First Day in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Arrived in Chiang Mai, Thailand -  finally, at 9:30 AM -- a full 33+ hours after I locked my door in Vancouver.

I paid 120 BHT (aprox. $4 Cdn) for a taxi to my guest house. First impressions on the car ride were that Chiang Mai is somewhat reminiscent of Mexico with Mom and Pop stores but that's pretty much where the similarities end. The traffic here is much more horrendous which makes it hard to imagine what Bangkok traffic will be like. Twists and turns down windy narrow Sois (side streets with no pattern to them at all), dodging motorbikes, pedestrians and cars.

Within 2 minutes of arriving at my guest house I realized that I left my day pack in the taxi. Damn it! The taxi was a brand new SUV, the floor mats weren't even dirty. I remember thinking that I didn't want to put my pack on the lovely clean seat so I put it on the floor and thought "I'd better remember to take it when I get out". There was a bit of difficulty in locating my guest house so the driver got out and told me to wait while he walked down the street to see if he could locate it. I guess that was the thing that threw me off because I was standing outside the car when he returned and opened the trunk. Dang it! I didn't panic as there was nothing of value in it, a sweater, water, and things for the airplane. Honestly, I thought that I would never see that bag again. Apparently taxi drivers are supposed to give you a "chit" of your fare. The guest house receptionist asked me for it so she could see who the driver was but my driver never gave me a chit. Thankfully it never entered my mind that my IPad was in that bag too. Argh! The receptionist of the guest house recalled that the driver had called her from the airport to ask directions. She immediately rang him up and he said he would pull over but I'd have to walk to his location. Twists, turns and back alleys to get to the guest house, how I was supposed to locate him when I hadn't spent 10 minutes on Chiang Mai soil I have no clue. Fortunately an old man sitting in his tuktuk witnessed all the commotion and he said "get in, I'll take you". Oh man, talk about a "sit down, hold on, and shut up" kinda ride. We quickly found the taxi and I regained my bag. Whew!  I asked the old man how much I owed him for the ride and he said “nothing”.  What a great first impression of this place.  

Here's my very first tuktuk ride in Thailand.  A memorable experience to say the least!  Argh!  I can't figure out how to post the video so it actually plays on here. ... bear with me.

** One day I'll figure out how to insert a video here!

I was told my room wouldn't be ready until after 11:00 AM so I should go for a walk. Nok, the receptionist, marked the location of the guest house on my map and gave me her business card should I get lost. I was very conscious of my surroundings, the Sois turn and appear and disappear on a dime and although I walked only a two block radius from my guest house I could've easily gotten discombobulated given the fact I have a very poor sense of direction.

I found the first of what I know will be many Temples. Beautiful! I know I'll be over-using that word "Beautiful" a lot in this country. Words can't describe the intricate detail that adorns the exterior and interior. There was no one in the temple other than barefoot tourists as there was signage at the bottom of the steps leading into the Temple instructing "Please take out shoes".  

I wanted to waste some time so found a place serving fresh fruit shakes. I ordered mango which cost me 30 BHT ($1 Cdn). As I watched the comings and goings in this little "cafe" I noticed that the food and drink was being delivered from elsewhere. First my mango shake came walking in the door, then someone's toast and a plate of food came in from across the street. I really have no idea how these Mom & Pop operations work.  

Still wandering the nearby vicinity of my guest house it quickly became evident that Thai massage is indeed everywhere! The prices vary slightly but basically you can expect to pay 180 BHT ($6.00 Cdn) for an hour of Thai massage. I happened upon a real "spa" (not just a Mom & Pop shop advertising massage). As I was perusing the menu propped on a stand on the sidewalk I was approached to come and try massage. The courtyard of this spa was gorgeous. I selected the 90 minutes Hot Thai Stem massage. I had tried Thai Stem in massage school so I had an idea of what it entailed. The "stems" are cotton fabric filled with what equates to a couple of cups of herbs. The "stems" are then steamed over hot water until the herb mixture is moist and very hot. The premise of the massage is to compress the hot "stems" against the body.  

Thai Hot Stem Massage.  A 10/10 experience.

First, sitting outdoors in the courtyard, a stone bowl with a drain plug (like a sink) was filled with water as my feet were quickly (very quickly) rinsed off with a drop of soap. Then my flip-flops were stored on a shelf and I was given a pair of slippers appropriate for indoors. The young lady massaging me spoke no English. We shared a few laughs, each of us trying to guess what she wanted me to do as she pointed to things on the massage table and left the room. She came back in and I was still standing there fully clothed not having a clue if I was to get underneath the sheet or lay on top the sheet. As the Lemongrass scented oil massage progressed I wondered if she understood that I had wanted the hot stem massage. They definitely don't worry about draping like we do in North America. No communication between us whatsoever about draping comfort levels but I just went with the flow and enjoyed the Thai experience. At one point she left the room. I lay there thinking" is it over, am I supposed to get up? Should I just lay here until she comes looking for me?"  Finally she returns with the hot Thai stems. Man those things were h-o-t. Such an amazing smell of lemongrass and keffir lime. At this point, my body is covered with a thin sheet and she proceeds to compress the stems on my body, sometimes leaving them in a spot for a few seconds until I would motion that it was too hot. A few times, she got on top of the table to leverage her weight on my back. Now these massage tables are not your flimsy North American type of massage table and they can easily withstand the weight of two people. The legs were built of solid wood measuring 3" to 4" square. The table is much wider too. 90 minutes later my inaugural Thai massage has come to an end. This beautiful experience cost a total of 600 BHT ($18 Cdn). I tipped her 200 BHT. No clue how to tip here but when you realize the tip was only $6 Cdn. but still 1/3 of the cost of the massage it makes a person feel good to know they can show their appreciation in that way. The spa was named "Lila Thai".  

Rock solid massage table

Definitely was overdue for a nap as I still had a 3-hour dinner tour of the food carts later in the evening. Nok shows me to my room, hands me a half roll of toilet paper and one towel. The room is beyond bare bones basic but I can't complain for 300 BHT ($9 Cdn). No chair, no towel bar, no soap! Hoping my next guest house is a bit above this one. Oh yah, and only a single sheet on the bed and a dirty comforter with the hair of previous patrons! Partially explains why I fully dressed before I covered up last night. You do get what you pay for - I'm not complaining just observing as I knew what I was getting myself into and wanted the cheap Thai experience for at least a few nights.  

This is what $9 Cdn. gets you for a night.

Sat in the lobby of my guest house chatting to Nok the receptionist. Lobbies are open-air (similar to Mexico). No average sized door to walk through but rather think a room without an entire wall closing it in. A Scotsman comes in and inquires about the time for the last bus to Pai. He's missed it by an hour. (Ends up he was out rock climbing with a Vancouverite he had met the night previous. Also ends up rock climbing is a popular sport in Chiang Mai). The Scotsman wants to know how much is a taxi to Pai - $2,500 BHT ($81 Cdn). He tells Nok "can you call a taxi for me?" and Nok laughs in his face as if to say "you can't be serious, you're not going to pay 2500 BHT to go to Pai". The Scotsman assures her he is dead serious. He has buddies in Pai and they're expecting to see him tonight as they only have 3 days together. Nok goes into the back room and speaks Thai. It turns out Nok's boss is going to take the Scotsman to Pai. The Scotsman is told to "wait here". The boss man is gone for what seems like forever but he returns with his shiny new SUV in about 15 minutes time. The Scotsman throws his backpack into the SUV, Nok runs across the road to buy refreshments for her boss and hire and then the two men are off to Pai. Pai is a 4-hour trip by car on a switchback mountainous road. The boss man won't return til 2:00 AM.

Around 7:00 PM I am greeted by Chai from Chiang Mai Street Food Tours. He walks me to his shiny new SUV (notice a theme here - shiny new SUVs?). I meet Camille from NYC who is going on the tour too. At the meet-up spot we meet up with two others, Flora from Hong Kong and her friend John who lives in Chiang Mai by way of ... I have no clue. We pay Chai our 700 BHT ($21 Cdn) and our tour begins at the North Gate.

We all get an opportunity to order in Thai. Tom Saap (spicy soup), a broth made from pork and fish, combined with galangal, lemongrass and kaffir lime, onions, mushroom and chili peppers. The soup was accompanied by Nam Tok Pla (grilled fish). The fish is chopped in a bowl mixed with onions and chilies, fish sauce and lime juice. So delicious. We eat the Nam Tok Pla by taking a clump of sticky rice with our fingers and scooping it into the fish dish.  

So much food gone to waste at the end of the night

Cooked to order

Chai is the ultimate host. I told him I could not eat spicy foods (Gin pet mai dai) and he was on the ball and ensured I was served a dish separate from the others who all shared from a single plate, portioning out their food on to smaller plates. We ate meals at about six different stalls: pork, chicken, fish, and lots of sticky rice. The deep fried frog was not bad but my mind could not get over the crunch of the bones. We did waste quite a bit of food because every order was full-sized shared between the four of us. Once we visited and admired all the stalls at the north gate, we returned to Chai's SUV and drove to the south gate for dessert. 



My favourites were coconut custard cooked in a hot skillet, coconut cake and a coconut cream with little pea-sized dumplings.  
My 

Chai the food tour guide serving up Sticky Rice cooked in bamboo

The food stalls operate at the north and south gated every evening from 6:00-10:00. Sadly at 9:30 PM some stalls had massive amounts of food left over. Chai said they feed it to the stray dogs or throw it in the river for the fish.

Finally it was time for bed. Thank goodness I brought earplugs and managed 4 hours of sleep before I awoke and typed this blog for 2 hours in the wee hours of the morning.

Tomorrow, I'm off on a 4-day tour today with Sutthi of Chiang Mai Tours.