Who else would dare add sliced cucumber and toast points to the chicken satay? Who else would include scones in the dessert menu? And who but an aristocratic British bloke would decorate the space with chandeliers, armchairs, Oriental rugs, lacquered chests, flickering candles and other drawing-room accouterments? English lord or not, Ginger & Kafe is a quirkily romantic place to pop the question, or simply your gut - courtesy of braised beef in lime-coconut reduction, pork ribs in tamarind sauce, or a red curry with duck breast and tropical fruits. It looks as if some eccentric, globe-trotting English lord is behind Ginger & Kafe restaurant. The menu, meanwhile, includes house cocktails like the Ping River (vodka, lychee, lemongrass and lime 290 baht, or about $8.70), Thai craft beers and even Thai rosé. With its swimming pool, white lanterns, white canopies and white couches, the back lawn channels the spirit of St.-Tropez. THE PING AND Iįor a sunset drink on the Ping River, the most stylish hangout is On the Ping (outdoor lounge), in the Sala Lanna hotel. Down the street, The Meeting Room Art Cafe is piled with stacks of prints and canvases by local artists - all for sale - while elegant Sop Moei Arts sells textile creations to decorate your body or home, from scarves to embroidered wall hangings. The upstairs art gallery exhibits painting and sculpture, while the boutique’s wide-ranging collection includes rice extract lip balm, minimalist ceramics, kaleidoscopic hippie-chic dresses and a skull covered with tiny white seashells that would make Damien Hirst jealous. Siam meets Soho at Woo, a cafe and concept store that blooms with Thai creativity - literally - starting with plants and exquisite floral arrangements. Handmade creations abound along Charoenrat Road. Just be careful to avoid Chiang Mai in March and April, when the region’s farmers burn brush and overgrowth en masse, filling the air with smoke and ash. The culinary and night life scenes are also thriving, with ambitious upstart restaurants and a buzzing bar district joining the city’s traditional eating rooms and street-food zones. Thanks to a blossoming creative scene, a Chiang Mai weekend now offers the chance to soak up contemporary art in world-class exhibition spaces, purchase stylish 21st-century design in new shops and craft villages, and sleep in gallery-like new hotels, from the frivolous to the fancy. But these days the 700-year-old city is brimming with far more modern attractions, too, namely the works of artists and designers.
And Chiang Mai, a laid-back old riverside city whose population (fewer than 200,000) is a fraction of Bangkok’s (more than eight million), obliges those fantasies. Traditionally, tourists have trekked to the star of Thailand’s north in search of M.E.A.T.: markets, elephants, artisans and temples.
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