Driving around Chiang Mai

[Swammerdami]

I like lists. Whenever I see a list of countries I check for Thailand and the USA. I was pleased to see Thailand up at #28 on U.S. News and World Report's survey of the judgement of thousands of people about "The 'Best' Countries in the World." The above link describes the methodology; a VERY broad range of criteria are considered in the assessments. That link shows only the Top 40, but all 89 countries (meeting some largeness criteria) appear if you click this link and then "Load more" several times.

Switzerland gets #1. Japan #2; the five major Anglophone countries all appear in the Top Ten. The four major Scandinavian countries are all in the Top 20, with Iceland at #22. Germany, France, Netherlands, Singapore, Italy are also all in the Top 15. No surprises so far. Five other prosperous Western European countries make the Top 27. This leaves just eight countries among the Top 30 that might seem controversial. Here they are (along with USA) with the reasons for their high ranks:

* 3 * United States -- agility (#1), power (#1), entrepreneurship (#2), cultural influence (#3)
* 16 * China -- power (#2), movers (#2)
* 17 * UAE -- movers (#1)
* 18 * So Korea -- movers, power, entrepreneurship, cultural influence
* 25 * Qatar -- movers (#3)
* 26 * Greece -- heritage (#1), adventure (#3)
* 28 * Thailand -- adventure, movers, heritage
* 29 * Portugal -- adventure, heritage
* 30 * Brazil -- adventure (#1)

I was happy to see Thailand ranked high, behind only Japan, Singapore, China, South Korea among Asian countries.
But ... whatever. Have I mentioned that I just like lists?

 

[Swammerdami]

Chiang Mai is #1 "Best City" in Asia! (And #2 in the world.)

Travel & Leisure magazine just released its 2025 Awards.

Nearly 180,000 T+L readers completed the 2025 survey. A total of more than 657,000 votes were cast across over 8,700 properties (hotels, cities, cruise lines, etc.).

Cities were specifically rated on six criteria: Sights/landmarks, Culture, Food, Friendliness,, Shopping, Value.

For each characteristic, respondents could choose a rating of excellent, above average, average, below average, or poor. The final scores are averages of these responses.

Here are the Top 15 cities, along with the only U.S. city to make Top 25.
1. San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
2. Chiang Mai, Thailand
3. Tokyo
4. Bangkok
5. Jaipur, India
6. Hoi An, Vietnam
7. Mexico City
8. Kyoto
9. Ubud, Bali
10. Cuzco, Peru
11. Florence
12. Seville, Spain
13. Granada, Spain
14. Istanbul
15. Siem Reap, Cambodia
. . .
19. Santa Fe, New Mexico

 

[Swammerdami]

I've been remiss about posting to this thread. Part of the problem is the thread title. I could write several horror -- (no exaggeration: SEVERE almost unbelievable horror) -- stories about young or middle-aged foreigners residing in rural Central Thailand, but that would have nothing to do with either driving or Chiang Mai.

Instead I will mention two things that present difficulties driving in Chiang Mai. The city reminds me of a labyrinth. It's hard to function without Google Maps, and even that app gets confused. But neither of the following complaints have much to do with the labyrinthine road maps.

(1) Narrow roads. Examine the attached photo. Can you see that the pick-up is rather tightly squeezed between the two sides of the street? Can you tell that the fit is about as tight a quarter-minute earlier when he entered this street? The photo would be better if I'd clicked some seconds earlier but (a) I'm slow at manipulating my phone; and (b) I didn't want the driver to wonder why I was photoing his license plate!

But here comes the punch-line: That street is a 2-way street! I was reminded of this a minute earlier as the pickup backed up onto the main road, with cars on the main road -- a one-way road narrowed by parking to a single narrow lane -- also needing to back up to let a car on the pictured street come from the opposite direction and turn right onto the main road.

This is NOT an isolated example. There are several similar streets in that neighborhood's labyrinth, and other such very narrow TWO-way streets in other parts of Chiang Mai. And some important streets with two lanes that are forced to single-lane status by improper parking or road repair.

Google Maps NEVER suggests that I take one of these streets, but I frequently see these routes suggested on Taxis' version of Maps. Does Google judge how "daring" a driver is?


Caption: This is a TWO-way street.

(2) "You can't get there from here." In my case "Here" is my home, and "There" is the entire rest of the world! I AM exaggerating. I DO get to "There" almost every day, and there are a few thousand other people in the same "Here" who travel "There" without complaint. But a Western traffic engineer would certainly NEVER have approved of the development here. When I leave my home for anywhere but the west side of the city, I must traverse narrow lanes (though not as bad as in the photo) and then attempt (my choice of) 4 or 5 horrendous left-turns onto very busy roads. I could leave my home in the opposite direction and head for the western part of the city, going way out of my way, but that route is no bargain either (though for very different reasons).

The problem derives from very large obstacles that eliminate any alternate routings. (I won't name the obstacles as they'd pinpoint my RL location.)