U Chaing Mai Hotel and Old Chaing Mai
When we got into Chaing Mai and were driving to our hotel, our tour guide, Pin, explained that the hotel, U Chaing Mai, was located in the middle of Old Chaing Mai. It was really easy to figure out when you were in Old Chaing Mai, as the original gates and corners were still there, along with the moat, yep, that’s right, there was a MOAT!!! It was so cool looking!!!!
Pulling up to our hotel, it didn’t seem like a hotel, and you wouldn’t guess it from the front! The lobby was all open air after you walk over a pond that was right next to the street. Through the open air lobby was the pool and all the rooms overlooked it.
Before we left, I was checking out the website for the U Chang Mai, and saw they had hotel rooms where your balcony of your room gave you private access to the pool. It was actually cheaper than the suite we had booked! I tried to convince Hubby we should downgrade to that room, but he didn’t see the appeal… if we go back sometime, I’m not taking no for an answer!
Our suite was on the 3rd floor and at the end. Not a big deal, u til you find out there is no elevator. The staff was tipped very well for dragging our bags up and down 3 flights of stairs! The other bad part of being on the 3rd floor was after spending a day walking around Chaing Mai, you are exhausted. When you get back to the hotel, you still have here flights of stairs to walk up. That can be somewhat of a joy kill.
The food at the hotel was good. We had breakfast included, which was a small buffet of fruit, cereal and breads, along with a hot meal of a limited menu. My best piece of advice when traveling abroad, don’t order American food, u less you are at McDonald’s (and even that can taste different. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!!!). No matter how hard they try, it won’t taste right. Example, one morning I decided to order an omelette with fried potatoes. How bad could an omelette be, right? Let me tell you, it can be bad. I basically ate the potatoes. After that I would eat the pink stir fry noodles and Hubby would have either the Pink noodles or Thai Sausage and Jasmine rice.
We ate dinner a few times at our hotel as well, when we were not in the mood to wander around town to find a place to eat, or one time when we did wander and didn’t find anything good. Their dinner menu was a little limited, but good.
On the last full day we were there, I decided it was time for a massage. We got back to the hotel after wandering around 1:30 and I spoke to the front desk about booking a massage. I had one a half hour later! It was AMAZING. A 90 full body aromatherapy massage cost me approximately $40 US dollars. Hubby sat by the pool and read while I was relaxing. I was so glad I waited until the last day and after we were done walking around. I kind of wished I would have done one more while we were there!!!
A word on their WiFi, it sucks. This is no joke. We could get on, but half the time it was so slow it wouldn’t even load Facebook. It worked ok to jump on and see if we had any text messages about the kids, but other than that, good luck doing anything.
All in all, this was a pretty good hotel. I would definitely stay here again, but on the 1st floor with pool access!!!