THANK YOU Randy, for your unending "facts" of Chiang Mai. My wife and I visited there for the first time last Feb for a week before continuing on to Siem Reap. The best advice that I followed is the Khum Khantoke Dinner/Show. That was very very good. I would rate that the dinner we had there was one of the best in CM (as we didn't find the taste of the local food very tasty in comparison to the southern part of Thailand). Don't get me wrong, northern Thailand food is good; however, I think that my taste buds like the spicier type of food offered in southern Thailand. Some of you may say that the food here in CM is the better one. Sorry, it is just an individual preference and not a criticism.

The second best thing we did is the "weekend market" on a Sunday evening.
It is huge. My wife picked up some souvenirs there. The night market is nothing in comparison. Since we stayed at the Central Duanthawan Hotel, we were exposed to the "Pat Pong" type of vendors (without the sleaze) every night. The prices at the Night Market was only slightly higher than the Weekend Market. As far as the Night Market, it was fun the 2nd and even the 3rd time we went there. However, as our hotel is right next to the night market, it gets really monotonous when you are exposed to it every night.
We did do a whole bunch of extra tours out of the city to experience it all. All of them were good.

BTW, don't go for the Central Duangthawan's massages. Not very professional at all. We love "Let's Relax" branches so much that we went there 5 times.

Do go across the river in the evening to some of the riverside restaurants for some live music and fun. We stumbled across them while walking one day in the afternoon heat. I think it was the River Side Bar and Restaurant. We sat there for 3 hours cooling off and listening to a local band practicing for that night's show. It was very memorable actually.

Anyway, I just wanted to share some of our moments there in CM and to thank Randy for some of the pointers.

Ciao.