October 26: Pummelled and Ground

After 4 days in and around Bangkok, I was ready for a lower key Thailand and found it in Chiang Mai, the country's second largest city but only a fraction the size of Bangkok, located about 480 miles northwest of the capital.

The terrain here reminded me of the Shenandoah Mountains, with verdant green hills and small mountains surrounding the city, which is home to under 200,000 in the city proper but over 1.5 million tourists every year.  They, like me, are attracted by the cooler temperatures and abundant outdoor activities in the area from hiking to white water rafting to zip lining to rock climbing as well as cooking classes, massage classes and a plethora of Buddhist temples (over 300).

While the King's image seemed to predominate in Bangkok, it is the Buddhist religion that seems to have sway in this area with its many wats and large numbers of monks, who can be seen throughout the city in their orange robes.  Monks are given very special treatment in Thailand, from being placed at the head of every line to receiving respectful wai's from passersby.  Thailand in general seems a very religious place in a modest but pervasive way.  Many homes have small wooden or bamboo houses for the spirits of past eras to dwell in; offerings of flowers, food, incense and even plastic bottles of water are left for them so that they remain content.  These may not be particularly Buddhist in origin but are found everywhere.

Almost everyone I met preferred Chiang Mai to Bangkok for its accessibility, slower pace, cooler temps and less artificial approach.  It was also surprising to me how many farang were here - I met people from Italy, Croatia, South Africa, Australia, Canada, the Phillipines, China, Japan, the UK, Ireland and France.  All of them wanted to know about the election and all hoped Obama would win.  I told them it would be very close and that I was not sure he would.

Up until now, I had always regarded Portland or maybe Seattle as the coffee capital;  Chiang Mai gives them a run for their money.  Thailand is increasing coffee production rapidly (as is Vietnam) and a lot of the coffee seems to stay in-country.  Every block has multiple small coffee shops offering not only the usual array of hot drinks but, given the weather, an assortment of iced coffee drinks that are totally addictive (and more fattening than my usual black coffee!)

The other notable thing about Chiang Mai is that you cannot walk more than a few feet without running into a massage spa offering foot massage, Thai massage (a sort of pummeling and stretching), oil massages, scalp and facial massages, among others (which I will not go into).  Quite a few also had tanks of small fish that like to eat the dead skin on your feet, cleaning them pretty thoroughly (if a little disgustingly).  A two-hour Thai massage will set you back all of $12.  You could easily spend the day cycling through a caffeine high and a mellow state of massage heaven; lots of visitors seem to be doing just that, interspersed with visiting temples and enjoying terrific food.

My hotel was located a short walk from the best known night market, Anusaran, which is quiet during the day.  Starting around six, though, hundreds of vendors began putting out their wares, ranging from silk goods to wood handicrafts to t-shirts to clothing of all sorts.  Indian tailors literally grab you to insist that you need a new custom-made suit, available in just 24 hours.  Scores of tourists loll in lazy boy chairs and on platform beds being massaged in the very warm, humid air.  I could not get enough of the incredible seafood offered at the market; crabs, lobsters, mussels, oysters, squid and assorted whole fish are prepared any way you would like - with green or red curry, massaman curry, black bean sauce, etc.

The first day I spent mostly visiting temples and, unfortunately, managed to leave any device that could take a photograph.  The second day I took a cooking course; unlike most, it started at the market where we picked up most of the necessary ingredients.  Then we hopped a local train to a nearby farming village, where we rode bikes to the home where our group would cook the assorted meals offered.  Each of us made five courses; I picked ones I liked, figuring that I would be most likely to try them at home: hot and sour shrimp soup, pad thai (of course), beef salad, massaman chicken curry and sticky rice with mango.

Here are two of my efforts (curry on the left and soup on the right; both nose-running, eye-watering, where's the water spicy hot!):

The next day I decided to go zip-lining, which my son Chris and I had enjoyed in Costa Rica.  Basically you are strapped in a harness and hooked to a wire that you ride along between high platforms attached to trees.  Perfectly safe while still pretty thrilling.  This was the largest such setup I've heard of, with 33 lines to traverse and two places where you rappel down to a different level.  This all occurs in a dense tropical forest complete with gibbons, birds of every kind and amazing flowers.  I have a couple of fun movies that I'll try to download (current wifi too slow); for now, you'll have to be satisfied (hah) with my mug.

That will be it for Chiang Mai - a great place that I will definitely return to for trekking, coffee, cheap food and great massages.