Chiang Mai FC
After getting back to the city I got in touch with a local couchsurfer, Samart. He works as a tour guide and is extremely active in the community. I met him shortly before my temple adventure when he treated me to a nice northern-Thai food dinner and we had a good time chatting.
On Saturday he was taking a couple of people to a soccer game. Local club Chiang Mai FC was playing a team from the Bangkok area. When you just emerged from a temple, footy and beer sound absolutely amazing.
I expected a small venue but they actually have a proper stadium here. The fans are heavily influenced by the English premier league and the whole fan block was like a cute version of what you would see in a European stadium.
It was fun to watch but the Thais still have a long way to go to premier league level. We headed to Samart’s place in the countryside the next morning. More on that later.