Walking the Chiang Mai City moat
If you know me then you’ll know that walking is one of the things I do and enjoy so I guess it won’t come as too much of a surprise to learn that part of the routine I’ve been developing here in Chiang Mai is to get out every other day and go for a walk. And this is a really nice place to go for a walk.
I’m living near the Airport Plaza Shopping Centre and my normal walk takes me up to the Old Town.
The Chiang Mai Old Town (which is ironic given that Chiang Mai means “New City”) is an area shaped like a square and bounded by the old city walls and a moat. Inside the square is the tourist hub of Chiang Mai and is certainly worth exploring, something that can easily be done on foot but my walking route takes me around the outside of the square, following the moat.
Either side of the moat is a major road, travelling clockwise on one side and anti-clockwise on the other. Getting to the moat and the walking path beside it can be a matter of a large amount of patience and a short burst of daring but once you are there it’s a pleasant and generally safe walk.
Exactly how far it is may be a bit hard to calculate but the pedometer on my phone puts it at about 10km, which includes getting there from my hotel, a side trip for some breakfast and lots of extra steps dodging tourists. The only measure I can find online puts the moat itself at about 6.5km. Either way it’s an okay distance and with plenty to see it doesn’t feel too far.
Hitting the moat at the bottom left hand corner (looking at it on a map) I continue north up the left hand side. This is not a heavily tourist area although there are few nice little cafes. This is where I have been trying the khao soi for breakfast. Khoa soi is a noodle soup from the northern Laos, Thailand, Burma region that has coconut overtones and is one of my favourite dishes. There are definite variations from chef to chef so it’s a matter of tasting them all until you find your favourite one, a task I am currently undertaking and I’ll get back to you with the results at a later date.
In the middle of each side is a Gate, one of the old entrances into the city. Tapae Gate on the eastern wall was reconstructed to show what it looked like in its heyday. The other gates are in a lesser state of repair but are still worth a look, along with the remains of the walls in each of the four corners.
Continuing across the northern side of the square it starts to get a lot more touristy. Now I need to watch out for people walking slowly, stopping, backing up, stepping into the traffic unexpectedly etc. just the typical tourist stuff. A word of advice if you come here…the roads circling the moat are really busy and jam packed with cars. Yes, I realise that there are pedestrian crossings painted on the road but if you step onto one suddenly and just expect all the traffic to stop then you will die. I saw one woman do exactly this and, luckily for her, everyone managed to stop before running into her, although there was a little fender damage among the cars and motorbikes heading in all directions trying to get out of the way. The woman then stood in the middle of the road and screamed abuse at all the poor Thais because they didn’t run into her.
Anyway…walking down the eastern side it is now really touristy. Lots of places selling tours, restaurants of varying nationalities and the most coffee shops I have seen in such a small area. Seriously, Chiang Mai must be the coffee shop capital of the world and I say that having been to Seattle. Good coffee too. This is also where you can find the usual suspects in the way of Starbucks, Burger king, McDonalds etc.
Turning and heading along the southern moat it becomes a little less touristy again especially if you stick to the outside edge of the moat. Still a pleasant walk though. Making my way back to the corner where I started it’s just a matter of turning left and heading home.
All in all a really nice way to get a little exercise and freshish air.