Explore the beauty of northern Thailand, Chiang Mai - My travel diary

Hello everyone, my name is Nadine I am from Austria and I am new on steemit. I am sharing this account together with my boyfriend Leo.

One of my favorite hobbies is traveling. Doesn't matter if it´s alone, with friends or with my boyfriend. As I saw that steemit is a very good opportunity to tell other people about experiences, other cultures and lifestyles, or just giving some good advice's where to travel or what to visit, I decided to post from now on every day about my own and crazy travel experiences and which places you HAVE to visit. I am going to start with Thailand because from all my travels, Thailand is the country where I spent the most time. 9 months in total. So I hope you guys like and enjoy my posts.

Last year at that time I decided to pack my stuff and move to northern Thailand, Chiang Mai. The reason why I did that was because I was tired of working as a pharmacist 40 hours a day, so I applied at a company for german customer service in Chiang Mai. As soon as they told me that I can start to work I directly booked my flight. It was not my first experience to move to another country. I already lived in Canada and Spain so that´s why I was not really nervous for my next adventure.

I´ve been to Thailand before but never to the northern part so I was very curious how everything looks there. When I arrived in Chiang Mai I was very surprised cause it was so green. I just loved it. But the best feeling for me was that I am not a normal tourist I am more like a local because I knew that I am going to spend a long time in this beautiful country.

The first week after I arrived, I had time for myself to explore everything around Chiang Mai before work started. The first thing I did was renting a scooter and exploring the old city with all the stunning temples. The good thing about renting a scooter is that you can also explore all the nice and beautiful places around Chiang Mai by yourself. So you don´t need to take a Songthaew (local taxi) or a Tuk Tuk.

What I can really highly recommend in Chiang Mai are the food places and food markets. You can have a very nice traditional meal like Pad Thai for 1$. Those street kitchens don´t always look very clean but don´t worry I am very sensitive by myself with that but I never had any issues with getting sick from food.
Every Saturday there is the big Saturday night market and also the big Sunday night market every Sunday.

If you are a person who loves hiking or trekking I can highly recommend the northern part of Thailand. The nature is just beautiful. You pass incredible waterfalls you meet wild elephants and you always meet other super friendly travelers. It´s a very good opportunity to escape the city life as Chiang Mai is the 2nd biggest city in Thailand.

Also a real highlight in Chiang Mai, the same than everywhere else in Thailand, are the Ladyboy Shows. You can find them in some nightclubs or bars. Sometimes they are free and sometimes you need to pay for the show.

For people who love to go out and dance all night long, I can not recommend the northern part of Thailand or Chiang Mai. There are a few very nice bars and clubs but they all close at midnight. Chiang Mai also has some bars which are open after midnight but be aware. Those clubs or bars are not legal and if the police catch you, you have to pay a very high fee. I always liked those cute bus bars where you sit outside.
In general, alcohol is not very expensive in Thailand but you can only get it at certain times and not after midnight.

Thailand is a Buddhist country so it´s very important that you always respect their rules. If you do that you won´t have any issues with the law or the police. What I can say is respect the King and always talk in a very nice way with the locals. Rules are for example: Don´t stand on their money because the King is on it, always wai them (shows respect), don´t scream at Thai people and if you sit, be aware that your feet are always on the bottom cause it´s very disrespectful to show your feet to people (feet are the dirtiest part for Thai people). If you keep those rules in your mind, you will have a wonderful time in the land of smiles.

Thailand is a country which is definitely more than worth to visit. I was really in love with their culture and lifestyle. All those beautiful people are so warmly. You don´t need to spend a lot of money to have a nice trip. A lot of backpackers choose Thailand because it is so cheap and for your money, you really get a lot. So for less money, you will have wonderful and amazing experiences.
For me the

Tomorrow I am going to post about my trip to Pai, a hippie village 3 hours away from Chiang Mai.

If you like my first post I would be very happy about likes, comments or any feedbacks.
Thank you so much for reading!