Chiang Mai, Land of a Million Raindrops

Chiang Mai photos -

 

http://picasaweb.google.co.th/adina.alpert/ChiangMai#

 

Here's an update on what we've been up to in Chiang Mai.

 

We got back from the trek Friday in time to take LONG showers and scrub the crap out of our feet before Shabbat.  Mine would have been nicer had I found the switch to turn on the hot water.  Where's a dud chashmal when you need one?  Though I suppose that wouldn't help much in the rainy season.

 

Shabbat was nice but VERY different from Bangkok.  Much smaller, and far less sparkling of a facility.  Perhaps this was even  unusual for Chiang Mai chabbad, but most people were families or young couples.  Almost no backpackers.  The Rabbi and his wife kept talking about how nice it was to see so many zuggim tzi'irim, so maybe they aren't used to seeing so many.  At the oneg a very nice lady gave her words of wisdom for a long happy marriage.  Let's say Sharon Freundel would have been pleased.  We of course found the other Americans, this time a couple from Boston heading out to Chicago to start MBA's.  Together.  I guess it's just like when Adina and I did her homework together, but this time they both get a diploma.  After checking out the ritzy hotel where we SO didn't belong, we went back and slept all day.  We then had a drink and said goodbye to a couple of our trek buddies that were leaving town.  It was a very patriotic Independence Day celebration and a romantic anniversary, too.  I shouldn't say that, we did manage to both catch a glimpse of fireworks through the trees (thank Buddha for the American Consulate) and have a really nice dinner at a vegan buffet.  I don't know which is weirder for us, eating at non-kosher restaurants (only 100% veggie, Abba) or pretending to be vegetarian.  The latter certainly gives us bigger lumps in our throats. 

 

Sunday we headed out into the old city to walk around and tour some more Wats.  I'm sure they are all very different from eachother, but I'm still having a bit of trouble figuring out how.  I did particularily like one that was all teak on the inside - much plainer but somehow more unique than most of the others.  There was another with a giant Chedi (tall monument) that was only partially reconstructed a few years ago by UNESCO.  If the whole point of the chedi was how ginormous it was, I'm not sure why they didn't finish the tower.  It was around this time that it started raining, so we headed indoors to a suprising well done little museum with some of the best dioramas I've ever seen.  We figured it would keep us busy until the rain stopped, but we weren't quite prepared for it to keep raining for two whole days.  Even the locals explained that it was very unusual, even for the rainy season.  At least we weren't out on the trek.  Then. while I stopped to type up our last update, Adina went and got a massage at the women's prison.  Seriously.  Part of the inmate rehabilitation program is job training, and they have a pretty good and very cheap spa set up.  Though the handcuffs did limit their mobility a bit.  We were assured by Lonely Planet that these were not hardened criminals, so I'm assuming they were just busted prostitutes.  Adina showered well when she was done.  The little gift shop also had a LOT of needlepoints for sale.  No license plates, though.  To finish off a very long day in the ir ha'atikah, we stopped at the Sunday market and spent way more than we intended.  Oops.  Rain clouds your judgement, I suppose.  It was amazing to see how the rain didn't put a damper on the market at all, all the vendors are out touting away.  We did appreciate that they were much more patient than the people in Bangkok.

 

Sunday we planned to rent a scooter and head up to the hillside Wat overlooking the city but were thwarted by the rain.  So we waited for it to stop.  It didn't.  So we waited some more.  It still didn't.  So we went shopping again.  I think the rainy season is a scam to sell more souvenirs and artwork.  We went to a more boutique-ey part of town with some fantastic galleries that are well out of our league.  Since we'd like to own a house someday, we decided not to buy anything.  Well, almost nothing.  We then found the fanciest vegetarian restaurant in town - the meal almost cost a whole $10!  After dinner we went to a Muay Thai (Thai kick boxing - the only rule is you can't use your head as a weapon) match, having heard that it was fun and excitement not to be missed.  Sadly, I think they were talking about the Muay Thai in Bangkok, the one we went to was very touristy (complete with the middle age white dude and very young Thai lady-friend seated beside us) and somewhat of a little league Muay Thai event.  There were seven or eight bouts, two of which featured kids that couldn't have been more than 11.  They went down pretty easy.  The main even featured full grown boxers, but the one self dubbed 'superman" lasted about 85 seconds.  I don't believe they give refunds for that.  The "special fight" was actually pretty interesting.  Put three chubby 16 year olds in a ring.  Blindfold them.  Let them feel their way around the ring on wail on eachother whenever possible for 4 minutes.  Since none of them were hitting very hard, no one gets hurt, but the ref did find himself in a spot of trouble when he got in the middle.  Lucky for him, I suppose, the rules seem to allow him to kick back.  Adina got a nice action shot of that one. 

 

Today was the highlight of our Chiang Mai leg, a five hour Thai cooking class, complete with a guided stroll through the market and more food than even the fattest of fat little buddhas could ever eat.  Two soups, two stir fried veggie dishes,  pad thai, spring rolls, two kinds of curries, and sticky rice with mango.  The very friendly and fun instructor we had told us to pace ourselves from the start.  We probably would have been in less pain afterwards had we listened.  Now we are experts in Thai cuisine.  Though Buddha knows where we'll be able to find kafir lime leaves, thai chili peppers, and some type of ginger root whose name I can't even remember right now.  But when we do find it, look out.  We'll cook up a storm.  Apparently today was some kind of Buddhist festival - the new crop of monks are shaved and initiated.  We tried finding some festivities to go with it, but I think most of it happened while we were in the cooking class.  Maybe we'll catch some in the morning.

 

Tonight we head to chabbad to try and pick up challah rolls and grape juice for shabbat, then to market to hemorrhage more money.  Tomorrow we say goodbye to Chiang Mai (that rhymes) and head to the Laos border.  Then it's a two day slow boat trip to Luang Prabong and shabbat on our own - Chabbad has been kicked out by the government.  We'll fill you in on all the details next time.  Same bat channel, but probably a very different bat time.

 

p.s. - today, while we were indoors, it was dry and sunny.