Of course, a lot of hotels here introduce you to tour packages upon arrival before check-in....we apologize but we did sign up for a 3 day trek instead of trying to do it solo :)
Our first night here was spent being overwhelmed with what you could purchase in their Night bazaar which runs every night from 6 pm to midnight. I think Thailand makes everything! As well, this area is very Western - larger hotels, more tourists, less Thai in appearance and feel - not what we were hoping for.
Because we hadn't rested since our arrival in Bangkok, and the previous night exhausted us mentally, we stayed at the hotel and hung out by the pool and caught up on some reading - John ... relaxing... in the same sentence - I know its sounds crazy but its true :)
Back in Chiang Mai, we decide to take time to explore the inner city (inside the 1.5 km x 1.5 km area surrounded by a small mote that more closely resembles a canal. Here, as in Bangkok, there are many wats (temples) and monks seem more plentiful (probably more visible due to the smaller city size - only 200K in Chiang Mai). The wats are very similar in structural shape but the materials and interior decor vary - most seem to have been originally constructed in the 1400s.
We have also visited a 7 spire chedi (Wat Jet Yot) built in the mid 15th century based on the design of the temple in Bodhgaya, India where Buddha supposedly spent 7 weeks after his enlightenment (thus the 7 spires).
There is a Saturday and a Sunday Walking Street. We missed Saturday due to the trekking, but managed to check out the Sunday Walking Street. We lucked into catching a local parade before the vendors set up at 6:00. We decided to sit at a well placed restaurant and have a light meal while the parade passed by ...turns out the judges had a table there as well. It was basically an opportunity for each village to present itself via music, dance, dress.
The walking street was more authentic than the night bazaar - there were more Thais shopping than tourists! Restaurants are permanent on the street side but there are
stalls on the sidewalks and in the middle of the street. We
are learning to enjoy Rotee (thin dough fried in a wok with banana, carnation milk and chocolate) as a treat....yum!
There were monk chat signs at some temples inviting you to ask questions or talk about anything from Buddhism, Thai culture, being a monk or anything - it is designed to help them practice their English and maybe educate tourists...totally free. We finally decided to sit and chat. The 26 year old monk we met has been a monk for 8 years. He tried in his best English to explain what a typical day was for him, some of the basics of Buddhism, how he felt about Western influence, etc.
As our hotel was outside the city mote and we preferred to be in the center, we found a hotel that had character with big clean rooms and you can sit with the Australian and Thai owners and chat. The female Thai owner gave me a ride on her motorcycle to her Esthetician - so fun... One could learn to stay here for quite a while :)
We shared a small red truck ride with Rene from Mexico City to Doi Suthep ( 1676m peak) which is the home of a wat constructed in the 1300s - it is one the of the most sacred temples in Northern Thailand which was very obvious by the numbers of worshippers we encountered. There were a lot of bells which the children enjoyed :) We loved the amazing view of Chiang Mai and enjoyed a Chocolate freeze and Mocha freeze in the shade.
We rented bicycles for a day and headed for the university grounds where we took time out for reading and journaling (which we have been a bit remiss at doing). From there we headed to the zoo - pretty decent grounds (of course, we have learned that they are encroaching on the Doi Suthep National park land to do so). So for the first time, I got to see giraffes, lions, tigers, monkeys, penguins. I remind myself that they are safer there than in the wild in most cases.
Just so you are aware, bicycle riding in Thailand is dangerous! Ha Ha. Its just that there are many, many motorcycles, cars, buses, and tuk-tuks and rules are only guidelines so there is a lot of weaving and adjusting - we just watched our behinds and stayed as far left as possible :) Thankfully, they do not drive very fast here in Chiang Mai.
We had dinner one night and I ordered a popular Chiang Mai dish and asked for it spicy (because I hadn't experienced really hot yet).....silly, silly me. It was extremely hot - the chef came out just as I breathed while chilly pepper seeds were still in my mouth! I thought I would never recover - he laughed and told me he had put 4 chillies in my dish - I didn't eat them - didn't have to. Let's just say that I had to order a lassy to finish the second half. it was very good. They do add things to some of the dishes that they do not eat i.e. chillies, bamboo, lemon grass.
We have been fortunate (so far) with any tummy issues...you know what I mean ;D
Okay, ‚„†Cristina and Eve just thought you should know that we have enrolled in a Thai cooking course for tomorrow - I am very excited. We will learn how to cook 11 dishes - it includes a trip to the market, fruit tasting and a recipe book to take home. Maybe this will be the start of my domestication Ha Ha. This is a very reputable chef who prefers to teach and give back to charity from his proceeds...he apparently has a great sense of humor and comes highly recommended.
Signing off now...we will be deciding today/tomorrow whether we will head to Laos or Cambodia next.....miss you all!
1 comment:
I do hope and pray you are not affected by all the rioting that we hear about. Do let us know. Hazel
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