STOP FOUR: THAILAND

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Text by Alex Marashian        Photos by Rainer Hosch and Oliver Helbig

STOP FOUR: CHIANG MAI, THAILAND

Sawadee krup. Hello and greetings from Chiang Mai, Thailand, the fourth stop on the DEDON Tour du Monde. If you haven’t heard of Chiang Mai before, that’s partly the point. Generally overshadowed by its younger sister, Bangkok, and the magnificent islands and beach of the south, Chiang Mai is only the fifth largest city in Thailand. But in terms of cultural heritage — not to mention charm, diversity and the warmth and kindness of its people — it would be hard to beat.

Ranked the third best city in Asia in Conde Nast Traveler’s most recent survey, Chiang Mai is not exactly Thailand’s best-kept secret. Savvy expats and travelers with a taste for the country’s history and culture have been enjoying this northern city’s charms for decades. And although we’re still recovering from our red-eye flights and jet lag, your trusty Tour du Monde team has already begun to understand why. 

We touched down in Chiang Mai, which is nestled in and among some of Thailand’s highest mountains, and went straight to our hotel, the Mandarin Oriental Dhara Devi. A world unto itself, this 60-acre resort — complete with moats, fortified walls, magnificent gardens and its own rice paddy fields — is modeled on an ancient royal city, and one not unlike Chiang Mai itself in its golden period. 

Founded by King Mengrai in 1296 after a series of successful military campaigns over the Mon people, Chiang Mai — or, New City — was the original capital of the Kingdom of Lanna (“Land of a Million Rice Fields”), the first independent Thai kingdom. Over the next 250 years, much like Florence at the same time in southern Europe, Chiang Mai asserted itself as the centre of arts, culture and architecture in what is now northern Thailand. 

The Dhara Devi Mandarin Oriental, which took 1,000 workers some four years to complete, aims if not to recreate then at least to intimate a sense of the grace, grandeur and cultural significance that characterized the Lanna Kingdom in its ascendence. Whether or not it succeeds is not for me to say. But as we toured the grounds and took in the sights, which include no shortage of museum-worthy artifacts from the period, our interest in the history and culture of Chiang Mai was certainly piqued. Indeed, we could hardly wait to get into the city itself and start scouting locations.

The Chiang Mai of today, we soon discovered, bears little resemblance the idyllic, idealized royal Lanna world of our hotel. Scruffy, sprawling (the metropolitan area is home to a population of more than a million) and full of surprises, the city has a wonderfully authentic feel to it. There were just enough fellow travelers to remind us that we weren’t alone here, but not enough to spoil our sense of discovery. And as for the locals, they were all smiles — both with us and, more tellingly, with each other. 

As we kick back with a beer or two on the terrace of the lotus pond in our private villa compound here at the hotel, there’s much discussion about what to see and do first. As for me, I’m up for anything — except eating a cockroach at the open-air market on Chang Klan Road. Here’s to tomorrow.