Located only six minutes away from Uniloft, our accommodation in Chiang Mai, there is a small cafe that is known for having kitten companions enjoy their afternoon tea with customers. Maewmoth Cafe is the only cat cafe in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and I had the opportunity to finally visit the adorable establishment.
Before you enter, someone greets you at the door and prompts you to use the hand sanitizer that is placed on a table (they also ask you to use some when you are leaving as well). This is to help ensure a clean environment for yourself, the other guests, and the kittens.
Inside there were a lot of cats; more than ten, maybe even twenty, but I could not count them all because I only stayed in one area–which was where I was seated with my friends. They were everywhere, if not walking around the cafe or sleeping, they were behind this large glass window, which we assumed was the Break Room for when some cats wanted to get away from people. The place was packed, and from my impression it was usually very busy, so the cats sometimes feel tired and want time for themselves.
Once we were seated, we were handed menus and this other little slip that had a list of house rules. They were simple rules on how guests should conduct themselves. For example: Don’t disturb sleeping cats, don’t feed them anything other than their cat food, don’t be violent towards them by pulling their tails or hitting them, and so forth. It was mainly common sense stuff, and there was one slip in English and in Thai.
The menu had a list of various desserts and drinks, ranging from ice cream and pastries to smoothies and tea. The prices were decent for the items offered, I do not believe they were too expensive. I ordered an ice cream crepe for 70 baht.
My Thai roommate had told me to go to MaewMoth early in the morning because usually in the afternoon the kittens are tired of all the people and wouldn’t want to play as much.
We went around noon, and while some of the kittens were curious, none of them were all that playful and mainly preferred to sleep. Especially this little guy. He was friendly and purred whenever we petted him, but was also a very sleepy little thing who preferred to cuddle up on my friend’s backpack and doze off.
We had one cat in particular who was extremely curious to come and see us, as well as things around us, but did not want to play. Another cat wanted nothing to do with us and hid in his cardboard house that was by our table the entire time we were there.
Another simply wanted to eat and was more distracted by that activity. There was a bucket near our table full of different cat toys, to which we used to play with some of the cats–but most of them just wanted to sleep or eat.
The overall experience was extremely fun and the cafe itself is very adorable! I have always wanted to visit a cat cafe but never had the chance to since they are not allowed in the United States due to health reasons (as they are deemed unsanitary).
I would give it a 4 out of 5 and I would definitely go back again! If you are ever in Chiang Mai, do visit!
Vanda Moore is a student at the University of Kentucky and a TEAN Featured Blogger. Vanda is currently studying abroad for the summer with TEAN in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
