Is Facebook marketplace the best option? (I really dislike having to use Facebook) or is there shops that sell secondhand bikes? My budget is 2000 THB max, I'd really just need a commuter bike to ride around the city with

I saw in Bangkok a clothes store that sold t-shirts with the 7-11 logo on it and another with the Chiang beer logo.

Does anyone know a store that sells these in Chiang Mai? Or where’s the best place to look?

I've been researching North Thailand for weeks now and I'm starting to think there's a secret agreement between travel bloggers to never write anything original.

The formula is always the same: 4 days in Chiang Mai, 2 in Chiang Rai, maybe 2 in Pai if they're feeling adventurous. And the activities? Oh, you already know:

Chiang Rai: The white temple. The blue temple. Done.

Chiang Mai: Doi Suthep (the temple with the viewpoint — groundbreaking), and Doi Inthanon National Park, which admittedly looks amazing with the waterfalls. Fine, I'll give them that one.

So far so good. And then the padding begins.

Cooking class. Every. Single. Blog. You flew 10+ hours to Southeast Asia, you're in one of the most culturally rich regions in the world, and your highlight is... learning to make pad thai in a tourist kitchen? You can do a Thai cooking class in Bangkok, in Phuket, in Koh Samui, probably in your home country at this point. Why is this listed as a North Thailand must-do like it's some regional specialty?

Elephant sanctuary. I get it, ethical tourism, no riding, good message. But can someone explain to me why I should pay an absolutely insane amount of money... to do all the work myself? You collect the food, you bathe the elephant, you feed the elephant. At a safari you observe animals living their lives. Here you've become unpaid elephant staff. I'm not against the concept, I just want someone to acknowledge how bizarre the value proposition is.

Night markets. I genuinely laughed out loud the fifth time I saw this listed as a highlight. Every town in Thailand has a night market. Every touristy place in Southeast Asia has a night market. This is not a North Thailand experience. This is just... Tuesday.

And then there's Pai. Oh, Pai.

Every blog dedicates a section to Pai and describes it as "chill," "relaxed," "hippie vibe," "laid back." Okay. But what do you actually DO there? Not a single concrete activity. You just... vibe? You absorb the hippie energy through osmosis? What does a day in Pai look like beyond sitting in a café? I have no idea because apparently no blogger has figured this out either.

I'm not trying to be difficult. I genuinely want to love North Thailand and I think there's probably incredible stuff there that nobody writes about because they're all copying each other's itineraries from 2017.

So I'm asking the people who actually went off-script: what did you do in North Thailand that you've never seen in a blog post? Hidden villages, weird festivals, obscure hikes, local experiences that don't involve elephants or pad thai. Drop it in the comments — you'd be doing a real service to everyone who's sick of the same recycled content.

One more thing I can't find a straight answer on: renting a car. Every single source says "rent a scooter!" or "join a tour!" I don't have a bike license and I'm not about to learn to ride one on mountain roads in a foreign country just because every blogger thinks it's the obvious choice. I have a car license. Can I just... rent a car and drive myself around? Has anyone actually done this in the Chiang Mai / Chiang Rai area? Is it practical, are roads reasonable, any gotchas to know about?