Today, we slowed things way down and just embraced the chilled out pace of life here in Chiang Mai. It's been a busy week of sightseeing since we left Montreal, and the change of pace did us both good.

First order of business, we sorted and dropped off a bag of laundry at the shop across the road, since everything we wore yesterday to the elephant project was muddy and dirty. There are laundry service shops everywhere you look here in Chiang Mai, so it seemed like a good time to get that errand taken care of.

Then we set off to find some breakfast and coffee. We ended up at a German-style biergarten breakfast restaurant, which served huge breakfasts. Ryan had a beer sausage omelet. I had something called a "sweet breakfast", which was basically a carb-fest of bread, croissant, jam, nutella, and cake. All the food groups, right? Hey, don't judge; I'm on vacation.

After breakfast, we wandered up to Wat Chedi Luang, a temple complex in the middle of the Old Town. It's a partially restored 15th-century temple where you can see much of the original ruin and the restoration work being done. For a major tourist attraction in the centre of the city, it wasn't too crowded today, so maybe not a lot of people bother going to it? It seems too bad, since it was actually really cool.

Inside, there were a number of different shrines, including the "men only" Chiang Mai City Shrine that greeted us near the entrance. Yep, sexism is a component of nearly all major organised religions, and unfortunately, Buddhism is no exception. Women can't enter many holy places, touch monks, or raise their heads higher than a monk, because we're considered "unclean" due to the fact that we menstruate. I don't mean to be disrespectful to Buddhism or to call it out in particular, since most other religions including Judaism and Christianity have similar provisions. But suffice to say that I think men really need to get over themselves and their fear of women's periods. Guys, it's a period, not a three-headed serpent. Chill.

The main temple of Wat Chedi Luang is a huge pyramid-like structure guarded by serpents, dragons, and elephant statues. These, too, have been partially restored to give an idea of what it must have looked like in the Lanna days. All around the main structure are other statues, shrines depicting both ancient and modern Buddhist masters, and a huge golden reclining Buddha and two seated Buddhas. Not as big as the ones in Bangkok, but impressive nonetheless.

After the temple, we meandered a bit through the old town, passing by Town Hall and the Three Kings Monument out front, and then heading back out to the moat. We stopped along the way for a second coffee of the morning at a little cappuccino stand with outdoor tables, and used the fact that we have the luxury of time today to just sit and drink it onsite.

Back outside the moat, we headed back to the hotel, but not without making a very important stop first: the Siamaya Chocolate boutique. Siamaya is a Thai bean-to-bar chocolate producer that uses locally sourced cocoa from this region of northern Thailand for all its bars. In addition to their pure chocolate bars, they make a variety of flavoured bars highlighting local favourite foods.

They were generous with the sampling, so we took a number of pieces outside to try. Notable favourites were the massaman peanut curry bar, which had a bit of spice to it, the Khao Soi northern curry bar highlighting the local noodle soup that the shop owner described as the "best soup in the world", and the durian chocolate bar, made with the flavours of the notorious "stinky fruit" that is banned in most public places due to its smell. The durian chocolate actually tasted quite nice; herbal and floral. I've never tried durian but I'm told it tastes better than it smells, and I can believe it.

I bought a few small bars to take home, assuming I can find a way to prevent them from melting. I probably should've thought of a storage solution for this chocolate before I got here. Oops.

After a short stop at the hotel, we headed out for some lunch. Specifically, we wanted to try some Khao Soi, the local famous noodle soup. We found a Halal restaurant just around the corner that featured it on the menu. Since Khao Soi is a Muslim-influenced dish that probably came from neighbouring Burma or even Muslim China, we figured it would be the most authentic place to try it.

The soup is a coconut milk-based curry with boiled egg noodles, pickled mustard greens, ground chilis, shallots, lime, and topped with deep fried crispy noodles for some crunch. It's usually served with chicken or beef; we opted for the chicken variety. Just like your soup, right, mom? Okay, maybe not, but it's tasty. I found mine a bit on the spicy side but still manageable; Ryan devoured his in about four seconds flat. Eating spicy food when it's hot outside is great.

After lunch, we headed back to the hotel again for a siesta and shower, and then spent a couple of hours relaxing by the pool, catching up on some blogging, and just luxuriating in the ability to do nothing. I could really get used to this.

We swung by the laundrette to pick up our laundry, all neatly washed, dried, and folded for us, all for under five bucks. Gotta love Thailand. We packed and sorted our bags for tomorrow.

Chiang Mai, like most places here in Southeast Asia, is the type of town that really comes alive after sunset. It makes sense when you consider the climate. It's a pace of life I could easily get used to; sleep by day, live by night. So, late afternoon, we headed back out to find some food, beer, and nightlife.

Our first stop was Renegade, the bar we had dinner at last night. They had a happy hour special going on for buy two beers on tap, get the third free. Their taplist is mostly international; they have a Brewdog tap takeover happening right now. But oh well, it was good anyway.

Next, we headed up to the My Beer Friend taproom, which is a tiny bar with only eight taps, all of them local. We tried three different beers from there, all of them excellent. Craft beer here is very expensive, but if it's your thing, it's worth a try if you're in town.

Full of beer and with a bit of a nice buzz going on, it was time to find some dinner. Where better than a night market? The Chiang Mai night bazaar, a short walk from our hotel, is a huge area filled with market stalls selling all the usuals: Clothes, trinkets, and street food. So much street food.

The first section of the night market we stumbled on happened to be the best: The Ploen Ruedee Night Market, a giant outdoor food court with amazing food stalls catering to all tastes, and live music for atmosphere. There was a blues-rock guitarist performing who was absolutely terrific. We ordered up some food -- vegan tempeh rolls for me, pork ribs and some sort of seafood balls for Ryan -- and settled in to enjoy a set that included amazing covers of everything from BB King to Jimi Hendrix to Stevie Ray Vaughn to Dire Straits. It was one of those perfect travel moments that made me truly understand why people fall in love with Chiang Mai and decide to stay here for weeks, months, or forever.

After dinner, we spent some time checking out the rest of the Night Bazaar, which, frankly, wasn't as interesting as the food court. Then we slowly made our way back to the hotel, enjoying the vibe of Chiang Mai alive with people. Life is good.

I'll be sad to leave Chiang Mai tomorrow, but am looking forward to the next part of our adventure. Stay tuned for more from Northern Thailand.