Chiang Mai (Oh My!)

My vacation has finally begun. I arrived here late yesterday (Sunday) afternoon and dropped my things off at the hotel and immediately ran out to make up for lost time. On Sunday evenings there is a market in the old city, so I went there to be crushed by throngs of mostly Thai tourists and they shopped for cheap knock-offs, local crafts and unrecognizable street food. All of the years of pushing through crowds in Times Square finally paid off.

The locals have been lamenting the lack of foreign tourists. Typically December is the height of tourist season but due to the situation in Bangkok many tourists canceled at the last minute. My guide said that it will be impossible for the tourist industry to make up for the lost income from December as it is typically more than 20% of the income for the year.

This morning I woke up early to head out for my bike tour (well, to say "woke up" makes it sound like I slept ... the only group happier to see me than the shop owners is the Chiang Mai mosquitoes ... they were all waiting for me in my room when I returned last night). My tour guide for Thailand is named "Duke" (perhaps he knows my cousin David?); he met me at the airport with the driver, and then picked me up this morning to bring me to the bike tour. My bike tour guide was named Miao (as she said, pronounced "Meow, like a cat"); for 4+ hours she led me through the villages outside of Chiang Mai. We wound through tiny unpaved roads, farms, temples, a leper colony (soon to be turned into a community for the disabled as happily there aren't enough people suffering from leprosy left) and the ruins of several Buddhist temples.

I had lunch with Duke at a beautiful old wooden restaurant on stilts overlooking the Ping River. We had lemongrass salad, sweet and sour fish and steamed vegetables in soy sauce, all for around $12 (this was actually a pretty fancy restaurant ... last night I had noodles at the street fair for about 30 cents) and really fresh and tasty. I figure I earned a nice lunch after a 20 mile bike ride.

Chiang Mai is the second largest city in Thailand (200,000 people in the city proper, 1.2 million in the aggregate for all the surrounding areas, versus more than 9 million in Bangkok) and 700 years old, versus Bangkok's 200 years of history. So while downtown Chiang Mai has some temples (called "wats"), the really old ones are in the outskirts where the original city center was first established. The new city was established about 500 years ago, but besides a few temples and the original city wall, there aren't many signs of its history. I was disappointed to see a Starbucks right across from the city gate ... and almost every street vendor is selling "Starbucks, Chiang Mai" t-shirts, as though that is something to be proud of.

I just returned from a Thai massage (300 bahts, or about $8, for an hour). It bore a resemblance to some mild form of torture, but when in Thailand ...

I also had my first handel of my trip today; bought a pair of pants for 150 bahts (down from 200, which I am sure no one has ever paid in the history of buying from a street vendor). I'm just getting warmed up, but need to figure out how I am going to fit any purchases whatsoever given the tiny bag I brought with me. My efficient packing does have its downside.

Tomorrow I have a full day of wats ... so looking forward to enlightening you when that is over. (I'm taking advantage of a readily available computer with internet access, which I am sure won't last for the duration of my trip.)

Until then ...