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.

Mai Sarang to Chiang Mai

We depart the Riverside Resort promptly at 9:00 AM. Driving out of the town of Mae Sarang you can see every place (school) that the Princess had visited because it's completely decked out in her colour purple and with huge photos of her. Thais sure do spend a lot of money on their Monarchy and by most accounts they love their King. His photo is seen a lot around here.

For miles and miles down the highway the purple flags stuck in the ground provide proof that the Princess had traveled that route.

First stop of the day is Chom Tong Waterfall. Honestly, by this point I've seen so many waterfalls I'm not so sure what makes this one special two days after I saw it.

We stop in a town with a very well known Wat. It's obvious upon stepping inside that it is a very significant Wat. I could've spent 1/2 a day here taking photos but unfortunately we were in and out in about 20 minutes, I would guess. In a back room they have a very special glass vault with iron bars. This back area is only opened to the public for 2 weeks a year around New Years and I was fortunate to be there when it was open to the public.  It is filled with hundreds and hundreds of solid gold Buddhas.  

One of the smaller Wats I visited but one of my favourites. 

Solid gold Buddhas behind plexi-glass, iron bars, & lock & key.  

Normally, this area is closed to the public.

See the cash?  Thai are very giving people.

We enter Doi Inthanon National Park. You can tell it's a very popular place as we are in a traffic jam. Shortly after entering the park we stop for lunch at the only lunch stop place in the vicinity. I would liken it to a mammoth-sized cafeteria except the food is served to you at the table. Sutthi goes up to order our meal and it is brought to us within 5 minutes which is the norm in Thailand. I've never experienced such speedy food service anywhere else I've ever visited. We eat cashew chicken, the tasty Thom Yam Gai (or Thom Sum Gai) soup that has become one of my favourite Thai dishes, and fried rice. Sutthi had also brought along a few pieces of fruit and the lunch place cut it up and presented it beautifully on the plate. We had pomello, star fruit, tangerine, watermelon and pineapple.

Family-style lunch with the fruit that Sutthi had purchased earlier in the day

and the restaurant cut it up for us and displayed it so nicely for us.

Our next stop is to another Karan Tribe: Mae Klang Luang inside Doi Inthanon National Park. This tribe is not long neck. They are coffee farmers among other crops but are known for their coffee. Starbucks used to buy their Arabica beans at one point. The village is traditional bamboo houses, teeny tiny by North American standards. A Karan woman greets us dressed in traditional attire. Married Karan women wear a white head scarf. The scarf kinda look like the way you'd wrap a towel around your head after having washed your hair. We take a look at the white beans drying in the sun. These beans are not yet peeled. Sutthi pours some beans into a manual coffee grinder and the Karan woman makes us filtered coffee the old-fashioned way. She pours hot water into the cloth sack filled with coffee grounds. She lifts the cloth sack high into the air letting the brown water drip out the bottom. Then she takes that container of brown liquid and dumps it through the filter again and again and again. Sutthi and I sit at a long bamboo table and bamboo bench and enjoy or fresh roasted, fresh tasting coffee.

We head up the top of the highest mountain in all of Thailand, 3500 meters above sea level. I go to the viewing point to take some photos but all I could see were the clouds below me. We do a lovely walk through the rain forest on wooden walkways. It was a lovely 15 minute little hike through the dark green aged vegetation. I get to stand on the very highest point in all of Thailand and Sutthi takes my photo.

The tallest point in all of Thailand.

We head back down the mountain and stop at Wachiathan Waterfalls. Wow! The spray from the fall was keeping people far back from the fence. It was a very gorgeous and powerful sight to witness. It was roared like thunder too.

Next stop is Chiang Mai. Sutthi wanted to show me one of the most famous temples in Chiang Mai before we part company. We went to Wat Chedeliem. It was the perfect time of day. The gold and red intricate adornments of the Wat shone in all its glory in the setting sun. Photos don't do it justice in portraying the beauty of it.

Wat Chedeliem

Sutthi drops me at Top Garden guesthouse run by Victor from Montreal and his Thai wife Thanya. Sutthi and I say our goodbyes and I try not to cry as I hug him goodbye. Hiring this man was the best decision ever. Sutthi showed me a Thailand I would not have seen on my own. I enjoyed his company and I promised to send him a memory stick with music on it. The memory stick came about because he was playing a CD of older 70's music and he was asking me about John Denver when the song "Country Roads" came on. Well finally after two days he asked me "is this John Denver singing?" I said "No". Sutthi says "Who is it?" I said, "I have no clue but it's not John Denver, and that wasn't Peter, Paul, and Mary singing Blowing in the Wind either." We had a good laugh at it. He had bought the CD in Laos or Burma and obviously got ripped off.  {confession: I have not sent the memory stick!}

I check into my guest house and head on down the Soi to find my Christmas Eve dinner.

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.