Chiang Mai

It would be difficult to find a city that reflects more of the country's diverse cultural heritage and modern aspirations than Chiang Mai. Its heart is its Old City, an area surrounded by vestiges of walls and moats originally constructed for defense. It lies in the shadow of an increasingly expanding city, encircled by gargantuan concrete highways, lined by giant hoardings and superstores. Massive modern tour buses crowd Burmese-style wats (temples) ablaze with saffron robes and chanting ancient mantras. Increasingly, old shophouses are giving way to multistory shopping malls and boutiques and big-name resorts, while towering condominiums fill the skyline. Vendors dressed in hill-tribe costumes sell souvenirs in the busy market next to fast-food outlets. Narrow streets lined with ornately carved teak houses lie in the shadow of contemporary skyscrapers.

For more information, please click here.

(Credit: Frommers.com)