To Chiang Mai

Up again early (if we’re not careful this could become an unexpected habit that would rank up there with pigs flying and hell freezing over) as today we are leaving Chiang Rai and headed to Chiang Mai. Saturday is a big market day there, and we hope to arrive in plenty of time to see that, so hit the breakfast buffet hard one last time and head out to the lobby to meet our driver. We debated for a while yesterday whether to take the chicken bus so that Nick could experience it in all its glory, but we got a price that was hard to beat from the same person who has been shuttling us around for two days now so took the easy road once again.

On the way, we make one stop at the White Temple, just a few miles out of Chiang Rai. Now anyone that has been to Thailand can tell you that after a while, one temple starts to blend into the next. This one however will never be confused with any other. Built fairly recently (started in 1997), its construction was supervised and paid for one man as an offering to Buddha. Unlike typical temples, this one is entirely white (well, excluding the tree with the disembodied heads and the demon-headed statue dedicated to smoking cessation, but including the souls reaching out from the pits of hell), with tens of thousands of tiny glass tiles embedded in the concrete. And if that’s not unusual enough, inside the main hall, the walls are covered with murals that include all kinds of popular culture images ranging from Batman, to Darth Vader, to Neo from the Matrix.

Years ago, I remember watching a news story about a guy that built a house out of used pop bottles and thought that was a little strange, but clearly America hasn’t cornered the market on crazy people, and I have to tip my hat to them for seeing their eccentric creations through and giving us something to break the monotony of those long drives.

The road to Chiang Mai winds through a number of mountains, so even though it is only about 200km, it takes about an hour longer than we figured it would. Arriving at the hotel, we find that our room is not quite ready, so decide to head over to the local market (not the be confused with the Saturday market which we will visit later) to find some lunch.

We get no more than 10 steps outside the front door when a tour guide cuts us off asking where we’re headed. Mr. Jeed is pretty persistent, but we finally convince him that we aren’t going very far so have no need for a driver right now. Fortunately he has some business cards handy just in case we change our minds.

Our first impression of Chiang Mai is a bit on the negative side. All the people we know that have been here highly recommend it, but so far it seems like a small scale version of Bangkok. It is a much bigger city than Chiang Rai, and there is a lot more traffic to deal with. Our plans call for us to spend 5 days here, but that may be something we shorten up depending on how the next few days go. Many of the things that have been suggested to us are day trips outside city, so I guess until we do a few of those, we’ll reserve judgement.

Following a quick bite in the market food court, and a few dessert items from stalls on the main floor (two thumbs up for the mango and stick rice, two thumbs down for the gelatinous purple substance wrapped in a banana leaf) we get our bags stowed away in our room, take a quick dip in the pool (the quick part not being our intention, but when it’s 90 degrees outside, how can the pool possibly be in the 60s?), and head back out to find our way to the Saturday market. Walking outside, I swear there’s no one around for at least 10 yards, but as soon as I turn my head, there’s Mr. Jeed standing right next to us. It’s the Sidler episode from Seinfeld playing out in real life, and it takes some effort to finally shake him loose.

If I could describe my image of paradise, I think it would look a lot like a weekend market in Asia. With all of the noise, wall-to-wall people bumping into you and making it impossible to get anywhere, and acres of crappy items for sale, it really doesn’t get any better than this. The one saving grace is plenty of street food. Nothing particularly memorable, but more than enough to tide us over for another evening. Both Nick and Angela find small souvenirs to buy, so there is some reward for the effort, but by 9 pm, the long days are starting to wear on us and we are happy to call it a night.

Oh, and before I forget, for anyone planning a trip to Chiang Mai, I think Mr. Jeed would want me to pass this along. What do you think Tasha, is he as cute as the pilot?