[Tommy]

Chiang Mai Datasheet

Chiang Mai is the capital of north Thailand. It's a laid back city which feels more like a big town. Theres something for everyone, although the city's best nightlife accurs only during weekends theres always some fun to be had. There are small coffeeshops, foreign-owned bars and typical Thai and Western restaurants all around the city, street food is quite popular in Chiang Mai. The good thing about this place is it's location: in the middle of nature, it takes about 20 mins by motorbike to be in the middle of a ricefield or hillside forest.

City population: approx. 150,000
Metro population: approx. 950,000
How to get there: by airplane from Bangkok airport (60 mins) or by Bus departing from any provincial capital in Thailand



Accomodation

Chiang Mai is truely heaven when it comes to cheap accomodation.

Cheap: in the "old part of town" which is basicly in the middle of the city on the inside of the canal is where you'll find the budget hotels. Starting for as little as 3$ a night for the sleazy backpackers going up to 18$ a night for a clean serviced room. You'll find small hotels with hot & cold water, cable TV, internet wifi and airconditioning for 10$ a night or only 200/300$ a month including daily cleaning service. These places are more like guesthouses and you'll find good deals all year round.

Luxury: there are also luxurious hotels starting at 35$ a night going up to 300$. I recommend staying in one of the "Lanna style" hotels. Lanna style is a specific style of decoration and architecture from Thailand, you will find Lanna style hotels with swimmingpool, airconditioning, poolside bar and restaurant starting at 65$ up to 150$ a night located in the city centre.

Condominiums & Houses: there are some condotels and nice housing areas around the city. It's a bit confusing because I found alot of apartments, condos and houses in this and prices are all very different. For example once I found a 1 bedroom apartment in the downtown area for 115$ a month, it was on the 5th floor without elevator, no airconditioning but it had a 100m² (950 sqft) roof top terrace and it was clean inside. On the other hand I also found 1 bedroom condos fully furnished with flatscreen TV, US kitchen, airconditioning and elevator for 500 US$ a month, unfortunately the landlords usually want you to sign a 6 or 12 month rental contract but it might be negociable if the landlord is a foreigner.


Food

You don't need to cook while you're there. Eating out is cheap and you'll find something to bite on 24h/7d. Street food is popular, theres the classic Thai noodle soup stalls but that's not what i'm talking about: there are some great Japanese food stalls around Huay Kaew road (the big road going to Doi Suthep).
Western and Thai food is all around the city especially in the tourist areas.

There is a good upscale restaurant located along the riverside on the other side of the bridge when you're coming from the city centre (note: not the canal).

Transportation

Rent a brand new motorbike for 4$ a day, use the red trucks (0,75$ a ride) or negotiate a rate with any of the private tuk-tuk drivers.
You won't be able to flag down a taxi in Chiang Mai, the only available taxis are the ones departing from the airport or arranged by your hotel/guesthouse or travel agency.

Tourist attractions

Elephant riding


Visit the famous buddhist temple located on Doi Suthep (Doi means mountain in Thai, Suthep is a name)


Visit the Chiang Mai waterfalls


Bungee jumping


Visit one of the Hilltribe villages


Visit one of the Royal Gardens (30 mins ride by motorbike)



Nightlife

The best nightclubs open Friday and Saturday and are located in the Nimmanhemin road area which is where most students hang out and where you'll find some good restaurants, there are some other nightclubs where most foreign tourists hang out and where you'll meet semi-pros and pros who would love to go to your room and do their job. There are also quite a few foreign owned bars where you can play some pool and where you can probably hook up with some of the bargirls who are easy prays. Theres a very good Bowling centre at Central Shoppingmall on Huay Kaew road.

Monkey Club has a more mature crowd & (open Friday & Saturday). Good music, cocktails are 6$ and the people look fresh and clean.

Warm Up is located on Nimmanhemin road, lots of students, theres an outside terrace where most of the people hangout and theres a small inside-club with good electronic music. Open Friday & Saturday, this place is usually packed!!

President Club is where most people go when Monkey Club & Warm Up close, this is a very well decorated and organised nightclub located downstairs of the President hotel. On the left side is mostly Thai music and on the right side is mostly electronic music. Entrance is 300 baht (10$), this is where you'll meet the well educated Thais. Open Friday and Saturday night.

Paris Club located in some kind of a huge basement downstairs of Central shoppingmall, mostly Thai people. Weird ambiance. Been there 1 time and stayed less than 5 mins.

Downstairs of the Pornping tower are 2 nightclubs, one with livebands and one with hip hop, rnb & house music. Lots of foreign tourists semi-pros and the usual Thai crowd. Open 7 days a week.

Spicy is a small bar/club located across the old part of town, lots of sleazy foreigners, and backpackers go to this place. Easy to pull a local girl here but they usually are semi-pros or pros. This place is as sleazy as it gets in the north of Thailand. Open 7 a days a week.

Lucky club is located close to Spicy, this is where all the sleazy people go for some afterparty.

Mandalay is a good place to go if you are with a Thai girl or a group, Thai livebands. Thais pay no entrance, foreigners pay 10$ entrance fee. Try to go there with your date, don't go there alone. Open 7 days a week.

Chiang Mai girls

Most northern Thai girls go study in Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai girls are known to have lighter skin than Isan & Southern Thai girls. Most girls you'll meet will be a little bit shy while being approached by a foreigner (!), learn some Thai words. I used to just go around the shoppingmalls, coffeeshops and talk to alot of girls, although it might get boring in Chiang Mai after a while because I remember I once went to a hospital to flirt with the nurses out of pure bordem.

Chiang Mai girls are not as cosmopolitan as Bangkok girls, not as sleazy as the Pattaya & Phuket girls, overall a good place to go and chillout but I wouldn't recommend it if it's your going for a short girly holiday.

I recommend going to shoppingmalls, student areas and talk to as many beautiful local girls you see. Use internet dating before you go there to line up some girls ready to meet you.

[Tommy]

(03-14-2011 10:28 PM)OGNorCal707 Wrote:  

I'd agree with Tommy about Chaing Mai, it's a really chilled out town, which doesn't feel like a city at all. It's got a lot of culture, good food, chilled out vibe, and lot's of expats and universities for an intellectual side. It's definitely not a huge nightlife destination, nor are the girls that impressive compared to Bangkok. However, Chaing Mai is so laid back, everyone seems so approachable and open to meeting new people. It's a major tourist destination and full of expats so there are lot's of women from all over the world. There are a bunch of Thai women too, as it is a university town, but a lot of the Thai university students seem to come from weatlhy families and stick with other Thais.

Some spots I can recommend to check out in Chaing Mai are basically in the old town, the Reggae and live music bars which basically encompass this large square. The most popping and famous is Root's Rock Reggae a classic reggae bar, but also you have Zoe which has surprisingly good Turkish food, as well as a chill out cocktail bar and nightclub. Across the street is "Heaven Beach", which does live music and has a party dive bar feel with sand on the floor. This area with these bars is the best place to party in Chaing Mai, and is mostly full of travelers, with a mix of expats, locals, and some Thai univ. students.

Other than that there are two main clubs in Chaing Mai, the "Monkey Club", which is actually really well run and classy joint, with food, lounge, multiple bars, dance floor, etc. This was the best club I personally went to and was probably 85% Thai university students. Lot's of hot Thai girls, but mostly in big mixed groups of friends. The other major club, I believe is called "The Warm UP Club", and when I went was a total indie rock hipster scene, about 95% Thai college kids, which was surreal for me, because I felt like I was in the Mission Dist. of SF. There is supposed to be a Q Bar in Chaing Mai, but I didn't check it out.

Zoe is a cool place to hang out. There are some small bars in and around this area (inside the old part of town).

[The Duke]

Thailand is awesome. Chiang Mai looks like a cool place to check out. Thanks for the post.

[Tommy]

Chiang Mai is probably the cheapest place in Thailand to live as a foreigner and enjoy a comfortable lifestyle. I knew quite a few outgoing foreigners who lived on 30,000 baht (approx. 1000$) /month. It would be useless to spend more than 2000$ a month on living expenses in Chiang Mai.

[peterthephoenix]

Dope sheet. +1.

[gringoed]

Tommy,

Thanks for the datasheet. How easy are the student girls to pick up assuming I speak no Thai? Do the young girls make good girlfriends? How long would you recommend staying if there was no restrictions?

[beebopaloo]

(03-16-2011 02:50 PM)gringoed Wrote:  

Tommy,

Thanks for the datasheet. How easy are the student girls to pick up assuming I speak no Thai? Do the young girls make good girlfriends? How long would you recommend staying if there was no restrictions?

I would rate them 'super difficult'. At least with night game.

Generally they hang out at tables with bottle service in big groups. It is the same thing a lot of places in Thailand that decent people frequent.
Also they are kinda immature and shy, even girls in their mid twenties.

In Thailand girls are often very easy or very hard to pull.

That being said, Chiang Mai might be my favorite place in Thailand. The nightlife is pretty good most days of the week and the atmosphere is awesome.

[Vacancier Permanent]

Tommy,
Amazing data sheet on CM! I'm so pissed I didn't make it there when I was in LOS for 3.5 months. It's now very high on my list of places to see in LOS when I return in October. Btw, did you go to any Thai language school for foreigners? If yes, how much did they charge for say a month? You say 1k/month is more than enough in CM and 2K is overkill? Can you put up a basic budget list of how much things cost there? Am I right that things in general cost up to 1/2 half of BKK?

Thanks man!

[Tommy]

beebopalo: you are right. Girls are either impossible or very easy to pull as a foreigner overthere. That's why I don't recommend it as a short girly holiday destination. Most student girls in CM seem to be shy and not sexually mature enough. On the other hand theres always the easy and fun Thai girls around but they are usually 6's and not the 9's you see at the more upscale places, for example I met a Thai girl who lived in the UK and was very fun to be with and she had the biggest tits I ever saw on a Thai girl, banged her after I met her in Warm Up but I would definately prefer a innocent, cute little Thai student, too bad they don't know how to have fun. A good alternative are the working girls who seem to be more open minded. Most student girls who hang out in groups at the decent nightspots go home with their female friends or alone. I never saw any game being performed by the young Thai guys at the nightspots, they just meet their friends and that's it. I got alot of weak reactions from students at the decent nightspots OR they would be too childish and that's not with who I roll so I sticked with the young professional women.

To be honest, I've met alot of girls who were used to nothing, Bangkok girls are more fun but Chiang Mai city is a cooler place.

Vacancier Permanent: everything is indeed 1/2 the cost of what it is in Bangkok. Let's say $1,5k a month is enough to do everything you want overthere unless you buy a bottle of Jimmy Walker on a daily basis in one of the clubs. For example a bottle of J.W. costs about 50$ at night with coke that's a little bit more, if you go with a few friends that comes to basicly nothing. Food is in Chiang Mai is there to be eaten. Small bottle local beers range from 50 to 70 baht a bottle and a bottle of Heineken beer in President club is 150 baht.

[Tommy]

Deleted

[Tommy]

edit: I mean Johnny Walker and not Jimmy.

[gringoed]

Awesome info Tommy! I'm definitely going to hit up CM.

[OSL]

Bump.

Did this seem like a place where you could exclusively date hot Euro chicks?

I get the feeling I would like Chiang Mai more than the islands.

[AlphaTravel]

Some good info here, thanks for that. I'm in Chiang Mai for a week or so. Is the nightlife only really good on the weekends? Is it Nimmanhemin road or nothing where nightlife is concerned?

I'm staying in a hotel in the old town and there's a ton of bars around here but none very exciting that I've found so far. Just full of tourists, a lot of them are really generic looking British or sport type bars. Found one OK place with live music and a mix of farang and locals but again it's not very exciting. I saw one 'super club' place that looked anything but from the outside.

Going to see a Muay Thai show tonight, much cheaper here than in BKK. The CM Zoo is pretty good too by the way, 100 baht entry and they have everything you could want to see.

[artur jedi]

I'm in CM right now, just came back from Zoe&surrounding bars. Not as good&packed as on friday, but still good. Also last week been to Spicy, thats a small club and at 3 am it wasn't even half full on friday night.
Anyways Zoe on the weekdays is really empty, what are the suggested bars/discos to go on tuesday/wednesday night? (I plan to stay till sunday, so have entire week to party/visit around).

[Brosemite]

Cool write up! I have an aunt living in Bangkok of Chinese descent from Chiang Mai. The people will have lighter skin there because of that aforementioned Chinese influence. Great cultural write up on a city I'd like to visit someday!

[Northern]

(03-17-2011 02:00 PM)Tommy Wrote:  

...Most student girls who hang out in groups at the decent nightspots go home with their female friends or alone. I never saw any game being performed by the young Thai guys at the nightspots, they just meet their friends and that's it. I got alot of weak reactions from students at the decent nightspots OR they would be too childish and that's not with who I roll so I sticked with the young professional women.
..

Went to Fabrique (it is inside the President hotel) the other night. It was refreshing to be in a normal club, not a place filled with tourists and hookers. It started to fill up after midnight and was packed by 2am. It was a low season (mid-May), there were only a couple of westerners among the 200-people crowed. Girls were young (rich?), cute, dressed sexy but were drinking/dancing at tables with their friends.

It has been mentioned here what normal Thai people think about girls hanging out with white guys, so I kept a low profile and was drinking with a group of Thai guys. I was about to show these bastards how to approach girls but they went and brought a few hot little things to our table. Who said they have no game?! They did everything right - taking, kino and eventually kissing. I think one of them got laid that night. The girls were a bit westernized, not shy at all, danced with me, maintained eye contact and slightly bitchy. Unfortunately I did not have much time for Chiang Mai.

[Kieran]

(05-30-2013 02:09 AM)Northern Wrote:  

(03-17-2011 02:00 PM)Tommy Wrote:  

...Most student girls who hang out in groups at the decent nightspots go home with their female friends or alone. I never saw any game being performed by the young Thai guys at the nightspots, they just meet their friends and that's it. I got alot of weak reactions from students at the decent nightspots OR they would be too childish and that's not with who I roll so I sticked with the young professional women.
..

Went to Fabrique (it is inside the President hotel) the other night. It was refreshing to be in a normal club, not a place filled with tourists and hookers. It started to fill up after midnight and was packed by 2am. It was a low season (mid-May), there were only a couple of westerners among the 200-people crowed. Girls were young (rich?), cute, dressed sexy but were drinking/dancing at tables with their friends.

It has been mentioned here what normal Thai people think about girls hanging out with white guys, so I kept a low profile and was drinking with a group of Thai guys. I was about to show these bastards how to approach girls but they went and brought a few hot little things to our table. Who said they have no game?! They did everything right - taking, kino and eventually kissing. I think one of them got laid that night. The girls were a bit westernized, not shy at all, danced with me, maintained eye contact and slightly bitchy. Unfortunately I did not have much time for Chiang Mai.

Yeah a lot of Thai guys have good game. People just don't notice it when they go to Thai venues because they assume they already know each other, or are already couples, etc. It's not game in the walk around the club approaching all the good looking girls way though; they pretty much just get a bottle and start getting drunk, be friendly and social with the girls at tables around them and join the tables if they can, and then as the night goes on and everyone gets more and more drunk they will pair off or exchange details. I've seen separate tables of guys and girls merge countless times after one of the guys approaches them, and to anyone that arrives afterwards, it would look like they came together as friends or couples.

Regarding Chiang Mai, the girls are pretty, but for me it's just too small and after a few days I need to get back to Bangkok (I like to be in big cities).

Another city I haven't seen mentioned on here is Korat. The girls aren't as pretty as in Chiang Mai, but there is still plenty of talent. There's also a lot less foreigners than elsewhere, and a young good looking guy that gets himself established there could pretty much have his pick of the litter.

[ThailandRockstar]

A friend of mines does OK in Korat. He's actually based in a village somewhere nearbye for work but heads in at the weekend and he tells me most weeks he gets a bang. He's hardly what you would consider a handsome guy and he's a mad drunk but seems to do fine, think it's a novelty factor as not so many farang up there.

[WanderingSoul]

I would like to check out Isaan. I hear Ubon and Udon have tons of foreigners, but I've been told Khon Kaen is a super cool city. Not sure how many foreigners are there, but I believe less.

[ThailandRockstar]

KK is OK but not that exciting IME. I didn't stay there long just for a few days but I was kind of bored and glad to leave. I banged a girl but I met her through another chick who I'd hooked up with in BKK. It was weird she brought out her friend and actually let me hook up with her in front of her even though I was supposed to be with her. There's a fair few farang and a load of bars that cater to them but it seems to be mostly older guys from what I saw.

[Bill Brasky]

Chiang Mai Update:

Monkey Club is closed for good.

[Beyond Borders]

^ Whaaaaat? Bummer. Well, it was a good run, I suppose. Venue turnover is typically pretty fast-paced in Southeast Asia.

[Bill Brasky]

Went on a date last night with a girl I met on Thaifriendly.com (a site recommended by a fellow traveler).

I met up with her at a bar called Zoe in Yellow. She showed up looking very sexy. She's actually not Thai but from one of the tribal villages in the North. She spoke great English and was very playful.

I honestly thought this chick was a hooker and felt a bit embarrsed walking around with her as she kind of looked like one. I felt all eyes on me that I was another farang "taking advantage" of young girls. However, I quickly pushed this out of my mind knowing that this is a social convention acculturated into me and other men by the feminine imperative.

Anyways, she was very playful and we ended up coming back to my place to "watch a movie." She turned on the TV and laid on my bed with me and started cuddling. We made out and she immediately took her clothes off. At this point I was definitely sure that she was probably a working girl. We fucked and it was great. A came a bit quickly and she teased me about it, although not offensively.

We ended up going to sleep. I'll note that I hid my wallet before going to sleep because, again, I thought maybe there was some catch as it was insanely easy getting her back to my place and fucking. Woke up the next day and fucked again. Then took her back to her scooter.

She didn't ask me for any money at all. She told me she just likes dick. Unbelievable.

I'll end with some tips for guys coming here:

Thai girls are not into huge meatheads like girls in the west. They are freaked out by it.
Thai girls do not like dating Thai guys. They are either gay or straight but too fem and too short.

I'll admit, while it was good and easy, I didn't get that much satisfaction out of it and probably won't fuck her again. What I've noticed about myself is that I'm not so much concerned about the sex as I am in the conquering of a girl. I still want to fuck the bitchy high class Thai girls.

[CodyB]

(04-01-2015 07:30 AM)mrbiggs Wrote:  

Thai girls do not like dating Thai guys. They are either gay or straight but too fem and too short.

Sweeping statement. Most Thai girls date Thai guys, so doubt they dislike Thai guys. On top of that, in Bangkok most of the hottest most eligible females are dating Thai guys exclusively.