Northern Thailand / Update

I’ve discovered that I am terrible at finding the first sentence to start a blog post. Everything that follows is easy, but that first sentence, that’s supposed to give the reader a clue what they’re about to read, just doesn’t want to come. Ah well.

The “Three Kings” Monument, Chiang Mai, Thailand

I liked Chiang Mai more than Bangkok. As interesting as Bangkok is, it’s a very large, very busy city with similarities to every large city you’ve ever visited. Chiang Mai, on the other hand, seems to have more of a Thai feel. I stayed at a hostel in the Old Town, just inside the moat. This was a good location for me, as it was reasonably quiet but still an acceptable walk to other parts of the city. I was there for four full days, two of which I spent out of the city playing with elephants and cooking. I walked around with another person for one day, visiting some of the local temples and daytime markets. The temples are interesting, but after a point they all look and feel the same. I’m sure there are subtleties that I don’t see, but when you can’t read the signs and aren’t carrying a guidebook, there’s a feeling of ‘another temple, okay’. We found ourselves in the local Chinatown, which I didn’t even realize existed! Ended up going for lunch at this underground cafeteria style place, where no one spoke English and we got by on pointing and guessing. There’s a lot of that – while most people in Bangkok spoke some English, it’s apparently much less common in the North. Still, you can usually get things figured out. Also, the locals are wonderful about helping out; there have been a couple of times when gesturing wasn’t working and a local would stop, come over, and translate for a moment. Very nice of them, and very appreciated!

Even the monks play tourist!

My last night in Chiang Mai, I went to the Saturday night market with some friends from the cooking class. I really enjoyed this market, as it seemed to be a market for locals instead of tourists. It stretched for quite a ways, and there was remarkably little repetition of stalls. All kinds of interesting craft goods and clothing. Had this been the end of my trip instead of the beginning, I would have stocked up on souvenirs! We grabbed various street foods and wandered for some time.

Mmm, noodle rolls of unknown origin and content.

You’ll notice I don’t have a lot of food pictures, or individual people. The food pictures are because a) I’m not always bringing my camera with me at night, and b) I frequently start to eat before remembering to take a photo! The people photos are different – I feel uncomfortable taking pictures of people who aren’t doing something for entertainment, but just standing there. I know those types of photos are powerful, and there have definitely been some interesting and photogenic people I’ve met. So far though, I haven’t been willing to walk up and ask if I could take their photo. I’ll try to be better about that!

The Chiang Rai public gardens.

On Sunday, I said farewell to Chiang Mai and took a three hour bus ride to Chiang Rai, which is in the northeast. The bus worked very well – cheap ticket, comfortable seat, not a bad ride at all. I’m so used to travel in the US where everything has to be booked in advance, and you have a ticket, that the much more laid back style here takes some getting used to. I was nervous that we wouldn’t get a ticket, would have to wait for hours or sit in the back, etc. Got to the counter and there was a bus in 30 minutes, with seats up front. Done!

I have no explanation.

Chiang Rai was very different; a more industrial town, it seemed to me? I didn’t get to see all that much of it, as it’s more spread out and a little harder to walk around. We went to two different night markets, neither of which were as nice as in Chiang Mai. One was very touristy (although the food was excellent) and the other was very small. Interesting to compare, at least. The only major sight I went to was the White Temple, which is…different. It’s relatively new (started in the early 90’s) and expected to take another 70-80 years to be completed as originally planned. The imagery is surreal – parking cones with skull heads, a garden of statuary hands grasping, trees with heads hanging in them. I think the theory is that, in order to achieve enlightenment, one must pass through a figurative Hell or something. Mostly, it was just strange.

The White Temple.

Said farewell to my traveling companion and caught another bus, a ‘local’ bus this time (as in, not run by a private company) to Chiang Khong, which is the border town with Laos where I would cross. I actually really enjoyed this bus ride; it stayed off the major roads, so we really got to see a lot of the countryside and the smaller towns. Very fun to watch, and pretty scenery to drive through. Arrived in Chiang Khong in the late afternoon and found my guesthouse, which had incredibly friendly hosts. My room here is the favorite so far, with a nice little balcony overlooking the Mekong River. I walked around some and ended up having dinner in a small Mexican restaurant. A Mexican restaurant, in a small town in Thailand on the border of Laos. Gotta love our global world. Then off to bed early for the boat ride tomorrow!

Yes, there’s a Predator statue. No, I don’t know why.