Thank you to all those on the board for wonderful recommendations and planning ideas. In appreciation, I thought I would share my trip for those interested. I wouldn’t dream of planning any trip now without asking Fodorites for their input!

I had a conference on the island of Jeju, Korea, and decided to extend the trip and have a week in Thailand, with 2 days of shopping in Seoul before returning home.

We left Jeju to fly to Seoul and then the 5 hours to Bangkok. I have been to Bangkok twice, but this trip we were also going to visit Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. We had an overnighter at the Novotel at the Bangkok airport (which was a nice hotel and very convenient) so we could get the morning flight to Chiang Mai. We flew the 1 hour flight on Thai Air -business class which was fine and on time.

Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai have had a very bad problem with forest fires and major pollution and smoke for the past month. The farmers are burning their fields, and they have had above average temperatures that have lead to major forest fires. Luckily, Chiang Mai didn’t seem to have much smoke when we were there, but at 108 degrees, it was a little toasty warm! We stayed at the small luxury boutique hotel – The Rachamankha http://www.rachamankha.com). The intimate hotel is gorgeous and very unique. The design is based on a famous chapel, so the rooms and hotel look like a temple. The interior is Lanna style design with wonderful attention to detail, and incorporates Thai, Chinese, Burmese and Laotian design. Antiques adorn the rooms, and are all over the grounds and restaurant. This hotel is fabulous and really beautiful. The bathroom shower could have been better tiled and redone, but the amenities in the bathroom were wonderful with soaps and lotions of lavender and tea tree oil. Angelina Jolie stayed here for a week last year, so I guess it’s good enough for me! One of the owners and designers of the hotel -Rooj couldn’t have been more cordial and welcoming, and really made the stay very memorable. He is a passionate collector of S.E. Asian antiques and he has them throughout the hotel for the guests to enjoy. He also has a library that is offered to the guests with complimentary brandy and sparkling water, free internet, and free loan of the hundreds of books he has collected. A very nice touch. They have a great restaurant with a Thai and European menu. Breakfast is served in the beautiful shaded courtyard, and it is a la carte for whatever you want. Delicious! The cappuccino was excellent. The young staff is gracious and very courteous. They have a nice pool with comfortable lounge chairs and umbrellas which is wonderful to come home to after a day of sightseeing, and poolside service which was very refreshing after a day of walking around in the heat!

Sally, it sounds like you had a good time despite the heat and the smoke. I thought the restaurant at the Rachamankha had the best Thai (and Burmese) food of any place we ate in CM.

I hired the hotels car and driver (came to $45 for 4 hours) for an afternoon of antique shopping and had a great day! I could have never found these places on my own. They had a nice service of fresh cold towels and water along the way which was such so refreshing and just what
I needed for a little pick me up to keep shopping! Their SUV even had a built in mini refrigerator which I thought was very clever. I went to Sipson Panna Asian and Tribal Arts and Antiques shop at 6/19 Nimmanhaemin Road., and thought they had a good assortment of antiques. A few doors down is Living Space – a beautiful shop with contemporary home accessories and exclusive Asian handicrafts, at 6 / 9 - 10 Nimmanhaemin Rd. Across the road is a little street that has a few interesting contemporary shops as well. Then we went to Iyara Art: 35/4 Moo 3 Chiang Mai-Sankampaeng Rd. I bought a lot of beautiful hand carved wood objects- praying monks, a reclining Buddha, architectural remnants etc. and thought the prices were good. She also had beautiful lacquer ware and large furniture and statues. Next door are 4 large old teak houses that sell a myriad of hand carved wood objects – Pon Art Gallery 35/3 Moo, Sankampaeng Rd. tel: 053-338361. It was a fascinating place and very overwhelming with all the things they had. Don’t miss it. Amata Art – 54/1-2 Sankamphaeng Rd. was a very nice, small antique shop with very good quality objects. I went to Siam Celadon: 38 Moo 10, T. Ton Pao, Sankamphaeng Rd. and bought some beautiful celadon spoons with ornate silver handles, some beautiful silver bookmarks for little gifts ($1 a piece!), and loved the plates and dishes, but didn’t have the space to carry a whole set home. I know they ship, and readers of this forum have had good luck, but I didn’t buy any. Baan Celadon: 7 Moo 3, Sankampang Rd. is also another very nice ceramic store and factory to visit. I went to the Thai Silk Village – 120/27 M. 3 T. Sankamphaeng Rd. and thought they had upscale, gorgeous and very interesting scarves, skirts, tops and little souvenirs. Sankampang road is one of the main roads that have a lot of the silk, parasol, ceramic, silver, lacquer ware, and furniture factories all lined down the road. Shopping is really great in Chiang Mai, and the prices are better than Bangkok. I wished we had more time to shop.

For dinner one night, we went to the Grand Lanna restaurant at the Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi Hotel. The restaurant was housed in a fabulous traditional Thai teak house with an open terrace as well as an air conditioned room if you preferred. The food was great! We started with the pomelo salad (a kind of grapefruit that had dried shrimp, ginger, lemongrass, cilantro, peanuts etc.) which was out of this world. The textures and taste were amazing. Then we had prawns in pineapple curry that arrived in half a pineapple, pork with green curry sauce, sautéed morning glory and jasmine rice. Unfortunately, we were too full for dessert. Very good food and great service. They also had musicians and dancers which were very authentic and very pretty to watch that started at 7:30. Not to miss. We asked the young woman at the entrance of the restaurant complex if we could get a tour of the hotel. She called for one of the golf carts to pick us up, and we had a wonderful tour of the hotel by a very proud and enthusiastic bell captain. This is where I want to stay next time!!! The hotel complex is modeled after the Mandalay Palace in Myanmar. It is an over the top gorgeous 60 acre complex and the hotel looks like a large temple. I have never seen such a grand hotel and it is so authentic with the architecture and furniture you really feel you are in exotic Thailand. They even have a rice patty on the property! The spa looked gorgeous and I wish I had more time to try it out.

The next night we went to a traditional Kantoke dinner (I can’t remember the name – there are several venues) with traditional northern Thai food and dancing. You sat at tables low to the ground (thank god they had wells for your feet or I don’t know if I could have gotten up and down!). The food was okay, and the dancing was nice, but I really don’t like those large touristy dining halls. I would have preferred to try another fabulous authentic Thai restaurant in town. We were going to go to the night market, but the hot temperature really took a lot out of us and we didn’t have the energy. I’ve heard it is really good market.

Thanks for the report! I'm taking it with me to CM if I can still go at the end of this month.

Sally -- sounds like a great trip and you found some nice places to shop -- we had considered Rachamanka the year we went for a few in-town nights but they were booked, so interesting to read of your experiences there. If you took any pictures of your *acquisitions* would love to see them !

Thanks for the report. Your impression of the MAndarin was interesting. There have been widely varying reports about this hotel. Penalty avoided.

Gpanda - glad to hear I have a voided a penalty! Others might not think so because I thought the Mandarin was pretty! I do get it when people say it is Disneylandish, but it was was tastefully done.

jenskar - I will try and round up some of my "acquisitions" and post the pictures along with my others.

We also ate at the hotel for dinner one evening. We had the snow fish (very fresh) which was quickly grilled and served with a light saffron sauce, and an Asian beef stir fry with noodles that was really good with lots of fresh vegetables. For dessert we split the fresh banana and coconut spring roll that was deep fried and served with ice cream and chocolate sauce. Very good. We ate in the air conditioned room, but you could hear the musician that was playing in the outdoor courtyard which added a wonderful ambiance. I think the fish entrée was around $25 so it was what I was used to paying at home.

I had a massage and facial at Aka Spa. For 90 minutes it was only $100 which I thought was a really good deal. It was a 15 minute drive from the hotel, and they will pick you up and take you home when you call for an appointment. The spa was set in a very tranquil and pretty building with nice treatment rooms and I really enjoyed the pampering. Address: 35 Rattanakosin Rd. T. Watgate A. Muang Tel: 053-260514, 089 635 1577.

The next morning we took a rickshaw ride through town to see the old city walls and street life. I felt kind of bad for the little old guy who had to cart me around town, but he made it thank god!

After the rickshaw ride, we headed 20 minutes out of town. Perched 3,500 feet above sea level is the Pradhat Doi Suthep which attracts Buddhist pilgrims from all over the world. If you don’t have the energy (in 108 temperatures) to climb the 290 steps, you can take a tram to the top. You are greeted by a beautiful temple and golden chedi (spiral pagoda) which contains partial relics of Lord Buddha which dates from 1383. You can have a blessing by a monk in one of the temples for good health. If you are female, don’t ever touch a monk or he will have to do repentance for 3 weeks I have been told! You are required to take off your shoes at most of the temples, and with the blistering hot tiles you have to walk on, I was frustrated I forgot to bring along my socks. I found myself running to bits of shade throughout the temple for solace. Our guide told us there were many temples in Chiang Mai to visit and we didn’t get to see enough!

We also went to the elephant conservation center in Lampang to see the mahouts (trainers) work with the elephants, a 40 minute drive out of the city. They demonstrated their agility and training for working in the forests and maneuvering logs, and then we watched them paint and play instruments. Very cute. I bought an elephant painting for my niece for $35 which came with a photo of the elephant actually painting the same painting I bought. A little expensive, but the proceeds went towards caring for the elephants and made quite a unique gift I thought (and she said she loved it)! After the demonstration, we got to feed them bananas and sugarcane and it was great to be so up close and personal with them (until one blew a little snot on me!) You can have an elephant ride on the premise as well. They also have the only elephant hospital in Thailand on the grounds. They have actually made a prosthetic leg for one elephant that had a portion of his lower leg blown off in a land mine accident in Myanmar and was brought there to heal. Amazing work they are doing.

Chiang Mai photos-
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/sscj2/al...60762398103849

I really liked Chiang Mai and certainly didn't get to see all we wanted. I think you need at least 3-4 days to scratch the surface.

We are off to Chiang Rai.....

Glad you had a good time. I love Chiang Mai and am never bored there-- just love the atmosphere.

May I ask you how the roads are around CM? I'm having a neck problem and rough roads are not going to help-we would probably only be on roads from the airport to the FS hotel and into CM and to Doi Suthep. Thanks

Sally,
I see from your photos that you went to both Chiang M and R. Can you compare and contrast for me? We are in the final stages of locking down our itinerary and the M vs R question is the last one. I am particularly interested in the beauty and adventure part of this trip. We want to do trekking and some road trips to see the country side.
thanks

The roads around Chiang Mai are fine

moremiles -The roads around CM are fine. For the most part they are regular city streets in need of a little upkeep, but nothing that would hurt your neck.

davez – The temples and shopping in CM are fabulous, and I wouldn’t miss it. If you are more interested in trekking and road trips, I think Chiang Rai has more to offer and is more off the beaten path. I think there are a lot of rafting and trekking companies based out of CR. I have seen tours online that provide home stays with the hilltribe people which would be a fabulous adventure, and there is elephant trekking and bike touring widely available. I would also rent a car my next trip in CM or CR because the roads are good and the traffic is not bad so I would be able to see more of the country side.

Thanks! 108 is on the high side for CM, isn't it?

The hotel said they were experiencing a heat wave.