They call this city the rose of the north. And once you’ve been here for a few days you understand why. The whole area is alive with wonderful flowers and vegetation. The country’s second city is a major contrast to the capital. 
    From the buzz and bustle of the Bangkok there is a gentler life style with more greenery, less people, and on a clear day a wondrous mountain backdrop. There is lots of traffic and some pollution but you can breathe a lot more easily here. That is provided they stop the slash and burn slaughter of forests further north and across in Myanmar. As I write the skies are clear of that arid smoke and hopefully it will stay that way. 
   The nights are cooler here and it is a city with charm and character. Those items are vanishing from Bangkok with the construction of too many giant buildings between the old spires. And the people here are more laid back. There seems to be more time to enjoy the sights and sounds. It seems totally removed fro m the kingdom’s capital 700 kilometers to the south. 
  Its tourist attractions are more centered on tradition and things cultural and away from the sordid nightlife that is a major part of the capital. The myriad of natural sights that await the visitor is endless. There is a river that is not so busy and there are temples, hundreds of them where the monks take time to talk to inquisitive tourists. There is quality shopping and the endless bargains at the very popular night market. Somehow things appear to be more organized and not just one street market emptying onto another.   
Size may have something to do with it. It is only a fortieth of the size of Bangkok. 
   Chiang Mai is growing rapidly as a tourist destination and it remains a major commercial center. Its international airport is one of the few in the world that I find user friendly. The airport handles more than two million passengers a year, 10 times the population of Chiang Mai. 
   The city is skirted by the Superhighway – a ring road something akin to London’s M25 or Atlanta’s I 285 - which makes getting around a lot easier and safer despite the numerous intersections. Once you are well outside it you enter incredible countryside. 
   Much of the modernization of the area goes on beyond the city itself where new homes and suburbs are being created to provide homes for the wealthy who want to escape the hot summers in Bangkok and chill out in the colder higher climes. 
   Nearby the hill tribes dwell in conditions that haven’t changed in centuries.  The hill tribe inhabitants now account for over 13 percent of the province’s population. They venture down to the city to sell their wares while tourists dare to venture into the jungles to experience the back to nature living of the tribes. Unfortunately much of the jungle is not what it was. Many of the tall trees have been felled and in their place bamboos and underbrush still provide a rough enough terrain to challenge the intrepid trekker.
The city caters to the rich with lavish hotels and spas and to the budget back packers with cheerful guesthouses. There is an adequate supply of luxury rooms at affordable prices and more recently new resorts offer some of the finest and more expensive accommodation in Thailand.
   The old city retains its charm and is still surrounded by an ancient moat which was restored in the 19^th century and there are remnants of the original city walls which were built in a perfect square.    The sacred 5,500-foot mountain of Doi Suthep to the west of town looks down on the Ping River as it flows though the Chiang Mai Valley. Adorning the mountain is north Thailand’s most sacred shrine, the 600-year-old Wat Phra Doi Suthep pictured above on the left.