Meliá Chiang Mai’s signature restaurant Mai Restaurant & Bar's new menu

Supporting Local Sustainable and Organic Farming

Meliá Chiang Mai’s signature restaurant Mai Restaurant & Bar has unveiled a new menu of innovative dishes concocted via a thoughtful cooking process to slash food waste and greenhouse emissions.

Meliá Chiang Mai Celebrates ‘Slow Travel’ with Long-Stay Perks

#chiangmai #melia

As an increasing number of travellers embrace ‘slow travel’, Meliá Chiang Mai is offering a host of benefits ranging from discounts on spa and dining to access to its executive lounge.

Awe-inspiring Rooftop Bars In Thailand

There are bars and then there are rooftop bars. We’ve put together a mini round-up of two awe-inspiring rooftop bars in Thailand – one towering over Bangkok, the other Chiang Mai. Perhaps these blurbs may fit with a broader story you’re working on about bars? We’d also welcome the chance to welcome you to experience these bars for yourself.

Bangkok Rooftop Bar Commands 34th Floor with Transparent Infinity Pool

Together with INNSiDE by Meliá Bangkok Sukhumvit’s jewel in the crown, a transparent infinity pool, The Giant Swing Pool Bar commands the 34th floor. Nestled between bar and pool, a compelling contemporary interpretation of Bangkok’s Brahman structure The Giant Swing makes for a dramatic photo backdrop. Adjacent to the infinity pool is an expansive rooftop terrace, dotted with outdoor lounges and sunbeds, that evokes an Ibiza mood accompanied with panoramic vistas. Open from 10am until midnight, the open-air pool bar serves Mediterranean, Thai and international snacks and dishes such as INNSiDE’s Burger and cool beverages including imaginative cocktails. By night, the pool bar becomes an upper-floor extension of the hotel’s 33rd floor LUZ Bangkok Tapas Bar. A spectacle unlike any other in Bangkok, tapas bar guests peer into the bottom of the infinity pool.

Chiang Mai Rooftop Bar Features Glass Bridge

Chiang Mai’s highest bar, Meliá Chiang Mai's 360-degree rooftop bar dubbed MAI The Sky Bar affords sweeping views of the Ping River to the city’s east and famed Doi Suthep Temple on the mountaintop to the west. Perched on the 22-floor, the bar features rooftop terraces at varying heights, with a spectacular glass bridge connecting the bar’s highest seating areas. Surrounded by glass balustrades that give way to stunning views of Chiang Mai at sunset and by night, the bar’s entertainment includes live bands and DJs. Drawing on Meliá’s Spanish roots, the city’s most happening venue’s menu serves a variety of tapas and pinchos, grazing boards and desserts under sections dubbed “Para Picar”, “Tableros” and “Postres” respectively. The mixologists craft a selection of beverages including imaginative cocktails that reference Chiang Mai’s forests and mountains.

Hotel Volunteers Help Restore Chiang Mai’s Biodiverse Forest Ecosystems

Meliá Chiang Mai’s staff have helped regenerate more than seven acres of seasonally dry tropical forest in Thailand’s mountainous north, planting more than 4,350 trees of species typical of the region’s natural forest ecosystems. In partnership with Chiang Mai University’s Doi Suthep Nature Centre and Forest Restoration Research Unit, the hotel’s volunteers have painstakingly conserved and restored forest within Doi Suthep-Pui National Park – Chiang Mai’s green backdrop and premier natural tourist attraction.

Chiang Mai’s Highest Rooftop Bar Launches Exciting New Menu With Green Twist

Meliá Chiang Mai’s 360-degree rooftop bar has unveiled a new menu with dishes underpinned by local sustainable and organic farming.

The highest bar in Chiang Mai, aptly named Mai the Sky Bar, is perched on the hotel’s 22nd floor, affording awe-inspiring views of the Ping River to the city’s east and famed Doi Suthep Temple on the mountaintop to the west. 

Meliá Chiang Mai Launches Chiang Mai’s Coolest Pool Bar

Anchored by a picture-perfect swimming pool, Meliá Chiang Mai has introduced Tien Pool Bar with a design that pays tribute to some of Chiang Mai’s most famous landmarks including Tha Phae Gate.

New ibis hotel opens in Chiang Mai

 

ibis, the world's leading economy hotel brand, has expanded its portfolio in Thailand with the opening of a brand-new property in Chiang Mai, the famous northern city which is a heaven for culture vultures and adventure seekers.

Thai cooking school in Chiang Mai

by Adam Corney in Chiang Mai

 I’m a bit of an amateur cook.

I love to gather my ingredients, lay them all out on the kitchen bench, turn on some Meatloaf, and lose myself in the joy of food for an hour or two as I prepare a delicious meal. A glass of wine or three always seems to make my cooking taste even better.

Chiang Mai bicycle tours

by Adam Corney

I rode 27.7kms today on a half day bike tour out of Chiang Mai city and into the surrounding towns and suburbs.

It’s amazing how much my view of Chiang Mai is coloured by the experiences we as travellers are forced into, whether we want to be or not.

For example, Chiang Mai has its tourist side – the markets, the bars, the restaurants, the tours and treks. All of this occupies our time while we’re in a location, and satisfies our needs – but it doesn’t really open up the city for exploration. When a well-worn path is in front of you, it’s difficult to avoid walking down it.

I took the fervent advice of a friend at Intrepid Travel in Bangkok to take the half-day bicycle tour, and I’m very glad he pushed me into it.
I’m not a cyclist. The last time I rode a bike I was in Melbourne, and it was one of those trendy fixed-gear bikes that all the hipsters love. So I’m not exactly your role model bike rider.

Rit was my guide on the half day bike tour, which was delivered by Click and Travel. He made the trip fun, relaxed, and most of all comfortable – riding at a pace I could handle, and knowing exactly where to go and how to get there.

**
Rit
Rit came fom a family that couldn’t pay for secondary education, so he voluntarily chose to be a monk and receive his education through temple. He lived and studied as a monk for 7 years.
When the time came to leave the monkhood and return to society, he found it incredilby difficult. As a monk, the only skills you’re taught are how to pray and meditate, so you have no translatable skills. He’s studying now for his tour guide certificate and has been a bicycle guide with the company for two years.
**

What really struck me about the bike tour (aside from my incredibly sore butt afterward) was how different Thai life was once you leave the tourist side. It’s a crime to call their life simple. These people’s lives are not simple – they’re as complicated with relationships, dreams, and desires as ours are. We’re all human beings.

The word I’m looking for is solitude. Compared to the hustle and bustle of tuktuks, taxis, songthaews, and utes, this almost felt like a quiet paradise. It’s exactly the same as our own suburbs – they’re the places you live, not the places you work.

We visited Rit’s home temple; a former Leper colony with a rich history about a US missionary doctor in the early 20th century; and Wiang Kum Kam, an original settlement that predates Chiang Mai.

But the point of the ride wasn’t the destinations – it was the ride itself, and being exposed to the other side of life.

I really appreciated the chance to see what life was like outside of Chiang Mai city – it’s not often you get the chance to escape the well-worn path, even if only for a little while.

Plus it helped me burn off some calories that I knew I was going to be gaining the next day, when I went to do my Thai Cooking Class…

Northern Thai culture in Chiang Mai

Words: Brad Crawford

Early in the year, I had the chance to visit the beautiful, northern Thai city of Chiang Mai. After arriving in Chiang Mai late evening, the Tamarind Village Hotel in the old part of the city beckoned. This hotel is a beautiful traditional Thai style hotel in the heart of the old city walls. The renovated, original walls of the old city can still be seen and make for fantastic photo opportunities.

For those travellers wanting a nice standard property that has the added advantage of being quiet and centrally located, it is hard to go past the Tamarind Village Hotel.

During our visit to Chiang Mai, we visited the 'Sawasdee Elephant Sanctuary' where we watched these amazing mammals paint canvases with their trunks with different coloured paints. An elephant painting souvenir is a prized item as each has its own unique character. There are plenty of other clever tricks on offer during the performance so this is a visit that should not be missed.

Visitors also have the opportunity of riding the elephants before seeing them undertake their daily bathing ritual. Clearly, the elephants love this part of their routine!

Elephants are very highly regarded in Thailand and well cared for due to the important part they have played in the history of the country over the centuries. From the Elephant Sanctuary, the next part of our adventure was a visit to the Mae Ping River to experience some bamboo river rafting. This was an enjoyable and very peaceful experience.

The Mae Ping River is one of the longest rivers in Thailand and a rafting cruise gives you the chance to take in the surrounding scenery of the Northern Thailand jungle.

A unique cultural experience was had at the next stop with a visit to a local hill tribe just north of Chiang Mai which was very rewarding. We were entertained by the local school children singing traditional songs, colourfully adorned in traditional Thai clothing.

World Travel Service can arrange sightseeing tours around Thailand. You'll find travel desks in major hotels in Chiang Mai or you can arrange all your sightseeing arrangements with your travel agent before you travel.

THAI flights, hotels and sightseeing tours in Thailand can all be booked with travel agents in Australia or by calling 1300 640 373.

Rachamankha Chiang Mai hotel review - Mekong adventure in the old heart

A great hotel is one which fires the imagination. Transports you beyond the everyday into some fantasy world of your own choosing.

It’s something I feel when I step into, say, The Raffles in Singapore and the E & O in Penang.

And it’s something I experienced recently down a rather non-descript soi (street) in the heart of the old walled city of ChiangMai. At Rachamankha.

Its imposing walls open up to reveal a splendid oasis that immediately allows you to dream you are on the verge of some great Mekong adventure. Like Henri Mahout slashing his way through the jungles to unveil an overgrown Angkor Wat.

But rather than untamed jungle, here you find frangipani trees, groves of palms and even bonsais. The shrill chirps of cicadas. And bird song. And thick-pillared buildings dazzle white in the highland sun.

“It’s so authentic,” said my wife. 

Indeed, Rachamankha has a sense of establishment and stature way beyond its mere 10 years. Perhaps that’s got a lot to do with use of heavy dark local woods. Or the 19^th century Burmese antique manuscript boxes which line the corridors. And the beautiful old furniture pieces which adorn each of the 26 rooms and suites. No IKEA-like chipboard stuff here.

Local materials are also used in things like leather-bound menu covers and locally crafted lampshades. And 2-inch thick doors which add to the oeuvre of its Chiang Mai Old Town location.

One ‘but’, however. For a luxury hotel offering, not all rooms offer a bath tub. A shower just doesn’t cut it for me in such sumptuous surroundings. A strong personal bias of mine. I don’t care too much about the room as long as there is a bathtub to luxuriate in. With a bonus point for an old claw-footed enamel one.

Guests will enjoy its airy library, which once again brings us to the likes of the Oriental Bangkok with its leveraged literary heritage. And for a truly regional gastronomic experience, the hotel’s gourmet restaurant dishes up exotic offerings from Thai, Myanmarese and Tai Yai (southern Chinese and Shan ) influences. A la carte breakfast served in the Chinese-themed courtyard sets the tone for a special day ahead.

At the end of a fascinating day around Chiang Mai, the hotel works its magic too. 

“It’s sooo romantic,” cooed my wife as we walked across the moodily spot-lit gardens to sit around the pool one night.

Little wonder then Rachamankha has garnered awards for architecture, culture and boutique accommodation from various respected sources including Conde Naste. For a wonderfully civilized adventure. Imagine that.

One of the best places to honeymoon? Kuoni says Thailand.

Banyan Tree Koh Samui - a perfect honeymoon hideaway

 The word honeymoon itself is enough to bring sighs and gushes to the lips of young maidens, and fleeting clouds of twinkling stars to their eyes. The stuff of fairy tales since they were little princesses ...

So no pressure then when it comes to choosing the best honeymoon destination.

Especially if it's only a once-in-a-lifetime experience (which we all sincerely hope it is when going into it.)

Let's narrow it down for you. The good folks at Kuoni have just released their 2013 Travel Trends report and Amazing Thailand ranks number 3 in terms of the most desirable and best places to go for a honeymoon this year.

A couple I know were both working in a resort in the Maldives when they got married. So, if you already live and work in the Maldives -- another shitty day in Paradise! -- where do you go for your honeymoon?

In their case, Bangkok. Jing Jing!

Andrew wanted to play golf with his mates, and Liz was happy to trawl the shopping emporiums of the City of Angels.

Personally I might look further afield to some of the smaller islands. Ko Samui comes immediately to mind. (For your info, the word koh in Thai means island, so need need to repeat Koh Samui island.) I have blogged about Samui a fair bit, so have a little search around my blog archive.

Beautiful sunsets and romantic beach walks

Then there's Yao Noi, a really unspoilt little island in the Krabi area (so you could combine a few spots, some lively, some quieter and more secluded in your trip). If you really want to indulge in the most wonderful spot, choose the Six Senses Yao Noi. 

Ko Lanta is another that comes to mind in the Krabi area, in the Andaman Sea, with endless stretches of white sandy beaches. As does Khao Lak, just north of Phuket.

All those places will give you idyllic beaches, sunshine, diving and snorkelling. 

Do I actually recommend Phuket? Frankly I am over it as I've been travelling there since 1988 (!) and I can see how it's really popular with the beach and beer crowd -- not really how you want to spend your honeymoon is it? (Or if so, good thing you are not married to me!) Although there is the Millionaire's Mile of Anantara, Indigo Pearl, JW Marriot, etc up the very top north west of the island.

But if you prefer mountains and quieter bucolic times, choose Chiang Mai or Chiang Rai which also have a lifetime's worth of cozy and secluded resorts, with languid vistas of rice fields and beautiful valleys.

Gardens at Doi Tung, Chiang Rai province.

So that's almost a top 10 destinations for honeymoon in Thailand. Hope it's been a useful starting point for you? Let me know.

Of course, if you'd like to go to the Maldives for honeymoon anyway, it's easy to access from Bangkok too. So you can have the best of both worlds, and, like Liz and Andrew, claim you spent your honeymoon in Bangkok.

Google Street View now in Amazing Thailand

So, Thailand has become the 35th country in the world -- and second in South East Asia after Singapore -- to be StreetViewed (Ok, maybe that product name is not a verb yet).

Well, parts of it anyway ... Bangkok, Phuket and Chiang Mai for starters. And Google claims that 90% of all streets are covered.

That in itself is a BIG number, and, dear readers, I am not about to go out and double check it. But Bangkok is riddled with streets, sois, minor sois, sub sois, sois off sois, and little access ways that just don't plain exist on any map.

After all, where do you think U2 got the inspiration for their song Where The Streets Have No Name?

Does Google Street View really cover 90%? That's not the point. The point is that as a tourist in Thailand or before your travel to Bangkok etc, you can have a look at some of the places you might want to stay ... such as Khao San Road. Maybe some of the dreadlocks and tattoos you spot on incidental passersby or brochure-toting touts will put you off. Or maybe make you say, Get Me There Now, Darnnit!

Street View makes you virtual judge and jury. But it's never as good as being there and seeing it for yourself.

Amazing Thailand Songkran 2012 festival

It's that time of the year again ... summer, when the mercury hits about 400 and there's 'mango madness' in the air.

Bangkok Airways -- the surprisingly affordable choice in Thailand

Bangkok Airways, Asia's Boutique airline which services all the exotic destinations in Southeast Asia that come to mind, is travelling about 30% better than last year.

“Our most popular destinations are Samui, Phuket, and Chiang Mai," said a pleased Bangkok Airways’ president, Mr. Puttipong Prasarttong-Osoth. "We have improved our performance over the year, especially on the Bangkok-Phuket route where we now fly six flights daily. For Bangkok-Chiang Mai, we fly five flights per day. Direct flights from Chiang Mai to Samui are especially popular with an 80 per cent cabin factor.”

Although not a Low Cost Carrier (LCC) -- in fact, they are the opposite, with fancy lounges and nice meals -- they are often priced similarly to Air Asia and the like, and therefore are my first choice for short-haul travel in and around Amazing Thailand, jing jing.

Famous blockbusters filmed in Northern Thailand ... a surprising list!

It’s easy to see why tourists come to northern Thailand's Lanna region: evocative temples, lively markets, cloud-scraping mountains, vibrant summer, nippy winter, and the soothing mix of small-town charm and budding, hip neighbourhoods. 

In sum, it’s romantic. But for Hollywood filmmakers, from Ridley Scott and Barry Levinson to Sylvester Stallone (or Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone as his mother calls him when she's angry), the pull of the area is not its romanticism but its practicality – the combination of accessible jungle, tame elephants, and the ease in which it can be transformed by movie magic into somewhere resembling, mostly, Vietnam.

Levinson arrived here in 1987 with Robin Williams and Forest Whitaker to shoot the comedy Good Morning Vietnam, about a military DJ who injects sparkle into jaded GIs, with Chiang Mai standing in for Saigon circa 1965. The movie also stars the famous and not completely uncute Thai actress, Jintara Sukapat (a regular face on local Thai TV). Three years later, Mel Gibson (or Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson as his mother calls him when she's angry) landed with Robert Downey Jr, for the filming of Air America, a Vietnam-era military drama about a pilot recruited for a special CIA mission.

These two films generated much interest in film circles for using northern Thailand as a location, even though nobody in the movie-watching public really knew it was Amazing Thailand. More recently, two big American productions have done a little more justice to the city by at least setting their plots in northern Thailand, as opposed to a stand-in Saigon. 

In 2007, Ridley Scott came with Denzel Washington to shoot American Gangster, in which the Oscar-winning actor plays a heroine dealer seeking a deal with a drug lord of unidentified nationality in the Golden Triangle. Rambo 4 (2008), meanwhile, has actor and director Sylvester Stallone (John Rambo) living a hermetic existence in the jungle, catching snakes and brooding and swearing, before missionaries hire him to lead a danger-filled expedition into Burma (it was, of course, not shot in Burma).

On a much smaller scale, a number of made-for video flicks have been shot in the region, including Sniper 3, starring Tom Berenger as a lone soldier working for the secret service, and Vampires: The Turning, whose title is explanation enough.

Like the northern Thailand scenery itself, that list is breathtakingly impressive, jing jing. 

Footnote: thanks to Kong Rithdee (Lanna 101 magazine) for his expert input into this piece.

More movies being made on location in Amazing Thailand ...

Just read in the Bangkok Post that a staggering 359 movies were shot in Bangkok last year. That's about one per day (with one week off for good behaviour).

I've blogged a lot about the movie Hangover 2 lately, but there's a whole bunch -- like around 358 -- I've obviously missed.

And outside Bangkok, Phuket, Chiang Mai and Kanchanaburi are also popular locations. In fact Kanchanaburi (home of the River Kwai but ironically not where the famous movie Bridge on the River Kwai was filmed) is an up and coming starlet, with 28 movies filmed there last year.

Best known of those was The Scorpion King. Anyone who follows Korean culture and movies would also be familiar with Sunny, which was shot there.

Anyone know which other movies were filmed in Bangkok or Amazing Thailand?

Lanna 101: new magazine about Northern Thailand (Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Pai, etc)

If you travel to Thailand or Bangkok, you will probably already know about Bangkok 101 magazine, which is the best-selling lifestyle, travel and 'what's on' type magazine about the great many goings on in that city.

Now comes Lanna 101: your definitive guide to northern Thailand.

It covers the region from Sukhothai north (one of the dramatic ancient capitals, roughly 350km northwards of Bangkok is considered northern Thailand).  So Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai (which turns 750 next year), Pai (Thai tourists' favourite winter retreat), Mae Hong Son (interesting border city), the intriguing The Golden Triangle (where Laos and Burma meet Thailand on the Mekong River),  Loei (near Isaan and the Mekong), and one of my personal favourite cities Nan (an up and coming Pai, full of coffee shops, hanging flower baskets, and a well-preserved Lanna culture).

So what is Lanna? Essentially it was the Kingdom of One Million Rice Fields which spread from what is now eastern Burma down through this region in the 12-18th centuries under the guidance of founder King Mengrai ... well, he wasn't around for all of those 500 years, of course, but you understand what I mean.

The first issue of the magazine is on sale at the news stands NOW, but you can also jump online at www.lanna101.com to see the best of travel, accommodation, arts, community, wellness, nightlife, etc, etc, etc.

It's bloody brilliant. I know, because I edited it, jing jing.

Oops -- I got it wrong about the Thailand election.

These are words you will rarely -- if ever! -- hear from me:

I. Was. Wrong.

Wrong about what? The aftermath of the recently completed Thai elections. With all the build-up in the past couple of years, the red shirts, yellow shirts, polka-dotted purple shirts, blah-dee-blah-dee-blah, I thought there was no way that the election result would simply be announced and people would say "Oh, Ok" and get back to work.

But that is exactly what has happened in Amazing Thailand in the last few days. Thankfully. There WAS no aftermath.

I have covered the country from Krabi to Phuket to Bangkok to Koh Samui to Bangkok (again) and now Chiang Mai in the last week, and have seen not one hair out of place. Nothing amiss. Nothing simmering that I can gauge from my humble viewpoint. Even though a good percentage of people (like in any democracy) didn't get the result they wanted.

May I say for the record, as a foreigner, I am absolutely apathetic and not involved in the politics of this , or indeed any, country.

So, the point -- you knew I had one to make EVENTUALLY didn't you?!? -- is that if you're thinking of travelling to Thailand but were a little worried or thinking What if? or whatever ... take a leaf out of Nike's book and Just Do It.

Confirm your flight and get on over here to Amazing Thailand now ... jing jing.

If you enjoy reading Thailand Jing Jing then ...

Dear readers

Thanks to your support, we have now had over 20,000 pages of my Amazing Thailand travel blog stories downloaded ...

So, I thought you might also like to know I have another blog called THAILAND FACES AND PLACES.

In it, I set out to get locals (and long-term farangs living in Thailand) to invite you into their life story, and then take you to their top 5 places.

We go way waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay beyond touristic Bangkok, Phuket, Pattaya, Koh Samui, and Chiang Mai. Instead you'll find yourself in known-only-to-locals back streets, coffee shops, stores, noodle houses, Thai restaurants, and so on in places like Pai, Nan, Chonburi, Koh Turatao, etc.

Check it out, and tell your friends about it too. It's the best travel blog since Thailand Jing Jing. Jing jing!