So I find myself back in Chiang Mai again on other business.  This trip I'm staying at one of my old favorites, Pornping Tower.  I like the Pornping because of the location, between the night bazaar and the river.  It's not fancy, but it's cheap.  My deluxe room is just around US$40 a night, all in.

One of the challenges most locally run hotels like the Pornping have is that they can't (or won't) invest in the kind of upkeep that's necessary to keep a hotel at its best.  Since it has been many years since I last stayed there, I had rather low expectations.  So I was pleasantly surprised to find they had at least made some attempts at keeping things fresh.  The most obvious sign of this was my room, which appeared to have been recently rennovated.  Of course, the rennovation consisted primarily of spray-painting all the walls as well as all the furniture and cabinets with a speckled white paint.  It was 'quirky' for a short stay, but might have been maddening for a longer trip. 

I had time during this trip to check out a couple of other hotels I've been hearing about.  Yaang Come Village has been creating a bit of a buzz since it opened last February, and no wonder.  The small 42 room hotel is just a block or so from the night bazaar, and designed as a low rise, Thai Lue inspired 'village'.  Although it's on a busy street, the hotel is set well back from the road, in amongst some old banyan trees, making it quite an oasis from the surrounding area.

Another new hotel is the Puripunn Baby Grand Boutique Hotel (and isn't that quite a mouthful).  The Puripunn was opened quite recently and is tucked away in the small alleys east of the Ping River, near to the riverside restaurants and boutiques along Charoen Rat Road.  With just 30 rooms, it's quite a small hotel, but with a lot of facilities for a place this size.  The Puripunn Deluxe rooms are quite distinctive, with huge bathrooms featuring sunken tubs and large seperate showers.  The room rates are a bit pricey for Chiang Mai, but based on what you get, it may be worth it.  You can also expect low season discounts to be quite deep.