MangoVine
Adventures in East Asia

Entries in Attractions

 15 December, 2009
Tuesday Chiangmai Zoo
Many of Chiangmai's attractions seem to centre around animals, least of all with the elephant as a symbol of Thailand. Or maybe animals were just what we were interested in seeing, which might be obvious from the frequency of posts about tigers, elephants and snakes. It was inevitable that we'd end up at Chiangmai Zoo at some point and so we spent part of our last day there.

Chiangmai-Zoo1

Chiangmai Zoo neither outshined or underperformed when compared to any previous zoo we'd visited but did seem very expansive, with perhaps too much woodland or green space to walk through without any exhibits.

Read more... 15 December, 2009
Tuesday The Beautiful Wat Phra That Doi Suthep for Views Over Chiangmai
Doi Suthep is a mountain to the west of town and seemed to be one of the main attractions for tourists as well as locals to visit. A pilgrimage up to the top was recommended by both our hotel and our guide book, as if it wasn't obvious enough by the name plastered on most of Chiangmai's bus taxis, the songthaews.

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Up on Doi Suthep, there are views across Chiangmai on one side, but the beautiful Wat Phra That Doi Suthep is the main draw for most visitors. It's the north's most holiest shrine.

Read more... 14 December, 2009
Monday Fight Night at the Thaphae Muay Thai Stadium
We'd already seen the Thaphae Muay Thai Stadium during the day when it was deserted and we bought tickets to come back for an evening of Muay Thai action. I thought a whole night of fights might end up repetitive, but eventually found it to be surprisingly fun!

Thai-Boxing-Ring

There were seven fights throughout the night which varied in weight divisions and an addition fight involving a pretty funny, blindfolded four man match up. The initial fights were probably the least interesting, consisting of the lower weight divisions and low impact action from young teenagers.

Read more... 13 December, 2009
Sunday Elephant Rides, Baby Elephants and Elephants Bathing at the Maesa Elephant Camp
As clichéd as it is, we just couldn't visit Thailand without getting close to an elephant. We read about several elephant camps, some less-touristy which were further away from Chiangmai, offering more *authentic* elephant experiences where visitors get to "look after" an elephant for a few days and learn how to handle them.

Elephant-Seats

However, time and money was short for us, and so we settled for a simple half hour elephant ride at the fairly nearby (to Chiangmai) Maesa Elephant Camp. The camp was our last stop on a half day's worth of being driven around, where we also saw tiger cubs, snakes and shot some guns.

Read more... 13 December, 2009
Sunday Touching Tiger Cubs at Tiger Kingdom Chiangmai
Getting up close and personal with tiger cubs - definitely one of our highlights in Chiangmai. You don't often get a chance to touch these predators but we jumped at it and visited Tiger Kingdom.

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Tiger Kingdom of Chiangmai

The facility looked a little like a mini zoo with enclosures set in a landscaped area.

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