Another morning begins with a long walk through the park, watching the Takraw games in progress – man they are athletic! – and totally enjoying the beautiful day. After our circuits, we go in search of cappuccino. We aren’t really familiar with this area of town, it is mostly residential and medical on the other side of the moat – and not much in the way of cafes around the park on this side. So we cross over to the other side of the moat, by the hospital, figuring there’s got to be someplace over here for a coffee. We end up finding a cafe in a hotel/resort called Smile Lanna. As it is the only option we can see, we dutifully pay for an expensive (relatively speaking!) cappuccino and at least get to enjoy it in a lovely garden and waterfall setting. Ah well. What to do?

On our way back, we manage to find this cute little coffee shop called the Beat Box, located in a shed sort of set up on the moat road. I had read about this place, but the reviews all said the hours were sporadic, and not wanting to chance them being closed, we settled for Smile. As it turns out, Beat Box was open and looked adorable, so that is definitely on our list for an after park-walk coffee sometime this next week.

After a quick lunch at the house, we head north through town to the Lanna Folklife Museum and across the street the Chiang Mai city Arts & Cultural centre. Pretty amazing after all the time we’ve spent in Chiang Mai that we’ve never come here. Ah well. We play around with the Christmas displays still everywhere in the city, then enter into an excellent display of everything Lanna. Lanna is what the Northern state of Thailand is called. It is a kingdom that was founded 5 centuries before Bangkok came into existence, and one that ruled most of Thailand for centuries. The Chiang Mai area, and Northern surrounds, is deeply steeped in Lanna culture, traditions and way of life. This museum depicts all that in one 2 story building.

There is Lanna sculpture and art, life size mannequins in different cultural and living situations (and really realistic mannequins at that! A couple of these mannequins actually gave me a start – I thought they were real live human beings) , textiles, Mural painting, which had a totally interested display on the different stages of the mural (walls, white wash, charcoal drawing, then paint) and just about everything Lanna you can imagine. Excellent learning experience.

Next we head across the street, passing the 3 Kings Memorial, all decked out in New Year celebration gear, to try to find the entrance to the Cultural Centre. It takes us a minute or two of wandering – the entrance being in a very non-intuitive place – but we finally figure it out and enter into a deep dive on the history of Chiang Mai, the city itself. Not much on photo taking – actually you aren’t allowed to take pictures in many rooms – but still quite interesting to learn all about the history from prehistoric times, to King Mangrai, the founder of Chiang Rai and then Chiang Mai, to the construction of the city (complete with building history, Dynastic rulers and life along the Mae Ping River) and Buddhism and the Traditions of the 12 months (supernatural beliefs, along with an explanation of the symbolism on the bottom of Buddha’s feet). Fascinating!

After our cultural afternoon, we make an excursion further north to the Chang Phuak Gate (the North Gate) where another food stall market is held at night. We thought it would be fun to try all the different food stall markets. But….this one has a famous stall made popular by none other than Anthony Bourdain – Cowboy Lady or Cowboy Woman, who makes Khao Kha Moo, stewed pork leg. Once up there though, we had second thoughts. A) it is a long way to walk for street food, B) because of Cowboy Woman it is reputed to be crowded, and C) we talk to a vendor setting up who tells us by 5pm it is packed up here. Yeah, no. We’ll stay on our side of town – no lack of food there – why make the trek to be crowded and possibly not get a seat. But, hey, it made for a nice little walk.

Now it is afternoon beverage time! Off we go in search of a bar or restaurant for a drink. We know better than to go to the rip off bar with the totally ridiculously priced drinks, not even a consideration! We instead head toward the backpackers area near Teak House where we knew there were open bars. But, instead, on the way, we stumbled upon Baan Na Na, which turns out to be a find! Owned by a lovely husband and wife team, the husband is front of the house and so, so sweet. He chats with us, and is just lovely, as we order our beer and wine – but then also spy Papaya Pad Thai! No way! We weren’t the least bit hungry, but we had to try that. And oh my. Our new go to dish. It was everything you’d expect from an excellent Pad Thai, just no noodles – papaya instead. Even better than a Papaya Salad! Yummy. We will definitely be back for dinner one night!

It is an easy walk back to the house, passing the ornately dressed Ganesh in the cool temple across the street, then more relaxing at the house before venturing out to Huen Phen, a restaurant that gets rave reviews for the food and the atmosphere. We had passed by here the other night, but there was a line out the door. Tonight we leave early enough to beat the rush, but still have to wait a few minutes before being seated. Which is fine by us, it gives us time to absorb the surroundings – talk about eclectic! There are antiques and art pieces absolutely everywhere, making for a wonderful atmosphere. We’re seated toward the front of the dining area surrounded by great Naga statuary – all available for purchase at collector prices! And not our kind of collecting, either!

No matter, it all makes for a lovely ambiance as we dig into Fermented pork (sort of pate-like), Khao Soi and Fried Stuffed Bamboo shoots (who knew you could stuff bamboo shoots?),

The food matched the ambiance – all excellent and worth experiencing! A short walk home and we are in for the evening, preparing for our ancient city bike ride tomorrow.