Today I spent most of the day wandering around the main part of the city. I think the population is somewhere around 150 000, though my LP is out of date and I am just guessing. Despite the large population, Chiang Mai truly feels like a town, and people are more friendly and a little more relaxed than in Bangkok (pop. 6 million or so).

The tuk tuk and taxi drivers are still opportunistic (when they see an inexperienced tourist holding a LP they go in for the kill), though they are not as cold blooded as I have seen. Some are actually friendly.
The moat and river nearby are full of fish, mostly cichlids that look like a Jack Dempsey. I'm sure the water is still ultra polluted, but the fact that it can support life is something about which Bangkok cannot brag.
I ate several meals as the day progressed, enjoying the northern cuisine very much. At one of the pubs Andrew and I visited, later in the day, we met an older british chap who we ended up spending the evening with. I think he starts all his conversations with farangs the same way; by asking where in the states we were from. I happened to be wearing a shirt bragging my nationality, and so maybe he was making fun of us, who knows! anyways he, like most other old men up here, has a thai companion and makes Chiang Mai his place of residence for most of the year. There are dozens of balding old men, perhaps inadequate in their home country, that make this city their play ground for as many months a year as possible. Rent in a guesthouse is cheap (150$CAD without bartering) and food is cheaper. And Thai women here are not shy...
We had a few beer with UK Andy, who bestowed many great travel tips upon us, before heading off to the night market.

The night market was part of the reason I came up here, as I heard it was a remarkable sight. I was mildly disappointed, though. IT is indeed massive, covering the length of several large city blocks, and the width of perhaps two blocks. It skirts the roadside, and descends under the street level to a certain extent. The size was impressive. The wares for sale, however, were, as a Thai might say, "same same". As on Khao San road, vendors were selling the now familiar Thai beer shirts, Von Dutch knockoff shirts, and other illegitimate brands. They were selling fake watch brands, sunglasses (I bought some 2$ oakleys in bangkok... I swear they are the real thing, though...), and jewellry. There were hilltribes people wandering about selling their crafts, which were limited to mostly silver bangles and other jewellry. Lots of thai fabric and skirts and bags...
After the first 20 stalls, though, nothing seemed new anymore. The unique bag i bought early in the night became common, and I may have paid too much for it...
Andrew and I headed back around 11 and, with our Beer Chang buzz wearing off, we went to sleep.