Finding a good house rental in Chiang Mai can be a cumbersome task. Sure, there were options—but most of them only had 1 or 2 bedrooms, no kitchen, and absolutely no yard (high-rise condo-style). That’s not our idea of living!We knew we wanted to be outside of the city so that we could have a yard, access to a swimming pool, and an overall quieter pace. Thankfully, we finally ran across a great couple that has great house rentals in...

If you spend any decent amount of time in Chiang Mai, Thailand, you will find yourself searching for some play places to entertain your children. Suan Buak Haad is a public park in the southwest corner of town with some grass, a pond, and dilapidated playground equipment that is still perfectly sufficient and entertaining for kids. However, you will soon be melting in the heat and humidity, so I’ve found you an alternative—an indoor...

With such a large expat community in Chiang Mai, Thailand, I thought it would be easy to track down a recommendation for an eyeglass store. Instead, a quick Google search flooded me with warnings about who not to buy from (for quality reasons, unfulfilled warranties, etc). My old glasses were 5+ years old, no longer had most of their paint, and were pretty scratched up. It was time to go shopping! I finally found many referrals sending me...

When Jared’s parents and brother visited us in Chiang Mai, we decided to splurge and visit the Old Chiang Mai Cultural Center. Tickets for our family of 5 (kids were half price and toddler was free) were 1560 Baht ($54 USD). Not the cheapest adventure in Thailand! We arrived to a large spread of seating on the ground around a central stage (some seats were available with chair seating, but this must be by special request). We had assigned...

The Meechok Plaza is located on the second ring road and the corner of the Mae Jo Road leading out of Chiang Mai. Fortunately for us, it was only about a 10 minute motorbike ride from our rental on the outskirts of Chiang Mai—and the drive didn’t require us to enter the city at all! The Meechok Plaza boasts of a variety of restaurants, McDonalds (not a restaurant…hahaa!), Rimping Grocery store (with a great selection of foreign...

The 1st weekend in February, Chiang Mai hosts a Flower Festival near the Southwest corner of the moat. A parade winds through the old town, but instead of waking up early and trying to track it down, we decided to simply meet it at the end near the family park in the Southwest corner. This is where all of the street vendors set up their stands—including food, clothing, and flowers! The prices seemed to be reasonable. This sign her...