An Extended Stay in Chiang Mai

Proud Soldier at Routine Checkpoint
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March 18, 2006

A bit hungover, we huffed our bags to the bus stop in the center of Pai to await the bus to Chiang Mai.  It arrived late and already full of through passengers from Mae Hong Son.  We fought for our own spaces on opposite ends of the aisle and stood there cramped for the first half of the ride.  Eventually we worked our way to the steps next to the open rear door and stood there holding handrails like parachuters about to jump, a vast improvement.  Four windy hours later and we were back in the Chiang Mai bus station.  A sawngthew dropped us off at the East Gate of the central Old City, and we set off to find a room.

Shopping, Walking, Shopping, Eating, Shopping...

Comfy Seat
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March 29, 2006

After our two and a half months of speeding through Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos, we decided to take it a bit slower, since we have such a long time to spend in Thailand.  That said, however, we did stall out a bit in this inexpensive, easy living city and were reluctant to make our way back to the hotter, busier, polluted, overpopulated, more expensive, in-your-face Bangkok.

Our time in Chiang Mai was long and falls mainly into three categories: walking, eating, and, of course, shopping.  The walking category took up most of our first three days, as we kept having to search for a new guesthouse and then return with our bags.  The first guesthouse was a clean, well-built mini hotel in a noisy spot.  The staff were horrendous, however, in an attackingly defensive sort of way, and we chose to leave rather than endure them another night.  Our second guesthouse was a converted office building with rooms mostly divided by an industrial cardboard.  Obviously, this was just an interim place.  We finally settled at the Chiang Mai Holiday Guesthouse, which boasted big ensuite fan rooms with a huge, comfortable, if unclean, bed.  Our bags exploded all over the room, and we were home for the remainder of our stay.  Walking continued but for the sake of other things, like shopping.

Chiang Mai Brand Fair Stage
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We shopped at the Chiang Mai Brand Fair.  We shopped at the mobbed and massive Sunday Market, twice.  And we shopped nightly at the famous Night Bazaar.  Pro hunters we became, able to seek out and bargain down to near cost almost anything humanly conceivable, except for quality or creative goods of any kind.  Everything was cheap, but everything was cheap.  Suffice it to say, we bought a lot of things at these markets, including dinner almost every night, which brings us to food.

Young, Local Performers
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We woke up late every morning and had the same breakfast at the same place, which amused the same guy, named Noi, who worked there everyday.  Noi along with the two dogs, Pepsi and Cola, kept us company each early afternoon as we helped him edit some of his hard rock love songs in English, and we tried to sound as sincere as he did about his up-and-coming music career.  Some of the most delicious food we had over the course of our stay were leftovers from Caroline's day long Thai cooking class.  She is now a master Thai chef and can prepare Tom Ka (a savory soup), green, red, massaman, and panang curries, stir fried Thai vegetables, pad thai, spring rolls, and a special dessert, including a number of sauces.  She promises to share some of these secrets with those closest to her.

Chiang Mai Brand Fair from Above 2
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We also made it to Wat Doi Suthep, the most sacred temple in Chiang Mai, perched on top of a mountain north of the city.  The wat's auspicious location was allegedly chosen by a royal white elephant, who was entrusted with the task of finding a home for the golden stupa containing a revered Buddhist relic.  The heavily laden elephant was released from Chiang Mai and wandered the countryside before stopping at his final resting place, where the king commissioned the building of this ornate temple.

Chiang Mai Brand Fair from Above 1
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Padding around the spotless temple grounds barefoot was a calming experience, despite the throngs of people that were huddled together in their little clusters, some more disrespectful than others.  Loren was surprised on his return here after six years to see the changes that had taken place, and it saddened him to see what tourism can do to even the most sacred spots.  A new cable car runs brashly up the front of the mountain, like an obnoxious necktie on an otherwise well-clad person, and it periodically dumps its load of lazy tourists onto the holy mountaintop.  The newly established vendors immediately lure them in with their shiny Buddhas, jingling bells, and sweet smelling incense.

Laid Back City Vibe
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We sat.  We watched the groups move through in their respective manners.  The loud, not so much disrespectful as uncaring, and camera happy Korean and Japanese tourists in their matching, bright tour outfits would come through like a suburban upper middle class cocktail party, though instead of two people with a camera, everyone had two cameras.  The overabundance of cameras contributed to their awkwardness, as they tried to photograph and film the other members of their group trying to film and photograph them.  There were also the stupefyingly respectful Thai tourists, who wai-ed to every single stupa, Buddha, elephant figure, or monk they passed with an efficiency unparalleled in most industrial workplaces.  The novice monks and temple workers followed behind obsessively cleaning up the trails of incense, candlewax, and other holy offerings, which promptly made their way into the overflowing trashbins that would undoubtedly be spread about the countryside, inevitably making their way into some body of water.  The people dwindled, and the air cooled as the sun turned to amber.  For our last few moments we shared some calm and quiet in these powerful and strikingly beautiful surroundings.  Some true holiness does still remain here.