this one was pretty good!
We don’t know what this market was called, but there was a show with traditional Thai dancing and a large selection of food to choose from. We got a fresh mango shake, khao soi, pineapple fried rice, and mango sticky rice all for 300 baht ($12 CAD). It’s no India price, but it’s still pretty good! All in all, it was a very successful first day and we’re excited to explore the rest of Chiang Mai with our bike.
TWO PACKS 