Oh Mai, How Can One Not Love Chiang Mai?

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We arrived in Chiang Mai by bus, on time, at 11pm. Completely exhausted after a long day at Sukothai and then traveling, we hired a songtaew driver immediately to take us to a guesthouse. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, songtaews are the common Chiang Mai transportation and are basically small, red, open-air buses with two benches that face each other, fitting a maximum of maybe 10-12 people comfortably (though we’ve seen more crammed in). You hop on and off through the open back, and most of them follow some sort of route, though you basically tell the driver where you are trying to go before you hop on, and they will let you know whether or not they want to go there for you and how much it will cost you (generally very inexpensive).

We didn’t have any accommodations booked in Chiang Mai because we were planning to stay with a CouchSurfer host for all the nights, but had now arrived one night earlier due to taking the bus instead of the overnight train. The first guesthouse that our driver brought us to was completely full, so we drove to another one that he recommended, getting a fast and short tour of Chiang Mai’s nightlife as we passed by packed bars, some night markets, and the moat that surrounds the Old City. We found a room at the next guesthouse, albeit on the 5th floor with no elevator, since it was so late that that was the only thing available. It was a simple room with standard hostel-like amenities, but it was all we needed to pass out immediately.

Reenergized early the next day, we set foot toward Chiang Mai’s Old City, entering through the famous eastern Tae Phae Gate. Chiang Mai is a beautifully charming and cultural city, capital of the province of the same name and the largest city in northern Thailand. Almost every traveler to Thailand comes through Chiang Mai, as it is the jump-off point for many mountain adventures, elephant treks, hill tribe trips, etc. The city itself also offers beautiful temples and the Old City is surrounded by a cool city wall and a moat, with the Ping River on its eastern border.

After a delightfully farong (i.e. haole, i.e. western, i.e. white) breakfast in what seemed like Backpacker Central, we started walking the streets of the Old City and visited a nameless wat (or at least we didn’t catch the name of it), followed by Wat Chedi Luang, one of the larger and more renowned temples in the city. Wat Chedi Luang is very actively used, with many Thais visiting to pay their respects, many monks all over the grounds, and of course, beautiful golden Buddhas and large stone elephants. At one point inside Wat Chedi Luang, we saw a sign that said, “Chat with a Monk, here!” So we stopped, waiting to chat with a monk. Two monks, with their tan bodies and orange robes, came up to us and smiled. They spoke fairly good English (though wanted to speak Thai with me initially, which was not uncommon, since apparently, I look Thai and throughout the trip many people started to speak to me in Thai before they realized that I did not understand them). They said they were sorry that there were not many monks there that day, as usually there are many to chat with. In fact, all were very busy, as we could see, running around and getting ready for the upcoming ceremonies later that week, on New Year’s Day. We asked what ceremony they were preparing for, and they explained that the chief regional Guru had passed away a year ago. On the one-year anniversary of a Guru’s death is the cremation ceremony, a large spiritual celebration and event. This one was so important, in fact, that the royal family was coming to Chiang Mai to participate in it! As I described earlier, the royal family is highly esteemed in Thailand and people get very excited for anything that involves them, and even more so if it meant that they are coming to your city! The King himself is quite ill lately, so he was not coming, but other members of the royal family were. So, Wat Chedi Luang was quite aflutter in preparations. Inside the main temple hall, we saw a wax figure of the celebrated Guru, which looked frighteningly real. I am sorry to that say we were no longer in the city when the celebrations occurred, but it sounded like it would have been very interesting to witness.

After Chedi Luang, we grabbed our packs from the hostel and tuk-tuked over to the far other side of the city, outside the Old City walls, toward the Chiang Mai University area. Here, we would meet our CouchSurfer friend and gracious host, Tom. Tom recently moved to Chiang Mai and lives in a higher-end apartment complex near the very personable and fun neighborhoods of the university. Because it is near the university, it is bubbling with young blood and trendy shops and restaurants. Supposedly, Chiang Mai University is one of the best schools in all of Thailand, so many wealthy Bangkok families send their children there. Let me pause for a moment here, since I am talking about young college students, to talk about how downright beautiful Thai people are! We don’t know many Thais back in the States (less so than, say, Chinese or Koreans or Japanese), so we didn’t really know what to expect in terms of looks. It turns out that, by and large, Thai people are very good-looking!!— Everyone has a good body, pretty porcelain skin, smooth hair, and inviting smiles. In Chiang Mai particularly, they seemed extremely well dressed. Everywhere we looked, we seemed to be watching models on runways. Now we understand why so many single guys come backpacking through Thailand…

We met our CouchSurfing host Tom briefly, and made plans to meet up later that evening. Under Tom’s apartment complex, we found our only “go-to” restaurant of the trip— a local, open restaurant that only serves one real dish and is always jam-packed with local Thais. We sat down, and someone who looked like the owner came up to us and asked me in Thai what I wanted. We replied by asking for an English menu, to which he nodded no and said there wasn’t one. He pointed up at the wall, which showed a few lines of Thai writing that presumably served as the menu, but of course we understood none of it. So he made a few gestures and said a few words of broken English that indicated he would just bring us “the dish” (there is only one?), to which we replied, “Two, please, and a Thai iced tea.” Within two seconds, our plates came—very simple, just chicken with no skin, laid over white rice, a side of chopped cucumbers, and a small bowl of clear broth soup, plus a plate of chicken satay on the side. It sounds so simple, and it was, but it was extremely and surprisingly satisfying. It was no wonder that this place was always so busy. Everyone who came ate the same dish. And it cost about $.75 USD a person.

After filling up, we met up with Ivan, a Kaua'i resident whom we had met a couple times in Kaua'i, and who lives in Chiang Mai half the year. Ivan graciously offered to take us around and up to Doi Suthep, a mountain overlooking Chiang Mai, where a very famous temple, Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep, is perched. We took several different songtaews to climb the winding mountain road to the top, and found ourselves at the foot of the long naga staircase leading up to the temple. This temple is said to have been first built in the 14th century and remains a very sacred site today for the Thai people. The main gold (or copper?)-plated chedi in the center was unfortunately under restoration when we went, so it was covered in bamboo scaffolding, but the grounds are surrounded with other prangs, pagodas, Buddhas, bells and shrines galore. There is even a replica of the Emerald Buddha (the original of which we had seen in Bangkok a few days earlier). Ivan had come to Doi Suthep once with a Thai family who taught him all the proper traditional Thai customs to do when visiting a wat, so he taught us to do the same. We purchased the sacred flowers, incense and candles; dipped the flowers in the water and sprinkled ourselves before offering them at the chedi; lit the incense and candles and left them on the appropriate holders and altars; and then walked around the chedi three times. We are not sure of the exact significance of these Buddhist customs, but it all seemed to have to do with paying respects and we were amongst literally hundreds, if not thousands, of other Thai visitors who were doing the same.

After exploring Doi Suthep, Ivan took us back into the Old City, where we met a couple of his friends and booked a 2-day/1-night trek into the mountains northwest of Chiang Mai for the next morning. That night, Ivan, Tom, Tom’s friends Liz and Chris (who had also recently arrived in Chiang Mai to visit), and Michael and I had a delicious gluttonous dinner and drinks, and then headed to a really fun Muay Thai boxing match in an old arena by Tae Phae Gate.

Muay Thai is a form of Thai martial arts/kickboxing that is very popular and is the country’s national sport. Michael had wanted to attend a match since we arrived as we had heard much about it and because it is so big and important in Thai culture. The match we went to was somewhat geared more toward tourists, and as such, was less gruesome and involved less serious betting. However, it was still a lot of fun to make harmless bets with the local Thais and to cheer loudly and drink liberally (remember, by the bottle!). After we somehow finished two handles of whiskey and the boxing matches were over, they allowed us to slip into the fighting ring and play! Several of us threw each other around in the boxing ring, did gymnastics, sprung off the sides like they do in wrestling, and overall had a blast pretending we knew kickboxing. As if that was not fun enough, upon leaving, we hailed a tuk-tuk to take us all back to Tom’s apartment. Ivan had his motorbike with him (Ivan is one of those brave souls who is not native to Thailand but still dares to take on its roads with a motorbike, but I guess if I had once been a motocross racer like him, I would not be scared either), which promptly sputtered out of gas within 100 yards of the arena! So, six of us hopped onto the tuk-tuk, which really only seats two people, with three large guys somehow fitting on the back bench, while Liz, Ivan and I basically hung off of the tuk-tuk’s frame, flapping in the wind, laughing and squealing with our hair blowing in the crisp night air as we made our way across Chiang Mai. That night, we were five thick in Tom’s studio apartment, and I think we all slept very well and deeply….though certainly not enough, as we all had to wake up early for our respective trekking tours starting the next morning…

Thoroughly hung over and desperately sleep deprived, I dragged myself up for breakfast at our “go-to” restaurant downstairs. They seemed to recognize us (Michael was the only white guy in there within the last 24 hours, likely) and brought us two plates of the same. Whether it was because I was not feeling well or just because it was an early breakfast, chicken over rice simply did not work for me at that hour that morning. I nibbled on the cucumbers and downed the clear broth while Michael ate both of our chicken plates. Finally, we were picked up by our tour and were on our way to explore Chiang Mai’s mountains!

Now, these types of treks were a dime a dozen throughout Chiang Mai, so it was hard to know which one to sign up with, as they are all very similar. The company we went with, Chiang Mai T.I.C. Tours, was recommended by one of Ivan’s Thai friends, and overall it was very enjoyable, with commendable service and a lot of fun. But, I am sure that all the companies’ tours are, to an extent, a little commercialized and contrived. As such, we were not surprised to find ourselves at our first stop, at the Karen Tribe village (yes, this ancient hill tribe shares my name!), and feeling very much like a spectator watching a show. It’s not that the people were not authentic, but this tribe doesn’t even really live in the area— the Karen originate from near the border with Myanmar, which is where their real villages still are, but this little village was specifically moved closer to Chiang Mai so that these tour companies could visit it and show off the Karen women’s unique “long-necks” and make money off of it. The women wear brass rings around their necks starting at age 5 and add a ring each year until they are 35, stretching their necks so long that it almost looks cartoonish, or at the very least, extremely fascinating. The actual necks themselves are indeed captivating, but the way it was all done— so that they were almost animals in a cage for us to gawk at— made us a bit uncomfortable being there. We snapped a few photos and left, but I suppose the people themselves do benefit from tourists buying a lot of their handicrafts.

The most disturbing part was that, at the end of this “village,” there was suddenly a church, with a giant cross and all. Earlier in my blog, you read how the Thai people do not celebrate Christmas at all and there are essentially no Christians in Thailand, let alone in the remote hill tribes. They are almost all Buddhist or have their own tribal beliefs and gods. This Church, of course, is the result of visiting missionaries to the hill tribes and consequent “conversion” of the people. This reminded me of what our new friends, Liz and Chris, were telling us the night before. Liz and Chris had just come off of two years in the Peace Corp in Vanuatu, where the Polynesian culture shares a lot of similarities with the Hawaiians. Also like the Hawaiians, western missionaries have inundated Vanuatu and the population there is almost 90% Christian, when they previously had their own set of cultural Gods and beliefs, just as the Hawaiians and the hill tribes do. As with any culture, it seems that the more streamlined they become, the more they lose of their original identity and culture, and one, or at least I, cannot help but become sad that rather than “saving people,” we seem to be losing and burying more peoples and cultures. This big Church at the end of the Karen village, where it clearly did not seem to fit, just seemed to be another sign of this.

After the disappointing visit to the Karen Tribe, things got better on our tour. We stopped briefly at a couple random places, like an orchid farm and butterfly garden, which were very pleasant, and then at a Thai marketplace, where vendors sold fried insects and roaches and intestines!! I’m sorry to report that neither of us bellied up the courage to try any of them!

Then, we were off to the elephant camp! I have to say we approached the whole elephant thing with a grain of salt. I had heard a lot of things about it— both good and bad— and some people telling us to downright avoid it entirely because of perceived cruelty or other reasons. So, I went into it with some skepticism, but it was still something that I wanted to experience for myself, and I still couldn’t shake the feeling of how fun it might be to be atop this giant beast! So, after a quick lunch at the camp, we see our elephants come into view and immediately become excited! We fed our elephant some bananas, which he ate wholly and quickly, and off we went!…nowhere. We actually did not move very much at all.

While our elephant was quite lovable and his trunk was fascinating, and I actually did not feel that our guide was being cruel, as I had been warned, the whole ride was not as enjoyable as it could have been simply because we didn’t go anywhere. Even the elephants themselves looked bored. We were under the impression that we’d ride the elephants through some really cool jungles and trails, and instead, they pretty much just carried us around in circles around a dusty field. We did go over to the bank of the nearby river where they drank some water, which was admittedly very neat, but then we just went up a small hill and right back to where we started. All in all, I am glad I did it; it just wasn’t exciting. We did have a few moments of hysterical laughing as the elephant went down a hill because Michael and I were doing everything we could to avoid falling off!— if I had gripped the seat handles even just a tad less hard, I think I would’ve bounced right off, because an elephant’s gait, shifting weight between his gigantic feet and the two monster sides of his body, is actually quite shaky when you’re experiencing it from on top of him! We were bouncing and shifting all over the place, and for a moment, it seemed as if we were on a really fun ride. Otherwise, my first elephant ride will hopefully not be my last, but I will do it differently next time.

After bidding farewell to our beautiful beasts, we started a 3-4 hour hike up to the top of the mountains of the Mae Taeng district. Having no expectations of what type of hike we would do on this trip, we were actually very pleased with the fun trail, which crossed several rivers and streams, snaked through beautiful teak forests, and climbed a couple thousand feet into the mountains, affording us magnificent sweeping views of all the mountain valleys around us. In the middle of our hike, we approached a small waterfall, where Michael and I and a couple others in our group took a refreshing dip— we felt like we were back in Kaua'i! Toward the end, as we approached the Lahu tribe village where we would spend the night, we huffed and puffed up the last several hundred feet of seemingly endless steep uphill slopes, as the villages are located on a ridge almost at the summit of the mountains. Even though we were breathing hard, each heavy step brought more beautiful views, especially as we approached the twilight hour. The soft light of the setting sun splayed a warm glow across the vast green valleys and the now-faraway city of Chiang Mai in the distance, marked by a pocket of twinkling lights at the bottom of the mountain valleys.

Our hiking and overall 2-day tour was made infinitely better by our hilarious and wonderful Thai guide, Pea. Pea is a 24-year old Thai tour guide who was born and raised in a small rural farming town about an hour and a half outside of Chiang Mai, and is extremely witty and a very talented guitarist and singer. His mastery of the English language also impressed us, and best of all, he shared many of the same tour guide jokes with Michael, who was also a tour guide in Kaua'i for two years— it seems that there is a universal standard for cheesy tour guide jokes, right down to him showing us the "shy grass," or hila hila, as we call it here in Hawai'i! 😊 Pea was fun company and gave us great insight into the everyday Thai lifestyle for young adults like himself. Our group of ten was eclectic, consisting of four Koreans who didn’t speak much English, two German girls who were living and teaching in southern Thailand and were on their winter break, a black French-Swiss, a Caucasian German-Swiss (both of whom seemed to speak infinite languages given their upbringing in Switzerland, land of four “official languages”), and Michael and I as the only Americans, from Hawai'i.

We “checked into” our accommodations for the night at the Lahu hill tribe, which consisted of a bamboo shack with a thatched grass roof, built on stilts into the slope of the mountain, with three rooms— the kitchen, where our delicious meals were prepared; an empty room that we used for dining by sitting on straw mats across the floor; and the sleeping quarters, which had about 16 thin futon mats laid out in two long rows on the floor, one right next to the other, with individual mosquito nets dangling from the ceiling around each sleeping mat. There was also another bamboo building with two squatter toilet stalls and two shower stalls, though we had no hot water and it was already cold enough up there in the mountains, so not many of us decided to take showers! There was also no electricity, so within an hour of arriving, we were setting up the bonfire on the porch up front and lighting candles. The rest of the evening was spent just hanging out and chatting; drinking beers bought from the Lahu tribesman who was “in charge” of our shack (they know how to do business!); listening to Pea play and sing on his guitar; eating the delicious dinner of hot chicken and pumpkin curry soup, stir-fry vegetables, and white rice, whipped up by Pea himself!; playing brainteaser games; and generally just enjoying.

There were several other bamboo set-ups like ours within a thousand feet of our site, also built alongside the mountains, with other trekking groups in there, presumably doing the same thing we were, with their bonfires flickering in the dark night and sporadic peals of laughter and singing coming from their direction, just as I assume they were seeing and hearing from us. It seemed funny that so high up, in the mountains northwest of Chiang Mai, thousands of miles away from our comfort zones of first-world amenities, we would be amongst so many others like us, hundreds who hiked into these same trails and hillsides daily, and we were really just part of the bigger picture of a very well-run business. It was both a little comforting and disheartening at the same time, which is interesting to feel simultaneously. It sort of reminded me of Into the Wild, where Chris McCandless thought he was going into this great uncharted terrain in Alaska, but in reality he was just 16 miles away from a highly-visited national park with rangers and safety and warmth almost at his fingertips. While I had no prior illusions or expectations of being far from anything or anybody, discovering new territory or anything, it still would have been nice to be a little more lost in the woods and away from more people. But, this is by no means a complaint; it is just a comment for future travelers that if you are looking for some off-the-beaten-path, completely unheard-of adventure, these 2 or 3-day multi-activity treks out of Chiang Mai are not it. However, if you are just looking for a great time doing a multitude of fun recreational activities that allow you to explore some of the beauty around Chiang Mai with interesting people from around the world, then these are pretty good trips!

That night was very cold up in the mountains, which was a welcome change because it had been so hot everywhere else in Thailand. But, our thin blankets were not quite enough to keep me warm, so that I felt myself slowly catching a cold throughout the wee hours of the night. As a result, I would be slightly under the weather for the rest of the trip, but I can’t say it really hindered much…

I was the first to wake up the next morning at about 5:30am (actually, I had been up since about 4am, chattering from the cold and listening to the wild roosters crowing joyously outside— another reminder of Kaua'i!), and went outside to watch the sunrise over the valleys. Armed with my digital SLR, I got to capture and enjoy the solace of the morning and watch everything take shape as the day’s light spilled over the mountains— just me, the silence, and our group’s pet mascot “Panda,” an adorable black and white mutt who knows Pea and followed us all the way up to our campsite from the elephant camp. I was joined by one of my fellow Korean trekkers at about 6:15am, shortly followed by one of the German girls, and, before long, our whole group was up, watching the day unfold from the porch. A comforting breakfast of scrambled eggs and vegetables, buttered toast, watermelon, and tea and coffee was served before we packed up and were back on our way, down the mountain.

First, we got a brief tour of the rest of the Lahu tribe. About 40 people lived in this particular village, in similar bamboo shacks like the one we had just spent the night in. The Lahu are originally from Tibet and southwest China. Some tribes are still scattered throughout the region, but many had moved to Myanmar, and, due to conflicts there, then relocated to Thailand only a few decades ago. Their typical morning (if this was a typical morning) seemed to consist of the standard daily tasks of any village— doing laundry by hand and hanging it out to dry, farming food, and creating handicrafts. The Lahu are known for their weaving skills. We smiled as we walked by small families and children, when suddenly, we all came to a halting stop.

There, about 50 feet in front of us, was the biggest, hairiest, possibly ugliest gigantic boar I have ever seen! Now, I have not seen too many boars in my life, but I think living in Kaua'i, on a plantation and near the mountains where hunters hunt for boar, means I have seen more boars than most other Americans or westerners, who generally do not have wild boars in their backyards, so I think I can speak with some authority when I say that this was not your regular boar. It was so big that it dwarfed the building beside it and it looked as if its itsy bitty feet could not support it much longer (see pictures)!

After a few gasps of awe, we gently made our way past the boar so as not to disturb him, went out of the village, and within minutes, were back on the ridge, descending down the other side of the mountain. We spent the next hour or so hiking downhill at a fast pace, and found ourselves taking a break at another beautiful waterfall, this one much bigger than the one we had seen the day before. These waterfalls are funny, because they seem to be in the middle of nowhere and are very beautiful and surrounded in jungle, but because they are common stops on all these tourist hiking trails, the Thais have set up little stands at each waterfall to sell beers, waters, and various snacks, including Lay’s potato chips and Oreos. Clearly they know their customers all too well. 😊 While you initially ask yourself what the hell this retail stand is doing out here in the middle of the mountains, you gotta admit, it’s pretty convenient to be able to buy a beer and cookies on your deserved break!

After another hour or so of hiking, we arrived at the spot where we would begin white-water rafting on the Mae Taeng River. “White-water rafting” may be a misnomer. While that is technically what we did, and we did have the same rafts and life jackets and paddled in the same way one would paddle when truly white-water rafting, the river was so low and calm that day that there were hardly any rapids! It was really more of a very serene and pretty river-drifting ride, with a few isolated minutes of fun rapids and mini falls over large rocks. Nevertheless, we got wet and had a lot of fun! Michael and I shared our raft with the two German girls, who knew a little Thai since they had been living there for about 5 months, and were able to communicate somewhat with our raft-leader so that he ended up giving his paddling instructions in Thai. After white-water rafting for a little less than an hour, we approached an even calmer portion of the Mae Taeng River and ditched our life jackets and inflatable raft to hop onto bamboo rafts. These rafts are made of a few strands of rope and one layer of bamboo, and sunk low enough into the river just so our bottoms were in the water when sitting on top of the raft. It was a beautiful day and it was extremely relaxing to simply float downriver, letting the current take us to our final destination on this 2-day tour. We finally arrived at the huts on the banks of the river, where we would eat lunch, exchange emails with our new friends, and say goodbye.

Upon arriving back in Chiang Mai city that afternoon, Michael and I had one mission: to buy a towel. Our CouchSurfer host, who was so nice as to leave us the keys to his apartment while he was gone on his own trek that night, did not quite have enough towels to spread amongst the four new people that were suddenly staying in his studio apartment! We were all sharing and we thought we'd do something nice and buy some towels and leave them with him. Well, long story short, we did not succeed in finding any retail store within a few-blocks radius that sold towels. But, this did lead us on a wonderful walk throughout the neighborhood around Chiang Mai University, which we found to be extremely charming and appealing, with great restaurants and cute cafes, fun trinket stores, clean sidewalks, and what we dubbed “spa-row,” an area that literally had a different luxury massage spa every other storefront. We also found the only Japanese restaurant we’ve ever been to that does not serve sushi (only served cooked Japanese dishes); no matter, we stopped in for a mid-evening snack anyway. (One advantage of really cheap food is that there is really no excuse not to eat at every instance that you may feel like eating, and then to order everything you might want to try. The thinking usually goes along the lines of, “Well, that looks good…but do I need it?...well, it’s only $.50, might as well just order it anyway.”)

So after a nice snack and then a nap, it was time to go eat again. 😊 We had made plans to meet up with our new friend Ruby, the French-Swiss who was on our trekking group. We hailed a tuk-tuk and negotiated a price to take us to what we thought was Ruby’s guesthouse inside the Old City. As it turned out, our Thai pronunciation must not be that good…as we ended up getting dropped off at a dark alley in a very residential part of town. As soon as the tuk-tuk started sputtering away, I knew I should have stopped him because it was clear that this was not where a farong guesthouse would be! Before we knew it, we were going in circles around the Old City’s streets. After about an hour of walking and stopping several times to ask for directions, we finally arrived at Ruby’s guesthouse, where, surprisingly, she was still waiting for us in the front courtyard! And best of all, she was with Pea, our Thai guide from the trek! She had called Pea to join us and they were just sipping whiskeys, still waiting for us for dinner!

We finally made our way to a Thai-French restaurant owned by Ruby’s friend’s friend, who was French, and had more revelatory conversations with Pea. Pea spoke often of hoping to come to Hawai'i one day, but it made me sad to realize that the chances of that reality are likely very slim. The very thing that makes it so inexpensive and feasible for Americans or Europeans to visit Southeast Asia is the very same thing th;at makes it that much more impossible for those in Southeast Asia to visit us. Pea is amongst the well-educated young adults in Thailand with fine jobs, but even for them, the idea of traveling outside their own country, especially just for pleasure’s sake, seems unreachable. In fact, they can hardly travel within their own country. A waitress in Bangkok, and now Pea, told us that they can hardly afford to go around Thailand and would love the chance to just travel down south, to see the beaches that Thailand is so well-known for. Even that would be a nice dream for them. It made me feel both grateful and sad at once— grateful to be where we are, both in the U.S. and in Hawai'i in particular, and also simultaneously made me wish that a sudden leveling of wealth would occur across the world so that we could all share in each other’s beautiful places and cultures. Ah, but what a Socialist thing to say, some friends would tell me!

At dinner’s end, we said goodbye to Pea and Ruby, and made our way over to Chiang Mai’s famous Night Bizarre, which I still hadn’t gotten the chance to experience yet after nearly four nights there. To get there, we walked through Chiang Mai’s “Pink-Light District,” which was bizarre because while there were obvious prostitutes (both real women and what the Thais love to call “Lady Boys”), it was still a relatively decent area with nice bars and restaurants and didn’t seem too dangerous, which is why I guess they call it “Pink-Light” instead of “Red-Light.” If anything, it was humorous and entertaining.

Whether it was because we got there late (near midnight) and many of the vendors were already starting to close up, or because I was too exhausted from lack of sleep that I wasn’t in the mood to bargain and negotiate much, I found Chiang Mai’s Night Bizarre to be just OK. Certainly, there were beautiful silks and skilled artwork, and if I was looking for a good deal on brand name sneakers or purses, I probably would’ve found something, but I thought that the majority of it just sold much of the same souvenirs seen everywhere else. However, it was a good place to laugh with locals as you bargain them down, and to collect some great elephant-print paraphernalia! In all honesty, if I hadn’t been so ready for bed, I probably would’ve raged the stands and bought a lot of the goods! (So maybe it was a good thing I was tired…) But even if you are not in the mood to buy anything, it is a great and lively place to just walk the streets and witness the hustle and bustle of endless carts of vendors lined up and down several blocks of streets.

The next day was our last solid day in Chiang Mai and New Year’s Eve. Having no real plans for the day or night, we started off by visiting Wat Umong, an active temple situated within the forest hills of Doi Suthep, a ways outside of the Old City walls. Wat Umong is unique in its serene natural setting (almost all the others we went to were in urban settings), and because it features cool 14th century tunnels built underneath the main central chedi that visitors can walk through. The tunnels are not a very extensive system, but lead to various prayer rooms with Buddha images and statues, and are fun to scurry through, if nothing else! We were also able to walk past monks’ living quarters, with their laundry of orange robes hanging out to dry, and their meetings rooms. On certain days, visitors can sit in on talks given by the abbot, the head monk. (Unfortunately, we were not there at the time of a scheduled talk.) A few other memorable things about Wat Umong is one particularly haunting statue of a Buddha that is extremely emaciated (the only one of its kind that we have seen), and a “graveyard” of sorts of many various broken stone Buddha parts scattered about, collected into this one patch of the courtyard. There is also a very peaceful garden surrounded by a lake, where many Thais sat feeding fish, eating ice cream, watching birds, or meditating in the warm sunshine. One of my favorite things was reading all the signs of Buddhist wisdom and virtues posted on trees throughout the temple grounds. We had seen this done at several other temples, but Wat Umong seemed to have the most signs. Every step you take, you read another sign, imparting beautiful Buddhist knowledge and sayings to you. Everyone, including us, seemed to walk a little slower and generally moved at a more tranquil pace within Wat Umong (even stray dogs playing with each other seemed to play extremely gently and lazily).

After a couple hours at Wat Umong, Michael and I continued our relaxed pace and made our way back into the Old City, where we sat down for a long European lunch at one of the many diverse restaurants. We had not really had anything but Thai food since we got to Thailand, so seeing pasta alfredo and salads on the menu was unexpectedly fun! Then, we went to our last temple of the trip, Wat Phra Sing, which I believe is the biggest one located within the Old City walls, and certainly extremely popular. We were not sure what the occasion was (if there was any), but there were a lot of Thai visitors to this temple, all making offerings of money, flowers, incense, food, and even personal writings and drawings, which they pinned to certain flags hung from the ceiling. All across the compounds, even outside of the main temple at the auxiliary viharns, monks were rushing to refill the flower bins for sale and people were on their knees in prayer. As such, I felt like we were part of a festival honoring the particular Phra Buddha Sihing, which is housed here and which this wat is known for.

Oh, but temple-hopping can be so tiring— this must be why the wonderful Thai people have set up massage centers every 100 feet in the city. 😊 Don’t need to twist our arm!— We walked into a parlor and received our third hour-long Thai massage of the trip. This may have been the one with the most pressure (and thus the best) for me, but Michael insists his favorite was back at the famous massage school at Wat Pho in Bangkok. Either way, it was well worth the $4.50 USD.

As if we weren’t relaxed enough after the massage, we felt satisfied with what we had seen in Chiang Mai and sought out Buak Had Park to further relax. Buak Had Park is a delightful oasis park located at the very southwest corner within Chiang Mai’s Old City walls. I absolutely love parks and open green space within cities, and this was no exception. With several large ponds, bridges, jogging paths, food vendors, and all the adorable stray kitties I could ever hope for, coming right up to me, we were quick to join the many other friends and lovers lying on the grass with nothing to do but talk and enjoy the early evening coolness settling in. I was really beginning to see why so many foreigners come to Chiang Mai and just decide to stay and live here!

As night approached, we got ready for New Year’s Eve festivities (for which we still didn’t really have set plans). Michael and I went out to a semi-fancy dinner in the University neighborhood, and ate raw shrimp for the first time! (Well, other than in ceviche, but this was not ceviche-style— just whole raw shrimps with their tails still on.) We stuffed ourselves with a delicious meal of other spicy curries and short ribs, and met up with Tom, Liz and Chris, who had all just come back from their 3-day trekking trip. We all joined up and went to what seemed like a local college bar that was giving away free lychee liquor shots and beef & veggie skewers upon entering— Happy New Year indeed! After staying for several songs of the rockin’ live band (and yes, they played 4 Non Blondes’ “What’s Going On?” again!), we made our way across town, bypassing the Old City and over to a bar in a part of Chiang Mai that we had not yet been to, on the eastern banks of the Ping River. This also appeared to be a rather swanky part of town and was the perfect place to ring in 2010 because of its prime and beautiful location right on the river.

There is a tradition in Thailand (and I believe in other parts of Asia, as well) where people light flames within a giant rice paper lantern until it fills up with glowing light and air, and floats like a hot air balloon, up into the sky wherever the wind takes it. Well, on that crisp New Year's Eve night, there were literally thousands of these up in the sky. At first, we thought they were fireworks whose flames and lights were taking awhile to fall down and disappear, but then we realized that these little pins of light in the sky were all floating lanterns, all going in the same direction because of the wind currents, and twinkling in the clear night as if thousands of stars were suddenly all moving, forming patterns across the sky. Some people write messages on the lanterns— bad things or habits that they want to get rid or let go of— and release them into the air, so that they may start off the new year pure and free of these vices. Many people were lighting up and releasing these lanterns right from the dock at our bar, so we joined a few of them and helped release a couple lanterns ourselves. It was really a beautiful sight to see.

With the lights and hopes of so many people floating across the skies above us, the entire scene was literally illuminated further, when, at the stroke of midnight, a huge and booming firework show started. The fireworks were launched right from the riverbank across from us, so we felt every crackle and explosion as if it were within our own hearts. Everyone at the bar was smiling, screaming in joy, and spraying silly string all over each other— Happy 2010!

We ended the night back at Tom’s place, relishing the fun of squeezing five people into a tiny studio, and fell asleep with twinkling lanterns floating through our dreams.

On January 1, 2010, Michael and I woke up earliest of the five of us and went out for breakfast at a café that we had been eyeing down the street. This would be our last meal before leaving Chiang Mai, or so I thought. After “breakfast #1,” Michael was still not entirely full, so we immediately stopped off at our “go-to” local restaurant to get our third and last chicken-over-rice-and-clear-broth-soup meal, just for good measure before we left. (This is a classic textbook example of the aforementioned “I-could-eat-this-but-don’t-need-to-but-will-anyway-because-it’s-so-cheap-so-why-not” scenario.) They knew us by now and the meal came and went within 10 minutes. I don’t even know the restaurant’s name (it was in Thai writing only), but we could tell you exactly where it is (on Sirimankalajarn Rd, about two blocks south of Huay Kaew Rd, across from The Miracle Spa)!

At last, it was time to bid farewell to Chiang Mai. We said goodbye to Tom, Liz and Chris, and made our way over to the airport to fly down to Phuket. Part of me knows that if I had just spent the rest of my time in Chiang Mai, or even the entirety of this Thailand trip there, I would’ve been just fine…so now I guess I will just have to go back…

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Photos

A Surrounded City
Sitting by the moat that encircles Chiang Mai's Old City

Fancy Puppies
It was very common in Chiang Mai to find dogs dressed up in clothing and accessories of all kinds! There were entire stores dedicated to just doggy clothing.

Wat Chedi Luang
Karen looking at all the money donated into the tin cups...

The Guru Lives...
[Kinda creepy] Wax figure of the Guru for which Wat Chedi Luang was preparing its cremation ceremonies.

Naga Staircase
About to ascend the long staircase up to Wat Doi Suthep at the top of the mountains

Traditional Customs
Karen sprinkling flowers and lighting incense at Wat Doi Suthep

Three Times Merry-Go-Round
Michael walking around teh chedi 3x with the sacred flowers before offering them at Wat Doi Suthep

She Packs A Punch
Watching (and experiencing) Muay Thai (look at background for real match going on)

Muay Thai amatuer-style
We all went into the ring after the matches and played!

Hiiiyaaaaaaa
Chris and Liz beat each other up

Brave Bikers
Liz and Karen on Ivan's ridiculous Burberry-seated motorbike

They Speed Away....
....and then Ivan immediately runs out of gas, haha!

Crazy Tuk-Tuk Ride!
3 large men in the tuk-tuk seat (Chris, Michael and Tom), and notice Liz hanging on in the back (Karen and Ivan are also hanging on, but can't be seen here)

Long Necks
Karen's neck strangely looks a bit longer next to the Karen tribes-girl

Orchid Farm
Beautiful endless rows of orchids outside of Chiang Mai

Marketplace Delicacies!
Fried insects and roaches!

Dumbo!
Our first eye contact with our beautiful elephant!

All Aboard
Climbing on top of the howdah, the seat over the elephant

Jungle Book
On top of our elephant!!

Saying Goodbye
A heart-to-heart with this very gentle elephant

New Pet
Michael asks if we can take him with us

Pea!!
In a teak forest with our awesome Thai guide Pea

Coooooold Waterfall!
Ruby and Karen cool off (fast) in the first waterfall of the hike

Misty Valleys
Beautiful sweeping valley views overlooking Chiang Mai as we got higher and higher into the mountains

Almost Home for the Night
Look closely and you will see the string of Lahu villages up on the ridge, near the summit. That is where we stayed.

Pea's Album cover
I took this beautiful photo of Pea playing guitar that is frame-worthy

Romantic Candlelight Dinner
Delicious soup and curry served over straw mats on the bamboo floors.

Sunrise Over Mae Taeng
At 5:30am, the sun was just starting to peak over the mountains...the colors were magnificent

Breakfast Is Served
Our group gathering for breakfast on the floor

GIGANTIC BOAR
Not sure if you can tell in this picture, but this boar in the Lahu village was enormous and just roaming freely

Mountain Views
As we descend down other side of the mountain, the views are just as beautiful as climbing up

Waterfall (with retail stands)
We got to enjoy this waterfall and a stand selling Oreos and beers

Panda #2!
This mini black and white puppy looked like the baby version of our pet mascot, Panda, who hiked with us the whole time!!

White-Water Rafting...sort of
This looks like there were actually rapids!...that was rare, haha, but so much fun!

Group Shot!
Our Chiang Mai Trek Group! (4 Koreans, 2 Germans, 1 French Swiss, 1 German Swiss, 2 Americans (us) and Pea, our guide)

Laundry Day
Monks' robes hanging out to dry at forested Wat Umong

Scary Tunnels!
The tunnels underneath Wat Umong's central chedi

Mind Your Head
Michael inside Wat Umong's tunnels

Buddhist Lessons
Almost every temple featured posted signs with Buddhist virtues and beliefs written on them...very interesting to walk through

Missing Waffles & Nama
I loved all the stray cats around Thailand and in Buak Had Park in particular...reminded me of Waffles and Nama back home!!

Ringing In '10!
Enjoying our last meal of 2009 and bringing in the big 1-0.

Tom Sings 4 Non Blondes, haha
Tom loves this local rock band at the college bar

Speckled Lights Across the Sky
Fireworks and lit lanterns alike fill the sky on New Year's Eve

Rice Paper Lanterns
Filling the paper lantern with flame/gas/air so before releasing it into the sky

Light Show!
Fireworks and paper lanterns reflected in the Ping River

Happy New Year!
We had the prime viewing spot for the fireworks over the Ping River