Chiang Mai welcoming -- Thailand IV

Chiang Mai was founded as the capital of Lanna, the northern kingdom of Thailand, in 1296. With a population of 250,000, it's known as Thailand's "second city" -- second only to Bangkok. My travel guide described it as a laid-back city, where the people are pleasant and the food abundant and good. I knew I wanted to spend a good portion of my trip here.

We had our first meal in Chiang Mai at a restaurant around the corner from our guesthouse. We were exhausted after a long bus ride, and that was as far as I was will to travel. There, we were greeted, by a friendly woman whose "sawadee khaa" was welcoming.

I had read somwehre that Thais eat family style, sharing communal dishes, and usually order a soup and one dish more than the number of people dining, which seemed like a lot of food to me, especially if there were only two of us eating. But we ordered away, using the picture menu as our guide.

We ordered the coconut milk soup with mushrooms and lemongrass, the fried tim tab, and the panang chicken curry. The soup was heavily fragrant of lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves, and creamy but light from the coconut milk. The tim tab was a whole fish cut into sections and fried until lightly crispy. A dip of the fish into the sweet plum sauce made it a delightful salty sweet crunchy bit. The panang chicken curry was slightly spicy with tender pieces of chicken.

We cleaned the plated and bowls of all three dishes, leaving only fish bones and lemongrass. If our first Thai meal in our foreigner flocked neighborhood could be this good, our dining in Chiang Mai could only get better.