It was time to get out of dodge... At least for a few days. We were headed north, to the cultural centre of Thailand, Chiang Mai. Mr. T. Picked us up as per the schedule at 8:00am and as per the schedule, we sat in traffic for the next 35 minutes, covering just four kilometres. No worries though, Mr. T. predicted it all, and sure enough we arrived back at Don Muang Airport with a comfortable cushion to check in and relax before our 10:20 flight. I tell you, this Beth that we've found on this trip is as cool as a cucumber with regards to being on time for flights.... Weirdly wonderful!
I'm not sure how many flights this is.... But I do know it was Air Asia - our last. What a great little airline.
Just after takeoff, I got a great view of Bangkok. It really is a huge city.
Within forty minutes, we were on approach to Chiang Mai airport, and the view had turned to a jungled hillscape.... One that we will are hoping to explore during our relatively packed Chiang Mai schedule.
When you get to Chiang Mai, you immediately get that vibe that you get in other "cultural heart" cities like Hoi An, Luang Prabang, Kyoto, Siem Reap, Yogyakarta, Ubud and on and on.... A vibe that is caused by a perfect mix of tourism, shopping, cultural activities, great food, rich history and a nice setting to top if off. Chiang Mai has certain sky grown since we were last here - it's the second largest city in Thailand - but the heart of it is exactly the same.
We were a little early to check in to our hotel, so we dumped our bags and went for lunch at the first place we saw - a nice little Thai bistro in a quaint setting, though the girl's swing seat was a little dizzying.
There is certainly a ton to do here. If you had unlimited time and money, you could easily spend 6 months here without being bored. If you had unlimited time but limited money, you could also stay for quite a while: going basic, you can live in Chiang Mai on about $15 a day! The activities are a lot more developed than the "time tunnel / cactus farm / smurfs replica village" variety we'd seen in Cameron Highlands last week.
We've chosen to do three very different main activities here. Shopping, drinking and eating! No, I jest, though we will be doing those too! We are doing a full day cooking class tomorrow which sounds great. Saturday we head for an overnight at an Elephant Sanctuary - very exciting. Then Monday we are doing a full day trek adventure. We may even throw in some Muay Thai boxing to round it out!
We stopped in at the elephant sanctuary office to confirm everything. It helped add to the excitement, as we saw the full itinerary and lots of pictures of people with the baby elephants. They currently have six there so we are really looking forward to that experience. After that, we went on a bit of a forced march tour of the inner city (a six or seven square block area surrounded by moats and gates that encompassed the original ancient city).
It's really strange that it's "normal" to walk right past a three hundred year old statue/shrine/pagoda/temple, but you just do, because these things are so commonplace in Thailand. I still admire the beauty of them all - from the smallest to the largest, the simplest to the most ornate, and I try to "take a moment" to enjoy them. I usually try and fit "appreciation" time in when one of the girls stops to look at something in a store or inquire at a spa or something. I don't want to drag the girls to hundreds of temples - I can probably count on two hands (and maybe two feet) the number of temples we've been to in three months, and just scratching the historical or cultural surface at each visit. The goal is to present it to them - that's pretty much it. But I still like stealing some extra time for myself when I can.
We got to the hotel a half hour later - though if you heard Robin, you'd think she walked a hundred miles. The place is perfect for us. At one end of the room....
And at the other....
I mean, don't get me wrong, a wall in the middle would have been fine too :-), but actually we are enjoying getting back to the family room layouts - it's kind of fun (well, let's call it 80% fun, 10% just ok, 5% annoying and 5% extremely frustrating!).
We decided to head to the night market area for some street food for dinner. The night market area is just about a 10 minute walk outside the east gate of the inner city. We got there on the early side - just after six and found a "food court" where we ordered red, yellow, green and Paneng curries for dinner with a jumbo Chang chaser...oh wow...delicious!
By the time we were done, the night market was in full swing. This is not just one market, but a series of covered courtyards, streets lined on either side with stalls, permanent stores and makeshift vendor tables. There were literally thousands of vendors selling almost anything you could think of - elephants? Of course! Buddhas? Yes! T-Shirts? Thousands! Penis-shaped soap? Why not!
It was, frankly, a little overwhelming. The girls did amazing - Abby haggled the crap out of this poor guy after price checking at other vendor stalls and got herself a large and small elephant. We were so proud of her. The guy kept looking at me, trying to include me in the negotiation, but I just said "sorry, you have to deal with her - it's her money". I'm not sure he really believed me, but it was true, and she was not going to part with a dime more than the price she wanted! They both had fun in the end.... Then Robin said "I will take that deal too - package two more up. Thank you!" - that was smart and required very little effort.....maybe she WILL be a corporate CEO some day Herbert!
After another hour of strolling and gazing we were done. We grabbed the first Tuk Tuk and took the first price he quoted and zipped back to the hotel. It's time to hit the sack and gather our energy for a big day of cooking and eating tomorrow!
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