Chiang Mai (Thailand Part 3)
Jump to Thailand Part 1
Sunday Market
We very much preferred Chiang Mai over Bangkok. Where Bangkok is considered the Las Vegas of the East, Chiang Mai was much more chill and inviting. Every Sunday they have a massive Sunday Market. This was essentially a giant craft fair plus farmers market plus street food plus street massages. Seriously, they had lawn chairs and foam mattresses set up on the side of street and you could get an hour massage right there – and of course we did! The market is several blocks large with all the streets closed off to cars. I’ve never been to anything like it and this one happens every week! (Kansas City has a large event that happens only once a year called the Plaza Art Fair, and the Chiang Mai Sunday Market was at least twice the size!). We flew into Chiang Mai directly from Bangkok, and because of the volunteer schedule for ENP we arrived in Chiang Mai on a Sunday, and then we were dropped off after volunteering on the following Sunday. So even though we were only in Chiang Mai for about 3 days – we got to go to the market twice! Before volunteering at ENP we were still very leery of street food, but after ‘roughing it for a week’ we were more than happy to sample everything. Being my first time in Asia of course I had to sample the ever dreaded/adored durian. I must say, I am on the ‘hate’ side of the fence – not sure how people find that attractive.
Day 10 - Hiking and Art (Monday March 5)
Monday morning we took an Uber out to the Monk’s Trail trailhead at the base of the Wat Phra That Doi Suthep Mountain. We decided we were going to hike up the 2 1/2 mile monks trail to Chiang Mai’s most famous temple – and I’m glad we did. The trail itself was pretty empty, marked with old orange monk robes along the way. A temple/monk retreat, Wat Pha Lat , was about a 1/3 of the way up the mountain. (Note: It is generally unacceptable to enter a temple with bare shoulders or legs so we paused just before we entered the area to slip on some more conservative clothing.) It was really cool because it was devoid of other people (unlike everywhere else which was teaming with tourists). We were able to wander the complex and appreciate all the intricate details associated. Andrew even had his first encounter with the squatty potty’s here (it was my second since I had experienced it at the banana farm at ENP). Up to this temple the trail seemed like it was pretty well frequented, but past the temple, we almost felt like we were somewhere we shouldn’t be – and the orange robes were no longer marking the trail very frequently. Although I must say that somewhere near the end we did somehow actually lose the trail – we knew the temple was at the top of the mountain, so we figured as long as we keep going uphill, we couldn’t get too lost. We ended up stumbling through the back side of what appeared to be the monks’ living area. There were orange robes hanging on clothes lines everywhere (I’m glad we didn’t run into anyone!), and then all of a sudden we were at Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. All in all it took us about 2 hours to hike up the trail (including our sightseeing stop at Wat Phra Lat. Difficulty wise I would rate the hike at a 6 or 7. The difficulty mostly coming from the fact that you are climbing uphill. The temple itself was cool, but we managed to go a on overcast day so the view wasn’t as exciting as we were hoping, and the crowds were a little overwhelming. Going from the solitude of our hike to stepping into the chaos of the temple was a huge shock. Despite the crowds, we still managed to enjoy ourselves. After we had our fill of beauty, culture, and a quick ice cream we took the normal way down – a huge flight of stairs followed by a Songthaew ride into town (red trucks that cost 30 baht, or $1 USD, where they piled people in the back on benches). There was a “larger” american tourist who insisted that he was too big for the last person to fit in the back of the truck, but the driver had a required number of passengers he had to have before he could leave. Andrew and I offered to ride up in the cab of the truck freeing up space for the last rider. We had the benefit of hearing all about the driver’s daughter going to university, how well his banana crop was doing, and what he thought about tourists renting mopeds in the city. Plus he gave us some of his home grown bananas to snack on afterwards. Moral of the story, don’t be “that guy”.
After lunch and some much needed laundry we decided to checkout Art in Paradise Museum. This was a really cool 3D perspectie art museum where you could take pictures and pretend like you were part of the art- basically an Instagrammer’s dream. We even decided to take one of the Tuk Tuk’s to get there. The Tuk Tuk’s were basically motorized tricycle taxis (see picture) and the drivers were much more friendly and reliable than in Bangkok.
After the museum we walked back to our hostel, stopping at a night bazaar to souvenir shop along the way. For dinner we ate a vegetarian meal at Alice’s Restaurant (solely because of the name – the Arlo Guthrie song is a staple of the Milian Thanksgiving!).
Day 11 - Temple Stravaganza (Tuesday March 6)
Tuesday was our temple exploring day. Chiang Mai is full of temples, they’re like Starbucks – one on every corner, often across the street from eachother. We really enjoyed looking at all the temples, comparing the architecture and artwork. All the temples had various Buddha statues as well. One thing I couldn’t get over is that several of the bigger temples would have very life-like wax statues of monks. I swear I thought they were real people meditating for the longest time. Even after Andrew told me they were wax I was still hesitant to believe him. Eventually logic won out, and I conceded that they were wax, but you can appreciate how realistic they were! One interesting tidbit we had learned at ENP is that unlike in most Christian religions, becoming a monk is not a lifelong commitment. Often times a man might become a monk for a short amount of time, such as to provide additional ‘merit’ for a recently deceased relative. They did have several rules that must be followed in order to be a monk, but it seemed like any man could become one, and probably had been one at one point in time.
For lunch we went out for our new favorite type of Thai food, Khao Soi – pronounced “cow soy” (sadly we can’t find any restaurants in the Kansas City area that has it). After lunch we decided it was time to reward ourselves with some fancy massages (you know because those cheap street massages we had been getting almost every day weren’t cutting it.) I am still amazed at how cheap massages are in Thailand. We bought ourselves a 2 hour session with aroma oil, tiger balm (basically really strong icy hot), and hot stones. It came with a pre foot soak massage and tea and cookies. Including the tip, it cost us about 1700 baht total which is about $55 USD! (a similar massage would run for at least $150 before tip per person!) I really miss all the massages we got while over there.
Speaking of cheap, the food was also very cheap. That night we went out for street food and had chicken on a stick and BBQ pork from the cowboy hat lady for me, a black bean bun each, veggie pad thai for Andrew, and we also had pineapples, banana spring rolls and fruit shakes (aka smoothies sans dairy) all for about $6 USD. Oh man I miss all the food. Although surprisingly enough coffee was just as expensive there as it is here – and they grow coffee there!
Day 12 - Leaving Chiang Mai (Wednesday March 7)
Wednesday was our last day in Chiang Mai. We checked out of our hostel and walked over to this random exercise park, Nong Buak, checked out a little historical museum, then took a taxi to the airport – where we slipped and had our first meal of western food since arriving in Asia: veggie burgers from Burger King. Next and final stop, the beach!
To be continued at the beach....
For Chiang Mai we chose to stay at the Green Sleep Hostel. We stayed here both before and after our week at ENP. For the price we paid ($7 USD / night) I have no complaints! Although ignoring the price, I should add that the beds were extremely hard. The location was perfect, it was within the main city walls right in the center of town. It was within walking distance to several of the main temples and the civic museums. And was at the edge of the Sunday market – which was perfect since we arrived on a Sunday, the taxi driver had to let us out at the end of the street instead of out front of the hostel, but we didn’t have to walk through any crowds to get there. We “splurged” for our own room, which was barely bigger than the queen size bed, but did come with a TV, and bed side table. The bathrooms were shared, but kept clean (Andrew did have to go up/down a flight of stairs to get to his since each floor alternated bathroom gender.) Breakfast was also included – as with most hostels it was very basic, but still great! All in all I was very pleased, and would definitely recommend them!
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