Chiang Mai, Thailand ~ December 24-28, 2013

It's a really strange feeling to find yourself in a strange city not know the lay of the land at all. Chiang Mai has proven very difficult to figure out because of all the "sois", which are similar to side streets or alleys. There is no rhyme or reason to them here. They are illogical, they don't run congruent to the main streets, they curve, and come to sudden stops, one soi turning into another soi. Very easy to get turned around here.

Upon checking in to the Top Garden Guest House (which came recommended on Trip Advisor), I went off in search of dinner. Victor, owner of this guesthouse, recommended a couple of nearby places. I dined at the first one I came across. $1.50 for rice with cauliflower and shrimp. Mind you, the dish only had two shrimp but it was tasty anyways.

I awoke Christmas morning with a full blown cold. The sore throat that had been with me every day since I arrived in Thailand was finally mounting to something more. I didn't have a plan for this day so decided I would go to one of the 4-5 large malls that are in Chiang Mai. I went to the Airport Plaza mall and took a red Songathew (pickup truck) for 20 BHT (60 cents). Songathew's are Chiang Mai's bus system. The rate is between 20 BHT and 40 BHT depending on distance. I have yet to pay 40 BHT, all rides seeming to charge 20 BHT.

I arrive at the mall at 10:30 AM and wait until 11:00 with all the other people who arrived too early. The mall hours are 11:00 - 7:00 PM Monday-Friday, Saturday and Sundays it opens at 10:00 AM.

First stop is in TOPS market. I wander the aisles looking at the offerings. I was hoping to find some oatmeal for my stay on Koh Chang but no such luck. I did buy a box of ginger tea, and because it was Christmas and I wanted a wee experience of Christmas Day I bought a box of Walker's Shortbread cookies. I stopped at the Pharmacy inside the grocery store and bought some Vitamin C. Each pill is the size of a nickle. The Vit. C. comes in a long metal tube, I would guess there may be a dozen or 15 pills in the bottle at most. The Pharmacist, who spoke some English, also gave me some other pill to swallow 3X/day. I took my items to the checkout and stood behind another "farang" (Caucasian) at the register. He was buying some food items as well as some kitchen gadgets (vegetable strainer, spoon etc). His bill came to 1500 BHT ($45.00) which I thought was a bit pricey for Thai standards but I guess that's the price you pay when you're unprepared and buying household items at a grocery store. No different than at home.

I was looking to buy a sweater because Chiang Mai is experiencing its severest cold snap in over 10 years. I had been wearing my winter coat every day since arriving, I had been wearing my polar fleece (and have had to sleep in it some nights too!), and today it was in the laundry. It goes without saying that I'm not exactly the size of the vast majority of Thai women. Finding a style that I liked and that would fit, well my options were slim. I went to Robinsons which is a huge department store. First, I'll backtrack a bit, the Airport Plaza is humongous. Four floors of shopping and the mall is gigantic. Probably the size of our biggest shopping mall back home. Anyways, Robinson's is very, very nice. I could've spent hours in there. I found a couple of sweaters I could've settled on but none were really my style. I find a clerk who is wearing a sweatshirt type hoodie and I ask her where could I find one. She doesn't understand English. I point to her hoodie and say "where?", and she points towards the denim department. Never found the hoodies but settled on a zip up jacket from Body Glove in bright pink. It was less than $30.

On a whim I decide to get a manicure and pedicure. There are 3 ladies working in the shop which has 5 chairs. Pedicures are done the old fashioned way here. No vibrating massage chairs. After I'm seated I have a clear view as to how they do things here. They do have an autoclave to disinfect the utensils but they don't have any running water. I see dirty water being poured into a huge 45 gallon garbage bin and then clean water scooped out of another 45 gallon bucket. How they empty and fill those containers I have no clue. First red flag is I don't see disinfectant being used anywhere. No disinfectant to spray the foot soak tubs, none to clean the containers they put product in. Hmm..... anyone who knows me knows I am a hospital grade disinfectant gal who errs on the side of being cautious when it comes to communicable diseases. Well the lady does remove my utensils from the autoclave so that's a good sign, right? They use OPI products so that's another good sign. I don't want polish on my fingernails so opt for clear. No clue what the hell is going on but as of today, Dec. 28, my fingernails have started to turn black. I don't mean the actual nail, I mean the colour of the clear polish. It's the oddest thing. Never seen anything like it.  I'll have to find a place somewhere in my travels that can remove the polish. I tried to scrape some of it off and it is not my nails turning black, thank goodness!

Hmm do you think the OPI name on the bottle was a knock-off?

December 25, 2013

I'm sick and this few hours of being at the mall has exhausted me. Time to return to my guesthouse. I hop on a songathew, four Aussies join me. They're young guys wanting to know where to get an authentic Christmas dinner. I suggest the Four Seasons. They've already sussed that out and tell me it's about $80 for 6 courses. Too pricey for them. Oh well.... I imagine I'll be eating rice for my Christmas dinner. Gotta say I don't miss not celebrating Christmas. I could quite happily skip the retail frenzy, the stress of planning for a big meal, the shopping and decorating. Don't miss any of that stuff one iota.

December 26, Boxing Day, I hire a private driver that is arranged through my guesthouse. Kwan picks me up promptly at 8:30. I want to go up the mountain to Doi Suthep temple. I also want to see the Tiger Kingdom and hopefully the silk farm and umbrella factory. Kwan isn't all that eager when I tell him my itinerary. In his hard-to-comprehend English, he tells me that I want to go north, south and east. Yah, but I still want to go to all those places so I don't see the issue. He tries to push off the alligator farm, snake farm and monkey farm on me. I told him I have no interest in seeing any animals but the tigers. He takes me to Doi Suthep as our first stop.

Doi Suthep sits 950 meters up on the mountain. 309 steps to the top where the temple sits. There is an option of taking a cable car to the top but I'm up for the exercise. At the top it is jam-packed with tourists, Thai tourists. It's very true what I had heard, that Thai's like to travel for the New Year. It's another beautiful site and I was enthralled watching the Monks walk around the chedi chanting with non-monks following behind.

The Chedi at Doi Suthep.

When these clang together they sound like heaven.

We drive in the opposite direction to the tiger farm. The entrance fee is priced by which tigers you want to see. The more tigers, the different sizes, the more expensive. I meet Louisa from Brazil in the payment line and she is alone too so we agree to go together, swap cameras and take photos of one another. It worked out well. Talk about (dis)organized chaos though. Everywhere we went it was "wait 30 minutes", then you walk back and forth between the different sized tigers looking to see if your number has come up in the queue which gives you and idea of how long you'll be waiting. The tiger farm was okay. Would I do it again? No. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience though.

By now it's finally starting to get warm. The first warmth I've felt since I arrived in Thailand.

Final stop of the day is to the silk factory. It was very interesting to see how silk is derived from silk worms, watch the women weaving silk and then shopping in the showroom. The showroom was huge. With my birthday money I received from some generous friends I bought the most expensive silk/cashmere scarf I will ever own in my lifetime. It was $180 Cdn! The one I truly loved was $600 and the salesman was trying his hardest to sell it to me but I stood my ground. I know I probably won't even wear the less expensive one too often but I will cherish it knowing that I bought it in Thailand and it was a gift from friends.

Back to my guesthouse and I'm ready for a nap. This cold has zapped my energy. I had been wearing a surgical face mask all day because I've been coughing up a lung and being I was in a car with Kwan I didn't want him to catch my germs. Wearing a face mask here, people don't give you a second look. It's common, probably due to the exhaust fumes. After a nap I want to go to the Night Bazaar. I hop on a songathew and it's only about a 15-minute ride. I am dropped off into another world. Never ever seen anything like this in my life. It goes on for miles and not just in a long straight stretch, but it goes back deep too. I spent four hours there and am certain I skipped much of it. I ate my favourite Thai dish, Tom Sum Gai for dinner. I told the man I didn't want it spicy and he said he would make it very mild. Whew... I ate most of it but it was still too spicy for me.

Friday, December 27 I sleep in til 10:00. I've been up and out of bed by 6:00-6:30 AM every day since coming to Thailand. Can't believe I slept 1/2 the day away. I decided that I'll skip breakfast and have lunch at AUM Vegetarian by the Thai Pae gate which came recommended from my co-worker Susan. I can walk there from my guest house and then from AUM I'll walk to the famous Warowat Market. I eat green curry for lunch. A first for me! Those who know me know that curry is definitely not to my liking.

I stroll along Thae Pae Road browsing in and out of shops all the while perusing my map as it's become a common theme that I bypass the road or shop I am looking for because everything is so crammed together here. I stop in a shop that catches my eye and the lady is listening to American country music! I comment on the music and she says she really likes it. The radio station is from Chiang Mai. Luke Bryan is playing, then Zac Brown Band comes on singing "Sweet Annie". She asks me what they are singing about as she doesn't understand the words. I decipher the song for her. I buy a few items from her and we wish each other "Happy New Year".

I find my way to Warowat Market. More of the same except this one is for locals and not geared to tourists as was the Night Bazaar. Frankly, I'm about marketed out. I don't spend too much time here but am wandering. Quite by fluke I find myself back on Thae Pae Road and I easily find my way back to my guest house. I nap again as the afternoon heat has zapped the energy from me. In the evening I walk a different direction and come across "authentic Mexican" food. I give it a try with enchiladas. The tortillas are made by hand and rolled out by hand with a huge rolling pin. It was okay. I've had worse. 

After dinner, I stroll back to the local market that I visited on my first night in Chiang Mai. I decide to have my first Thai Massage. 170 BHT for an hour (less then $6.00). Later, after the massage, as I am drinking my complimentary tea (it is common in Thailand that after receiving a service you are offered tea), I chat up the woman who massaged me. Her English is pretty good. She is from Burma. She learned Thai Massage in two days and has been practicing it for 5-6 months. I was none the wiser. Being it was my first Thai Massage I had no clue what to expect anyways. We have a nice chat and I tell her about LomiLomi Massage. We watch a YouTube video of LomiLomi on her phone and she is completely enthralled and says she wants to learn it.

Now it's Saturday, December 28. I have a 2:00 PM flight to Bangkok where I'll overnight. Last night I looked up the route on how I'll take the trains from the airport to my guesthouse. Poor planning on my part, which I realized many months ago. I wish I had booked more time in Chiang Mai and less time on the island of Koh Chang. Oh well, live and learn.

My suitcase is packed. It's now weighing in at 55 lbs! It was 37 lbs when I came to Thailand. So far I have carried a ton of sunscreen and bug spray and haven't used any of it. I imagine Koh Chang will be hot and sunny though as I can feel the Thai heat already this morning and it's only 9:45 AM. I'm sitting at an outdoor cafe eating oatmeal with fresh fruit and coffee that tastes like espresso. Coffee is popular here but man do they ever make it strong and you only get about 6 oz in a cup here so one cup does me.

I am allowed 66 lbs of luggage on Bangkok Airways but Air Canada only allows me 50 lbs but I can take two, 50 lb bags no charge. I'll be buying another piece of luggage when I'm in Bangkok in 11 days from now, before I head off to Tokyo.

When I'm on Koh Chang I'll have to spend some time with Telus and get my email working. I've been completely out of the loop since December 18 except for Facebook.

Off to 7-11 for water, then I'll probably walk to the market for a fresh fruit shake then relax in the lobby of my guesthouse until my taxi arrives at noon. They offered to call me a Tuk Tuk but I am not keen on that smoggy exhaust-laden bumpy ride with a huge piece of luggage.

Next stop Bangkok.