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Entry: Clover
I am going to start this blog by saying "I love Chiang Mai." We arrived in Chiang Mai via my least favorite city Phnom Pehn, Cambodia. When we arrived it was like coming home. Almost right away I was ecstatic to be here. I think in general Thailand has been my favorite S.E. Asia country. I felt the same elation when we came from Malaysia into Thailand as well. There something about Thailand that is a cross between a reggae bar and your favorite Asian restaurant. Great food and really friendly mellow people. Great place to kick back and watch time go by.
Oooh Chiang Mai. One of the reasons we chose to go to Chiang Mai originally is because a childhood friend of mine was in the area as well. Huajilla. Dang the girl is hard to pin down but I love her all the same. Doesn't make it any easier when I no longer tote a cell phone around either. Almost from the beginning of our trip I have developed a hate for phones. Phones and holidays. Both of them are a pain in the butt. First of all phones rarely ever work and you
have to figure out the local technique of making a call for every place you try to call from. Very frustrating. Secondly, holidays reek havoc on free wheeling travel because you actually have to plan ahead and around them. This is something Scott and I are very bad at. Everything we do is usually planned no more than one day ahead. Any longer ahead than that and I am pretty sure it actually causes our brains real physical pain.
First thing I love about Chiang Mai is that it is pedestrian friendly. I can walk anywhere in this town. And around every corner I usually find something interesting. Whether it is food, beer, shopping or temples. After dark is when the city really lights up though. There are many different markets you can go to. Many of the hawkers have a lot of the same stuff but it is fun to wander around none the less. Unless I am wrong Chiang Mai is the most renown for its Sunday market. It of course only happens on Sunday night and it is huge. Scott and I had no idea how big it was. In the city center the temporary market
Nope, still not tempted!
Even if he is doing a Thai greeting!sprouts out in every direction down the streets. The roads are shut down and thousands of people are wondering around. Interestingly enough the road is split into two opposing directions of walking traffic. I found this interestingly considering that on the road the cars and motorbikes act in a much less orderly manner. Crossing the opposing side was like making a turn through an intersection without lights.
Dinner was a series of different food stands. I think we started out with some yucky cold garlic sausage and dubious pork kebab I wasn't going to consider eating, that Scott wolfed down (he seems to have a knack for consuming questionable meats and not falling ill). The food improved after that. We had some wonderful grilled squid with some green chili sauce that was spicy enough to make Scott hiccup. And hard boiled quail eggs with soy sauce. I love quail eggs! (yummy, so good) Doesn't matter if they are raw or cooked they are good every way. The goal for the night though was to find the bug stand. We had decided that part of the Asia experience had to include the consumption of insects. We found the bugs and
Clover at Thai Cooking School.
That's the "I'm hungover and at a cooking school, don't you dare take a photo of me!" look. the very end of the road. It was manned by a rather serious older woman. I let Scott take over and pick our tidbits. The horseshoe crab cockroaches were more than a tidbit(they were about 3 1/2 inches long). I wasn't keen on that selection.
Since we wanted to share the experience with all you we decided on a seating our selves in the most vacant bar that we could find. We had purchased some other delectables to help the process just in case the bugs were a little bit more than we could handle. We had beer, fried quail and chicken livers to help clean the pallet. Early on I had decided that crickets were going to be my snack. I of course I got to be the lucky one to start the show. I had wanted the small crickets but I hadn't been paying attention and Scott was kind enough to pick out the rather large ones. My initial bite into my cricket was actually fine. The first taste sort of reminded me of pumpkin seeds roasted in soy sauce. It was even the same crunchy texture. But as soon as my relief set in dismay took
over. It was nothing like pumpkin seeds if was more like...what maybe fried horse pooh might taste like. Except it was horse pooh with legs. I swallowed it down but it was less than appealing. Got to do everything at least once though I say.
But the pain didn't stop there. Scott had to get two massive cockroaches. He did pretty good when he bit his right in half. He even got the huge wing stuck in his teeth. Bleh! I couldn't stop laughing. The girls at the bar were laughing as well. There was no hiding anymore. And those chicken livers I had been so excited about finding had turned out to be rather rubbery chicken gizzards. Disappointment.
For the last few days I had been asking Scott what he wanted for his birthday. He decided to cash his request in early. My gift to him was to eat that other cockroach he had so kindly purchased for me. Thanks Scott 😞 By the way it tasted exactly like the cricket. Fried horse pooh all over again. That either means all bugs taste the same or the cook used the same oil for each variety of bug.
But seeing as I have fulfilled my need to eat bugs I am not interested in finding another bug stand to test my theory out 😊
My other score for the night was finding a set of Poi. Poi are used in fire dancing. Fire dancing is way cooler than eating bugs by the way.
One of the things I find interesting is the lay out of the city. Chiang Mai used to be a walled city. It was a large square walled fortress surrounded on all four sides by a large water moat. Now the walls are crumbling and the city has grown out of the original floor plan but the traffic migrates around these same four walls. Even though the main road though the city travels around this square you feel like you are going in circles when driving around in a taxi. Rather disorienting. The moat still exists though and it is rather lovely. Each side of it is lined with huge flowering trees. On really hot days you can watch children climb the trees and jump into the water.
Most of our stay in Chang Mai has been blessed with cooler weather. The
erm, Big Sheet!
luckily they didn't taste like big sheet weather has been amazing here. Little bit of rain throughout the day the keeps the heat at bay. I have actually been able to wear my jeans. Yes gasp! Sometimes I wear them despite the heat just to prove I am not a fool for packing jeans around. I am pretty sure I am a fool though.
During our first few days in Chiang Mai we decided to do a Thai cooking class. It was a full day class. At first I thought I was going to be able to pick out my favorite dishes to cook but you arrive and they choose five dishes for you to prepare. I was sort of bummed by that but it was still fun. There are many cooking classes to choose from and supposedly our was one of the first schools to open up in the city. Supposedly also one of the better one as well. There were at least ten other people taking the class as well. Most of the American and Canadian. Right away Scott was trying to figure out who was leading recent hockey. Some of the food was good some I wasn't keen on at all.
The
The Many forms of Buddha.
Notice the Naga protecting the one Buddha while he finds enlightenment. class was fast paced. We would all go to a class room and rotating instructors would show us the next dish. Then we would all pour out to collect our spices and meats to put together at our cooking stations. Then after certain things were prepared we would all gather at an outdoor patio and try out what we had made. It was actually really nice to sit down with a bunch of gringos and chat for a bit. Might sound silly but now and again you want to have a nice sit down chat with people that can speak your language. You talk about home. Give pointers to locations you have been to or gather information on places you are going to go to. Even though Scott and I see new people all the time we don't often get chances to socialize because we are on the move all the time. Considering most of the time we only have each other to talk to it is good that we get along very well.
Chiang Mai has been all about being as lazy as possible I think. Scott asked me the other day is there anything that I would
The happy shopping face.
Nothing like bargain hunting at the local Night Bazaar. like to do. My response was "you know...I am pretty happy doing nothing 😊 ." Oddly when traveling for long periods of time you find you need a vacation from your vacation. We found a nice city and a place to stay so we figured it was a good place to camp ourselves longer than the typical 3 to 5 days.
The one day that we did get ambitious didn't work out so well. One of Chiang Mai's more well known temples is called Doi Suthep. It lies on the outskirts of the city. We got one of the red taxi trucks, sometimes you can get a better deal one them but I am pretty sure we were ripped off. Oh well, it is hard to quibble over a twenty fives cent rip off. We hopped in the back of the truck and made our way. The temple was on top of a hill with a very long windy road leading to it. I have never been prone to car sickness but I met my match on this road. Scott of course was fine. Before we had been on the road for even five minutes I turned green. I
Prayer Time.
Doi Suthep is an active temple which adds an extra charm to it overall when you go to visit it. Around certain times of the day you will hearing the monks chanting and praying, while all are welcome to watch and join in. white knuckle clutched the edge of my seat with one hand and the other was crushing my scarf to my mouth. Scott sat on the other side of me with his baseball cap off just in case I had an emergency pop. Now that is love for you...the man was going to let me blow chunks in his hat. Even though he offered his hat...I don't think I could have let myself vomit in his cap.
Somehow I made it to the temple without puking. It was a real battle though and when I got out of the back of the truck my entire body was shaking. We both appreciated the fact that it's a working temple, meaning monks are roaming about and praying. We have been to a lot of temples now but many of them no one actually uses anymore. Inside the temple court yard I sat down on the cool marble stone floor. Still shaking but finally recovering. I sat in my spot out of the way while Scott wandered around taking photos. We were there in the evening so we got to witness the monks evening prayers. Even though there were many visitors, everyone was
very quite and peaceful. All that could be heard was the soft breeze, a few birds singing and an occassional gong going off.
Chiang Mai was good to us. And now that we are gone I miss it even more. Our last couple of nights were spent hanging out with Huajilla, her very talented artist boyfriend Ding and their lovely companion Cat. Scott and I have been solo travellers for long enough that when we have a chance to hang out with friends it is a wonderful treat. When we first arranged to hook up with Huajilla I just told Scott look out for the girl with crazy red hair. I love Huajilla's hair. Speaking as a girl with flat straight hair her hair amazing. And of course she is laughing at me right about now lol. Everytime I see her it is doing something new. That pretty much describes Huajilla in all things though. She has this amazing creativity that seems to flow into everything she does. First time I met Huajilla she was all but a toddler down in Arivaca, AZ. My mom's favorite story about her seems to be the one about spanking her bottom when
So many bugs to choose from!
Scott goes Big while picking out Bugs. she was about 4 years old and being "little monster." Whenever my mom is around one of us she has to tell that story. Oh well, that's moms for you...
Here's to Chiang Mai and big sheet snacks.
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Dave
non-member comment
How´s Greece?
Sorry I didn´t back to you sooner. As you know things on the road can be quite busy at times. I suspect this comment may be to late but the hostel called Summit Zero at Mount Olympus is really good. Also make sure you get to Meteora. It is really good. Just finished a 5 camping trip in Patagonia in below freezing temps. It was ´cool´ . Back in the states on June 7th. R U guys doing ok? It would have been great to meet somewhere again during our travels. Maybe we meet in the states again someday! Stay in touch!