This weekend Jack and I made the first of probably many trips to Chiang Mai. I had an extra day off of school because of the Buddhist holiday Wisaka Bucha, so we headed out early Saturday morning. Turns out that probably wasn’t so necessary as the earliest A/C bus we could get was 11:00. (We may or may not have been lied to about this.)
In hindsight, we probably should have asked around to other companies. The way the bus stations work here is that each line has its own booth. Since everything was written in Thai, we had no idea which buses go to Chiang Mai at what time. Jack had bought a second class ticket on a previous trip to Chiang Mai, so we knew we wanted first class. Turns out the difference is night and day! (Bus station pro tip: Don’t trust people if it looks at all like they work for a bus company. Only the information desk will give you unbiased reliable advice.)
Our bus ended up being on Thai time, which meant it was about 40 minutes late. Once we got on, however, all our troubles dissipated. We purchased VIP tickets which, it turns out, are even better than first class. The A/C was refreshingly chilly, they served us water and a snack, and we each had our own little TV with music, movies, and games. All for less than $5 each! The ride was incredibly pleasant and we arrived in Chiang Mai in about an hour and a half.
We grabbed a tuk-tuk to bring us to the Tawan Court hotel. Since we don’t have A/C at the jungle house, we always splurge on it when we travel. We dropped off our stuff and headed out for some exploring and eventual dinner.
Chiang Mai was nice. You can tell it has been designed to cater to foreigners—almost everything is also in English. There are McDonald's, KFCs, and Pizza Huts. Tuk-tuk and songtaew drivers are constantly asking if you need a ride. Every third shop is a travel agency. It was almost annoying how many white people were there. Ok, maybe Chiang Mai wasn’t for us. I enjoyed visiting but now I’m glad my placement wasn’t here as I requested.
Tha Phae Gate into the old city:
Planet Rock...no trademarks being violated here...
The moat surrounding the old city:
Jack spotted a brochure for a Mexican restaurant and insisted we go there for dinner. I think he is getting sick of Thai food (whaaaaaat?!?!) Oddly enough, as soon as we sat down, in walks 10 or 15 people from my orientation group who now live all over Thailand. Wow, small country huh?
After dinner and chatting, we headed back to the hotel to cool off before checking out the Night Bazaar. Also catering to the tourists, the stalls sold mostly souvenirs and name-brand products for really cheap (Tiffany jewelry, Abercrombie clothing, The North Face backpacks, Rolex watches, Game of Thrones season 2 disc set—before it had aired, etc.) Incidentally, we stumbled into an underground art studio where maybe a dozen artists were creating incredibly detailed drawings from pictures. So talented!
You could pay to have little fish eat the dead skin off your feet. From the looks of this guy, I’d guess it tickles!
The next day we went on our handicrafts tour, which was a nice way to spend the day but not what we expected. Instead of being in the hills with the tribes, our tour took us to the local factories that employ them and got to watch them work. That part was very cool, seeing the process and the artistry that goes into it. The bummer was that over half of the tour was dedicated to letting us wander around the showrooms "shopping" for stuff that we didn’t want (and was super expensive). We went to a Lanna teak wood carving place and the biggest pieces were in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. It was really impressive to see!
We knocked around by bus to something like six or seven different handicraft places: silverware, lacquer ware, painted umbrellas, cotton clothing, silk clothing, teak wood carving, carved jade, gemstones/jewelry, and leather (stingray leather wallets!) Since we weren't really shopping, I took lots of pictures and Jack had three or four long conversations with really friendly employees and got to work on his Thai a little bit.
Silk factory:
Carved jade:
Cotton:
Umbrella painting:
By the end of the tour we were both tired and hungry. We got dropped off at the Tha Pae gate into the old city square and ate at the first acceptable place we could find. It was a Japanese/Thai place upstairs in a big shopping area overlooking the night market. My veggie panaeng was a letdown compared to our place in Madison (but no doubt more authentic). It was the first time we'd seen panaeng curry on a menu, but now we know it is a really different dish here than in the States. Jack got chicken satay with vegetables and it was amazing! The peanut sauce was so good, I put some on my dish to upgrade it.
After we ate, we shopped a bit at the Sunday night street market. Jack bought a white canvas baseball hat; I got some prizes for my students. We hid from the rain and had some ice cream, shopped some more, and headed back to the hotel.
While walking home, we ran into an unexpected (to us) parade for the holiday. There were probably about 5,000 people in it—monks, students in uniform, teachers. Everyone in town must have been in the parade because there weren’t very many people along the streets to watch it. Well, that could also have been due to the weather. As the parade was starting, it began to drizzle, very gradually turning into a downpour. The parade was heading the opposite direction on the route we were taking to the hotel so we basically got to see the whole thing, all those people dutifully marching through the rain with their candles. It was quite a surprise!
Unfortunately, Jack has had a sore throat and pressurized head for about three days. One huge plus side: the pharmacies here will prescribe stuff to you right off the street, so he woke up early this morning and got some 400mg ibuprofen and some cephalexin antibiotics. Twelve bucks, which is crazy expensive for Thailand, but he probably saved a hundred not having to see a doctor!
We’re heading back to Lampang today and starting a 4-day school week tomorrow. A five-day workweek is pretty tiring, but I think four days will be just right!
In hindsight, we probably should have asked around to other companies. The way the bus stations work here is that each line has its own booth. Since everything was written in Thai, we had no idea which buses go to Chiang Mai at what time. Jack had bought a second class ticket on a previous trip to Chiang Mai, so we knew we wanted first class. Turns out the difference is night and day! (Bus station pro tip: Don’t trust people if it looks at all like they work for a bus company. Only the information desk will give you unbiased reliable advice.)
Our bus ended up being on Thai time, which meant it was about 40 minutes late. Once we got on, however, all our troubles dissipated. We purchased VIP tickets which, it turns out, are even better than first class. The A/C was refreshingly chilly, they served us water and a snack, and we each had our own little TV with music, movies, and games. All for less than $5 each! The ride was incredibly pleasant and we arrived in Chiang Mai in about an hour and a half.
We grabbed a tuk-tuk to bring us to the Tawan Court hotel. Since we don’t have A/C at the jungle house, we always splurge on it when we travel. We dropped off our stuff and headed out for some exploring and eventual dinner.
Chiang Mai was nice. You can tell it has been designed to cater to foreigners—almost everything is also in English. There are McDonald's, KFCs, and Pizza Huts. Tuk-tuk and songtaew drivers are constantly asking if you need a ride. Every third shop is a travel agency. It was almost annoying how many white people were there. Ok, maybe Chiang Mai wasn’t for us. I enjoyed visiting but now I’m glad my placement wasn’t here as I requested.
Tha Phae Gate into the old city:
Planet Rock...no trademarks being violated here...
Just a sunflower field in the middle of the old city...no big deal.
The moat surrounding the old city:
Jack spotted a brochure for a Mexican restaurant and insisted we go there for dinner. I think he is getting sick of Thai food (whaaaaaat?!?!) Oddly enough, as soon as we sat down, in walks 10 or 15 people from my orientation group who now live all over Thailand. Wow, small country huh?
After dinner and chatting, we headed back to the hotel to cool off before checking out the Night Bazaar. Also catering to the tourists, the stalls sold mostly souvenirs and name-brand products for really cheap (Tiffany jewelry, Abercrombie clothing, The North Face backpacks, Rolex watches, Game of Thrones season 2 disc set—before it had aired, etc.) Incidentally, we stumbled into an underground art studio where maybe a dozen artists were creating incredibly detailed drawings from pictures. So talented!
You could pay to have little fish eat the dead skin off your feet. From the looks of this guy, I’d guess it tickles!
For when you just don't want to leave the comfort of your chair to see the world:
The next day we went on our handicrafts tour, which was a nice way to spend the day but not what we expected. Instead of being in the hills with the tribes, our tour took us to the local factories that employ them and got to watch them work. That part was very cool, seeing the process and the artistry that goes into it. The bummer was that over half of the tour was dedicated to letting us wander around the showrooms "shopping" for stuff that we didn’t want (and was super expensive). We went to a Lanna teak wood carving place and the biggest pieces were in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. It was really impressive to see!
We knocked around by bus to something like six or seven different handicraft places: silverware, lacquer ware, painted umbrellas, cotton clothing, silk clothing, teak wood carving, carved jade, gemstones/jewelry, and leather (stingray leather wallets!) Since we weren't really shopping, I took lots of pictures and Jack had three or four long conversations with really friendly employees and got to work on his Thai a little bit.
Silk factory:
Carved jade:
Cotton:
Umbrella painting:
By the end of the tour we were both tired and hungry. We got dropped off at the Tha Pae gate into the old city square and ate at the first acceptable place we could find. It was a Japanese/Thai place upstairs in a big shopping area overlooking the night market. My veggie panaeng was a letdown compared to our place in Madison (but no doubt more authentic). It was the first time we'd seen panaeng curry on a menu, but now we know it is a really different dish here than in the States. Jack got chicken satay with vegetables and it was amazing! The peanut sauce was so good, I put some on my dish to upgrade it.
After we ate, we shopped a bit at the Sunday night street market. Jack bought a white canvas baseball hat; I got some prizes for my students. We hid from the rain and had some ice cream, shopped some more, and headed back to the hotel.
While walking home, we ran into an unexpected (to us) parade for the holiday. There were probably about 5,000 people in it—monks, students in uniform, teachers. Everyone in town must have been in the parade because there weren’t very many people along the streets to watch it. Well, that could also have been due to the weather. As the parade was starting, it began to drizzle, very gradually turning into a downpour. The parade was heading the opposite direction on the route we were taking to the hotel so we basically got to see the whole thing, all those people dutifully marching through the rain with their candles. It was quite a surprise!
Unfortunately, Jack has had a sore throat and pressurized head for about three days. One huge plus side: the pharmacies here will prescribe stuff to you right off the street, so he woke up early this morning and got some 400mg ibuprofen and some cephalexin antibiotics. Twelve bucks, which is crazy expensive for Thailand, but he probably saved a hundred not having to see a doctor!
We’re heading back to Lampang today and starting a 4-day school week tomorrow. A five-day workweek is pretty tiring, but I think four days will be just right!
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