The second day of our Chiang Mai adventure, we stayed in the city area. My wife and I started our day with a date to Akha Ama Phrasingh (กาแฟ อาข่า อ่ามา พระสิงห์), where the latte art was quite nice.
Then, after collecting the children we moved on to some of the shops on Chang Moi Rd (ถนนช้างม่อย) near the intersection with Chang Moi Kao Rd (ถนนช้างม่อยเก่า). It was a great place to find lots of baskets and other related woven goods.
Just down the road, we went to the Chiang Mai Philatelic Museum (พิพิธภัณฑ์ตราไปรษณียากร เชียงใหม่). The museum is free. Parking onsite is not. If you go, be sure you make your way upstairs; the stairs are a bit hidden in the back. Some highlights were the long stamp to celebrate the former king’s long reign and the stamps with gemstones to celebrate the former king and queen’s marriage.
We enjoyed our lunch at Butter is Better Diner & Bakery. The dedicated parking was a bonus.
After lunch we went to The Treasury Museum Chiang Mai (พิพิธภัณฑ์ธนารักษ์ จังหวัดเชียงใหม่). It was good we’d gone to the Philatelic Museum first. The Treasury Museum was a modern museum with interactive exhibits whereas the Philatelic Museum was a collection of fading stamps. This museum was also free. The Treasury Museum did a great job illustrating the various shifting powers within the Lanna Kingdom through the trends in currency within the region. I was shocked to learn that the Indian Rupee was not displaced by the Thai Baht until the 1920s with the completion of the railroad from Bangkok.
We enjoyed our dinner at Duke’s (Maya branch). The food was good, and if you like large American size servings, Duke’s delivered on that front as well.
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