Thailand's Second City

Thailand's Second City

After a short day on Phuket, we flew north to Thailand's scond largest city, Chiang Mai. We were excited to know that we had a place to hang our hat for a while, as we were planning on staying here for the longest amount of time of any place on our trip. Lots to do in Chiang Mai!  We arrived late in the evening, so after finding our guesthouse, The Dixie Pig, we wandered a nearby market for a while and then it was pretty much bedtime.The next morning, the owner of our guesthouse, a US expat, brought us to a small morning market nearby for traditional Thai breakfast.

I think we were the only white people in the place, and we quickle pointed out the Lady ladling soup out of huge vats that we wanted one gai (chicken) and one moo (pork - ironic isn't it?).  We pulled chairs right up to the stall and got to eating steamy-hot soup inside a market at 10:30 in the morning in 95 degree weather.  We were sweating in mere seconds.  Unfortunately, my chicken soup did not contain any actual chicken meat.  Just gelatinous cubes of chicken blood.

 

Chicken blood soup

Jon was brave enough to try it and claimed it tasted just like the broth, which was quite delicious, but I was having none of that.  Broth and noodles it was for me.  We followed up breakfast with some yummy mango with sticky rice and palm sugar, and being glad we ate first, took a quick tour of the meat portion of the market, where frogs looked up at us from their covered baskets and an indifferent looking woman chopped off fish head after fish head. 

Sticky rice with palm sugar in banana leaves

Covered baskets such that its contents do not walk away - These fish have vestigual legs

Afterwards, Jon and I did some walking and exploring around the city, trying to follow the guided temple walk in our Lonely Planet.  Eventually, we just decided to stop for a quick foot massage and mango smoothie and headed back to the guesthouse. 

We later headed out with the guys for the Sunday Walking Market, the largest in Chiang Mai.  This market was massive; it took us nearly 3 hours just to walk up and down the main street, not to mention the stalls on the side streets and on the nearby square.  We stocked up on lots of travel goodies: bracelets, a silk table runner, a paper table lamp, a carved elephant, and famous Thai candies (which we meant to bring home for all of you but later melted in our room).  The one thing we regret from last summer's trip was that we didn't bring much home, so this year we decided that it was worth it to carry some extra weight for a few weeks. The best part of all is that all these goodies set us back about 20 buckeroos.

 

There was a lot we wanted to accomplish in the week ahead, so we made up a tentative plan and got to booking some things.  We were excited to head ziplining the next day at a place called "Eagle Track."  It was my first time ziplining, so I thought it was great fun.

It didn't involve quite as much danger as Jon would like, so he was a bit indifferent.  After we returned in the afternoon, we decided to rent motorbikes with Greg and head up into the mountains to see Doi Suthep, the "temple on the mountain."  It was a beatiful temple with huge gongs and an even longer staircase leading to it. 

It offered beautiful vistas of the city.  Jon bought an interesting bowl instrument in which you take a wooden dowel and rub it around the outside of the bowl to create a low, bellowing tone.  It cost us a whole $25, which we found appalling (I guess we've gotten spoiled by low prices here in Thailand).

Largest gong we've ever seen!

After the temple, we continued to ride up the mountain, where it got quite cool but we were able to witness some beautiful city views and some fun riding.

My favorite sight was the young woman riding sidesaddle on the back of a motorbike, playing on her cell phone, while heading downhill on windy mountain streets.  Jon reminded me that she's probably been doing that since she was 3.  On the way home, we stopped for Pizza Hut and at the supermarket for a few things.  Greg and Shane were heading north to Pai on motorbikes the next day, so Jon and I decided that we would do a cooking class and a trek while they were gone.  What an adventure the next few days would bring!