Chiang mai’s Songtaews (Share taxis)

Throughout our travels, we have noticed every country has a distinct public transport system. Chiang mai is no different. The primary form of transportation throughout the city, for locals and tourists alike, are modified utes with their trays covered in. You wave them down, attempt to explain where you want to go (maps definitely help in this matter, we usually find ourselves pointing at the area) and the driver with either nod and give you a price (normally about 20-80THB) or shake his head if he isn’t going that way. More often than not, the driver will also pick up other customers along the way!

Upon first arriving in Chiang mai we thought there was only one colour (red) but in actual fact there are several colours, each colour associated with a different part of the Chiang mai area.

RED - old city and surrounds, these are by far the most common! They are literally everywhere in Chiang mai!

WHITE - travel to the eastern suburban city of Sankampaeng

YELLOW - travel to Mae  Rim and Doi Saket in the north

DARK RED - travel to Paro

GREEN - travel to Mae Jo and San Sai in the north-east

BLUE - travel to Sarapee and Lampun in the south. I didn’t see any of these for a few weeks then I stumbled upon one when we were out exploring. All of a sudden we were seeing them everywhere! Including an area we passed that had about 10 lined up waiting for customers!

ORANGE - travel to Chiang Dao, Fang, Mae Ai and Thaton

and finally…

THE PILLOW TAXI - the most elusive of all! But definitely looks like the most comfortable!

I have been compiling these photos over the last few weeks that we’ve been in Chiang mai… The Orange share taxi evaded me until today (our last afternoon in Chiang mai!). I finally found out about a place where they are known to pick up customers, so we scooted over there, fingers crossed we would find one, and we did! Unfortunately we were followed by rain and as soon as we snapped our picture it started to bucket down! We were stuck for quite a while until it calmed down a bit…