Day 7 Chiang Mai

Okay, this one is going to be a quickie.

Last night, Nanda and I headed to the Chiang Mai Night Bazaar. We made a major faux pas as we ate our dinner and walked away, forgetting to pay. I was just saying the day before that lots of farang must forget to pay because Thais ask for payment AFTER the meal is done, not when we get it. The boy who works there had to hunt me down, and I felt so embarrassed that I gave him extra money for his trouble.

This morning, Nank and I arranged my return bus to Bangkok. Actually, I am going from Chiang Mai to Sukhotai, touring the historical park for a few hours, catching another bus to Ayuttaya and touring there for a few hours before catching another bus to Bangkok. I hope I don't miss any of the connections!

Today, Nank drove me out to the 'burbs for an elephant show and a 30 minute ride on the huge honeys. We stopped at a bunch of places along the way -- bungee jumping place, an orchid farm, oriental rug store, etc.

Tonight, we are going to a dinner and show with the fingernail dancing and other tribal presentations. We have to hurry home because my bus leaves at 7am tomorrow morning, but I am showered, packed and ready to go!

***2 and a half hours later***

We're back, so I am going to expand on this entry. I came back to the Internet center and found it was busy, but the girl who works here is letting me use her workstation. The funny thing is, she is outside but I have now had 2 customers asking me how much they owe me! Even with a camera strapped to my waist and a backpack, people see the Asian face and assume I am a local. Every time someone asks me a question, the girls near me giggle. So funny!

Okay, so back to my day... I am so grateful to Nank for helping me figure out the bus situation. There are hundreds of bus kiosks at the Chiang Mai bus station, and it is very difficult to figure out which buses go where. I am taking the 7am bus from Chiang Mai to Sukhotai, which is approximately 5 and a half hours. I could have taken an express train back to Bangkok, but I really want to see Sukhotai and Ayuttaya, two former capitals of the Thai kingdom.

Of all the Buddha styles in Thailand, my favorite is the Sukhotai period, which was at its height during the 13th and 14th centuries. The Thai Buddha looks nothing like the Japanese or Chinese Buddhas, and is the more svelte and fancy-shmancy Buddha with the pointy thingy on his head (the hair in the bun is a symbol of wisdom, as is the flame/flume above his bun). When looking to buy a Buddha, you have to specify if you want the Thai Buddha or the "happy" Buddha (that's the fat Chinese one with the beer belly). Laura Blacklock, you'll have to tell me which one you want, and if it's the Thai one, let me know if you have a preference for a specific period (I recommend the Sukhotai period if you want it to look super Thai).

So back to my itinerary. Unfortunately, my tour of the Sukhotai and Ayuttaya historical parks are going to be the super quick Japanese tourist version, as I can only spend about 1 and a half hours at each one. Lonely Planet says you can spend a few days at each, so I am really not doing them justice. At least I can check them out for my next trip out to SE Asia. I don't have loding for when I get back into Bangkok, but I may opt for something close to the airport to make things easier to catch my early flight to Cambodia.

Amazingly, my 5 and a half hour bus ride to Sukhotai is 218B, which is $5.45. That's really shocking when you compare my 30 minute ride on the elephant which was 800B or $20 (I had to pay for 2 people because I am not sharing my steed with another human). Plus, it would take me weeks to get to Sukhotai on an elephant.

After getting the bus situation squared away, Nank and I headed out to the 'burbs. He first took me to an Extreme Sports facility where you can bungee jump, ride ATVs, go white water rafting (during the wet season) and a bunch of other things. Nank thought I would want to bungee jump and had me look at photos while he went to the bathroom. I'm not sure why, but the last of the 3 albums had naked people in them -- maybe a nudist colony came to jump in a large group tour. It's always the people who SHOULDN'T be nude who insist on it. Really scary photos. And they don't look any better upside down. But no bungee jumping for me, so we moved on.

We then went to an orchid farm, which had more orchids in one place than I had seen in Costa Rica or in Hawaii. I took lots of pictures for my mom to see, because she really likes orchids. Some of the flowers were bigger than the palm of my hand and there were unusual colors like dark purple, red and indigo blue. While I was looking at the flowers, Nank was chatting up the pretty girl working the front door. When I went back to him 30 minutes later, he encouraged me to have lunch there. I figured he wanted to talk to her more, so I decided to sit by the German tour group and have a bite to eat. I guzzled down the Thai coffee and ordered the Chiangmai sausage cocktail platter. This area is famous for their sour sausage (I think there is lemongrass in there, which gives it a shockingly sour flavor) and I figured that this was a sampler platter. When the food arrived, I was speechless. Everything was laid out on the plate -- cloves of garlic, quartered shallots, julienned ginger, spring onions, sausage, peanuts -- all uncooked. I poked at the sliced sausage wondering if it might be steamed but not grilled. I stared at it for a while and decided to take a picture and go ask Nank how I am supposed to eat this. He was still flirting with Orchid Girl when I arrived, and when I showed him the photo, he said, "No problem. Just eat." I asked if the pork was okay to eat uncooked, and he said it's okay, but I was still troubled. The crickets were deep fried, so they were okay by me, but raw pork? I didn't think so. I invited Nank to my table, and he did the "mmmmm yummy" again, so I told him that he should join me for lunch and I will order something else. The two servers came by and chatted with him, and he later told me that they both thought I was Thai (because I was alone and without a chauffeur) and when they realized I don't understand Thai, knew that I probably wouldn't eat it. He explained that the only thing I could eat on the plate was peanuts, to which they laughed sympathetically.

His suggestion for my second dish was in the Fish section, called "sauteed serpent head with @#$%^" which was lightly fried fish chunks with green veggies in garlic sauce. I was relieved to order something definitely cooked, yet still Northern Thai. But when the entree arrived and I took a bite, it was SO GARLICKY and had a very strong fishy flavor. I couldn't tell which bothered me more, but I made myself eat it. Nank described the fish to me, and I thought it might be freshwater eel but concluded that it's probably the fish that the lady at the market clubbed to death. But I don't think mine were marinated in blood.

I was eager to see the elephants, and was so happy to see so many of them! This is supposedly the best elephant show in the world, and is ISO certified. I have no idea how an elephant training farm gets ISO certified, but they have it. I bought a bundle of bananas and sugar cane to give as treats to my new friends. Nank explained that I should buy the bananas/sugar cane outside the show instead of inside the complex, as the local hill tribe folks get more of the profit that way. As I paid, I explained that to the farangs behind me, and they bought the elephant snacks from the hill tribe folks too. The elephants know the drill -- I'm not sure how well they can see, but they know that the tourists come in with treats for them, and they reach out with their trunks and beg for the snacks. I was about to pull off individual bananas when Nank explained that they eat the entire bunch at once. My elephant friend demonstrated as described. It ate it in two chomps!!! Even the sugar cane bundle (there were about 6 of them) went down in a few bites. The elephant kept eyeing my digital camera, but decided to go after more tourists with bundles in their hand.

Nank got me a great seat and the show started shortly after I sat down. The elephants in the show are the younger ones... some as little as 5 years old. Their trainers (mahoots or something that sounds like that) work with them since they are babies and they sit bareback on their heads and backs. They did lots of tricks like balancing with some legs up, curtsying, making horn sounds and helping their trainers climb up on them. They are really quite clever -- they play the harmonica, play soccer (one was goalie and the other two were kicking), paint (their artwork is for sale after the show)... quite the renaissance man. Now if they could salsa dance, speak Spanish and eat sushi, they would be my ideal man but they are a bit geographically undesirable in Thailand.

I was really quite excited about the elephant ride, but it was quite unclimactic. Elephants are like camels in that they walk with their right hand and right leg moving at the same time, then the left... which makes for a very bumpy ride. Plus, we went for a stroll in very uneven terrain so I had to hold on tight to not fall out of my little seat. The trainer sat on the elephant's head talking to his steed and signaling with his feel all along. My buddy had a really bad case of gas and was farting all the way down the hill. The trainer had him stop occasionally as we were going up and down hills to let me re-situate myself in my seat. At the end, we walked through the river and my buddy had a long drink. I'm glad that I got to ride an elephant, but I sure was glad I went for the 30 minutes instead of the hour.

On the way back to the city, Nank asked if I would be willing to stop in at another shop. I know that tuk-tuk drivers have lots of connections, and it's important for Nank to look good in front of his friends, so I agreed. The shop was an upscale oriental rug shop owned by a Kashmiri man who grew up in Chiang Mai. The owner, Babla, introduced himself to me, and I proudly announced that Nank brought me to his store. Babla immediately directed me to his gorgeous Pashmina collection and told me that someone with a beautiful face as me (yeah right) deserves the best Pashmina in the world. They were really nice (dangerous!) but I wasn't about to spend $145. Then we walked past the cashmere sweaters (even more dangerous) and he gave me a quick primer on oriental rugs. Most of the rugs here are made of 100% silk or silk wool blend. They were exquisite and felt like velvet. He insisted on showing me the most expensive rug in the store, which took 7 years for a professor-level rugmaker to complete. It was priced at $34,000 and he said it was his dream to sell it, or to get a wife with whom he could enjoy the rug. Then he asked me if I was married. He was so full of cheese that I had a hard time trying not to laugh at him, but was definitely informative about rugs. I thanked him for his time and rug lesson and hurried out the door.

We picked up Nanda at school and headed home. I fell asleep in the back of the tuk-tuk on the drive over (could be dangerous, as I could roll out the side) and realized I am very tired. She wanted an espresso so I had them drop me off at the hotel so I could pack before heading to dinner. When I washed my face, I realized that the towel was BLACK from all the dirt on my face from a day of tuk-tuk riding so I took a shower. How disgusting. Imagine how much worse the air is in Bangkok! After showering and packing, I met up with Nanda and Nank for the dinner show.

I was half not wanting to go at this point, but it was only going to be an hour and a half. The dinner was interesting and the show was quite pretty. There were a bunch of old Japanese men with their 18 year old Thai girlfriends yapping away loudly at the table next to us, but the evening was quite nice. At the end of the dancing, the Thai dancers invited people to join them on stage to do some dancing. Yup, you guessed it, I got right up there and tried to mimic their crazy hand movements. I have no idea how you get your fingers to curl outwards, but mine did not do a very good job. Plus I had to try not to move my hips too much. Nanda took pictures for me and laughed saying that my bottom half had a little bit of salsa going on. The second part of the show were traditional dances by the hill tribe folks, and I took a bunch of pictures of a little girl with her friends watching their moms. The kids were so excited to see their picture on the digital camera display that they didn't want me to stop taking pictures of them! They would pose, and as soon as the flash went off, they would run over to me to show them the display. So cute!!! Other tourists caught on to what was going on, and the kids were getting more photos than the performers. They were absolutely adorable.

Okay, it's 11pm so it's bedtime. I'm not sure if I will have time to write tomorrow, as I will be on a bus for most of the day. In our hotel room, I've been watching CNN, BBC and NHK and saw that the half of the US is buried under snow.

Oh, almost forgot. Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Hugs and kisses from Thailand,
asami :-)