Sa-wat-dee Kah (hello!)

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Thursday 1-20 to Sunday 1-23
I LOVE THAILAND! This place loves fried chicken just as much as I do! We are in the land of Pad Thai and Thai iced tea! Clearly there is a trend in my travel highlights (aka mostly food) but seriously, the food here is great! Our first meal was in a little pad thai, side of the road, hole in the wall and it was delicious! We got yummy Thai iced teas for 50 cents – can’t beat that.

Chiang Mai is a beautiful city. Not as crazy as a high-rise big city, but lovely and lively, with tons to do and see. And the people are so friendly! Whenever we’ve gotten lost or needed help, the nearest Thai on the street has been nothing but patient and accommodating, helping us get around and always with a smile and a giggle.

Our first day was spent walking through the city, hitting the main wat (temple) sights. For all friends and family: you should be receiving good luck this year, just a heads up. We added 180 coins in 180 good luck jars for you. You’re welcome ;o) We also attended a couple “monk chats,” where you get to sit with some monks and ask them all sorts of questions about Buddhism, their studies, their robes, etc., while they practice their English on you. It was actually kind of fun and interesting to learn why some of the young men here choose to (even briefly) go into the monastery. [Nick Note: Monks can be monks for as little as a couple of weeks. Kids from prominent families will serve briefly to check off a box that brings honor to their family, the king was a monk for three weeks and it seems that the picture of his time as a monk is in every pagoda. I asked one monk why he became a monk and he basically said he was poor so it was better to be a monk than starve and he can get an education which would not be available to him otherwise. I asked why they were so interested in learning English and the answer was basically so they could share Buddhism with tourists who mostly speak English.] We also attended a nightly meditation class at the Wat Srisupan. We learned a couple tricks on how to clear our minds and discovered first hand how hard it is for big white people to sit for long periods of time in the lotus position.

The next day was spent eating a fat, juicy burger at Mike’s Burger for brunch, reportedly the “most delicious burger outside the US.” The burger was only so-so but the onion rings were perfection! We headed in the afternoon to get a traditional Thai massage from some prison inmates. Come again, you ask? The Women’s Correctional Facility here has opened a couple cottage industries for the women to earn some money for when they are released (not really hardened criminals). One of the trades is massage and it was GOOD! You have to put on a pair of PJs and wash your feet before the massage but when my big, husky lady of a masseuse came out to get me, I was thrilled! No doubt she’d be able to use a lot of hard pressure for a strong massage; no delicate hands for me! And I wasn’t disappointed. For those of you that have no idea what Thai massage is, it’s kind of like assisted yoga stretches to relax your muscles and hit pressure points. It was AWESOME! At $5/hr I want one of these each day! The stretches felt really good; her standing on me felt even better; and when she literally twisted me in half to crack my back, I didn’t think it could get any better!

That night, we got our fix of cinema! We got to see “Fair Game” at a local mall. A good but infuriating film! Such a blight on our American history; such a f*cked up 8 years of lies and political bullsh*t! As a bonus, there was an open food market in front of the mall, so we had a delicious street-food dinner. I only wish I could read Thai, as I love food, but not enough to try mystery meat. I’m not that brave.

Before leaving Chiang Mai, we HAD to rent scooters! I didn’t realize Thailand drove on the left-hand side of the road, so it was quite an adventure! We rode the scooters through town up to the hills of Doi Suthep National Park. It was a beautiful drive up winding country roads. (Now I realize why everyone in SE Asia wears face masks – I can’t count the number of bugs that got stuck in my chapstick!) We visited the golden stupa of Wat Phra That, Phuping Palace (the Royal winter residence) , and Doi Pui (a small Hmong tribal village). The Hmong village was pretty touristy, sadly, but it had beautiful flower gardens and it was interesting to see their traditional costumes.

That evening, we went to the Chiang Mai Night Safari. A very strange attraction – not quite resort, not quite zoo, but it had an impressive after dark tram ride through open multi-species enclosures. We got to feed a giraffe and see lots of ungulates and big cats wandering around at night. It was very cool!

Our last day in Chiang Mai (before heading out into the forest for a week) was filled with the sights and smells of a Thai cooking class. We booked a class outside the city on an organic farm. They took us to the local market to point out and explain the ingredients and walked us through their garden to identify our fresh veggies & herbs. My hat goes off to Nick who doesn’t really like to cook, but took the class with me anyway and made some DE-licious red curry and a banana/coconut soup dessert. We pounded our own curry paste (which immediately flew into my stinging eye) and stir-fried our own pad thai. The food was yummy and I ate to physiological capacity (surprise, surprise). I have found a new love: coconut sticky rice. Un-frickin-believable! Now I just hope our hotel has a microwave so I can lay waste to our leftovers for dinner ;o)

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Photos

Phuphing Palace
The King's Winter Residence

Comments

[Kathy]

You've convinced me
Ok. You've convinced me. I'll put Thailand on the list of places I want to go.

[danisom]

Please, please, please come home and cook for me! And Kathy, how could Thailand ever NOT have been on the list of places you want to go?