My last post.... for this trip at least

Written 5/22/15: I’m doing this as I go along because I don’t expect there to be as much ‘news’ or ‘pictures’ for my last couple of days. 

On Thursday (yesterday), I went looking for a dress and I found it. And then I found I was not able to try it on. So I didn’t buy it. I think we all know my body is too complicated to submit to the whole ‘free size’ situation. On a side note a seller who spoke English said if I return to her tomorrow, she will have the pants I’m looking for.

I went to the Lanna Folklife Museum. My attention span was a lot better but I still spent much of the time pulling language for poetry. I want to do more mis-translations; now all I have to do is pay more attention when people are speaking Thai around me, or take more notice when I see their words spelled out phonetically. Anyway, the exhibits were pretty cool; they showed early Thai stonework, arts, textiles, etc. 

I ate at the same restaurant twice, for breakfast and lunch. It’s called Dada Cafe and it’s a health food place and really really yummy. I also did some day- drinking. I swear this place makes me want to drink alcohol in the afternoon. There are all these bars and pubs open in the day time and it’s hot and I want a beer (I’ve been thinking this the whole time I have been here). So I finally did it. After lunch I went to an Irish Pub in my guide book and I ordered a cocktail. And I drank it. Mission accomplished. And then I went back to my room. And got tired. Oh well. Some things are not as fun in practice.

Did I mention that my guesthouse has been overrun with tourists? There is a family here and they want to be sitting places and talking all the time. Getting in my way. Whatever. 

It rained again, and I suspect it will off and on until I leave. It made dinner a bit complicated. I have been trying to eat everything I want to try before I go. I was going to walk to where I thought they’d have street food (nevermind that they have a ton of it around the corner from my guest house… I wanted to go to this area).  But I went to leave and saw it was raining again. So I had sushi across the road. It was not too good, not because it was bad, but because they don’t have the options common in the states so the rolls were quite small and lackluster. When it stopped raining, I thought my little dinner entitled me to a second dinner. So I walked to get street food. There was no street food there, just people buying these baskets of flowers in order to offer at the temple. I think there is some kind of ritual that has been going on for a few days. 

(On a side note, I am sitting in a cafe that is playing some horrible renditions of popular music and I just heard some bastardized version of G&R’s ‘Patience.’) Anyway, no street food. Walked back to my area and bought myself a banana spring roll. It was okay. But this is what I have realized. I really hate eating standing or walking. I will go hungry rather than eat in anything other than a seated position. Because I want to enjoy my food. So there is street food very close to my guest house and I don’t know if I’ll be having anymore because there is so much else I want to eat. We’ll see. I came to Thailand and didn’t eat a bunch of street food. I fear I will be judged for this.

I don’t have much energy to do nighttime things like go to clubs/bars and since I am by myself, I feel I might be bored. Well I guess if I was not up at 6am every day I might attempt it. At night I watch some horrible thing on TV (sadly I am not able to get Daily Show or Nightly Show episodes online here… guess I’ll have to catch up when I get back). But the hotels I have been in have had BBC news and Al Jareeza so I have probably been kept abreast of more international news since I’ve been here than at home. And I discovered this show on BBC (you can see it on youtube) called ‘The Big Questions;’ it’s people debating big issues. A lot of it centers around religion. But there interesting conversation about other cultural issues. (Oh my god, they are doing a really bad version of ‘Rockaway Beach.’ That was a Ramones original wasn’t it? Did they just ‘F’ with the Ramones?) I also have completed one baby sweater and one baby hat (although, I am not certain that the baby can wear both at the same time). 

Coming to the end of the trip, I am asking myself if I am in a rush to get back. I’m not. I’m not in a rush to stay either. I think 2 weeks in this area is plenty, although I’m happy I didn’t plan to move around too much; I don’t like feeling rushed. I think when I usually travel, one of the things I want to get back to when I go home is my alone time. But since I have been alone this whole time, I’m not really feeling that pull. 

So tonight, if I decide to go to the fancy-ish restaurant that was recommended to me, and/or if I decide to go to the Night Bazaar (which might be a waste of time) I may splurge on a taxi. I’ve tried to walk most places, because I am very aware I have not worked out for 2 weeks. And at the same time, I get to know the lay of the land a million times faster if I walk. I now get around here pretty easily. 

….and later: 

Today I didn’t do the fancy-ish restaurant or the bazaar. Went to a Thai place in my guide book for breakfast (and had typically un-breakfast-y food by American standards.) Went to the Chiang Mai Historical Center. It covered the history of Chiang Mai, (go figure) and I lifted more language for poetry. 

I ate twice again in the afternoon and then headed back to the guesthouse due to rain, damp shoes and toe blister. I fought with the wifi until it worked. 

Finally, a little before 5pm, feeling like a slug and noticing the rain stopped, I ventured out. I walked around and found a market at a temple. I also found the pants I’d been looking for (that other seller didn’t have them). I got a departing foot massage. I went to a pub called the Kafe. It had been calling to me; they serve Thai food and booze so I figured it was a good place for my last Thailand dinner (not counting whatever I pull off at the airport and in the plane). It was quite good. I spent some time there writing, which was nice. 

I am trying to figure out how to negotiate tomorrow. Check out time is 11am and my flight is 6:35pm. I have a roller board suitcase. These streets were not made for roller boards, not to mention the rain. I’ll likely hang out in a restaurant for a couple of hours and then go to the airport early. I don’t want to sweat through my travel clothes although the place I plan to kill time at doesn’t have air conditioning. I’ll probably have to figure out how to change clothes. So much to think about. Also figure I shouldn’t sleep on the plane because I’ll need to sleep when I get home. With all this in mind, I won’t be posting tomorrow morning. I want 100% battery life on this thing for the plane and I plan to spend the morning writing journal style. 

I hope you have enjoyed reading. It’s good to stay connected to my people when I am far away. Next time I’m thinking Australia, Singapore or Vietnam… or maybe someplace in Europe. Thoughts?

Love

Delia

It's the home stretch! Wait, what have I not eaten yet???

5/21/15

Got to my new digs- the Sir Pat Guest House, right in the north-east corner inside Old City (I had been staying west of Old City). I’ve walked through many of these streets already but it’s nice to be closer. There are also a bunch of produce stands around so I can get fruit to carry with me again. And smoothies- they are big on smoothies here. I keep looking for the peanut butter-banana one I got earlier in the trip. 

So I got here Tuesday (the 19th) and had a hard time mobilizing because, again, I was sleep deprived. I walked around. I had told myself ‘no more massages’ but then I got sucked into a place with a 90minute foot/hand/head massages. So I did that. 

I walked past the roads with the food vendors (I really have to try to street food before I go) and I finally made it to the Writer’s Bar and Wine Club. I took this picture of my bowl of curry, beer and my journal. I was even going to post it in Facebook with some pretentious caption about how cool I am that I have a bowl of curry and a journal. But then I’d be one of those writers. I had sticky rice for dessert.

Yesterday (the 20th) I walked east, past the Mae Ping River. There is a very good restaurant out there as well as the Night Bazaar. I am not sure if I feel like putting up the effort to walk so far at night. Yes I could take cabs (getting around is very cheap), but I like walking (or at least I did before I noticed the huge blister I now have on my right ring-finger-toe.) But I was able to get the very last of my souvenirs (yes Chris is going to get an actual Thailand shot-glass).

However before all this, the reason I walked east at all was to see Wat Buppram. I didn’t go in because I was not properly dressed… and that’s fine with me. I like to just see the pretty buildings. 

I got a bakery nearby to make me the peanut butter-banana shake. It was almost as good. 

I am also trying to hit all the good restaurants before I go (I discovered there is another Salad Concept across the canal from my guesthouse. Oh No!). There is another health food place I will try out today for breakfast. There is a good Thai place I walked into the other night but the set-up confused me. There is the nice place by the river. There’s all that street food! 

And there is a dress I might wanna buy- I should have tried it on yesterday. The long and the short of it is that I've been a good tourist and I've seen a lot of what one is supposed to see. Now I just want to do what I feel like doing

Today I was planning to walk along the west side of Old City. There is a pretty park on the south west side. All this with this blister on my toe. And probable rain.  Bummer!  

Which gets us back to yesterday. I went back to the hotel to take a dip in the pool… which really was just a dip. I mostly just sat poolside reading a book, drinking coffee, which is really quite pleasant. And then it rained. A lot. It eventually stopped but between that and the fact that my tummy was bothering me, I decided not to go far for dinner. Down the road from my guest house is a pizza place that got 5 stars on Tripadvisor. I went there. It was not 5 stars. It was maybe 4 with enough olive oil and salt on it. After that I want to John’s Place, a bar/restaurant, and I ordered dessert (and by dessert I mean a drink called the Chiang Mai Paradise which was kahlua, baileys, cointreau and milk.) I sat on the third floor terrace, drank, wrote and got bit my insects. By then my tummy was ok. 

And I got my laundry done. I was washing stuff in the sink but I went outside and I realized you can’t spit without hitting a laundry place. That fancy hotel wanted almost as much to clean one of my underwear as this place wanted to clean 2.5 kilos of clothing. It was done in a few hours. Now I’m considerably less crusty.

So things I want to get done:

dress/pants shopping

eat at the health food restaurant

eat at the nice Thai place

eat street food

maybe eat at the place along side the river that was recommended to me

maybe go to the night bazaar

Oh, and I think we are going to get more rain. And when I walk, I step on the blister on my toe. 

Last night I used the Ativan again and got 8 hours of sleep. Yay!

As I write this, I am sitting at a cafe table, in front of my guest house, looking out onto the street, drinking coffee. It’s a good way to live.

Oh! and this it the last thing! I want to find a massage place the incorporates wine. Or a wine bar that incorporates massage (I’m not picky). I’m not talking about getting shitfaced and then lying on your stomach and having some masseur do that thing where they put you in a half-nelson and twist your torso around. But a foot massage and a glass of wine…. c’mon, that needs to happen. 

Good-bye Kantary Hills. Hello Old City

5/19/15

I was not able to write yesterday because I was on an all-day tour. On Sunday I took it easy again because there was another Walking Street. So I got a foot massage, sat by the pool until it started drizzling.

I went to Sunday Walking Streets. I thought it was going to be smaller than the Saturday one. I was wrong. I’ve also been walking wrong. The street market is on a main road but then there are smaller roads off of that road and sometimes stuff going on off of those roads. I learned from Saturday that I lose my direction pretty easily.  So I decided that no matter what, I would just go right- right turns, right side, just right. Problem is that people drive on the left side of the road here so pedestrian traffic tends to move on the left. (I have wondered, since I’ve been here, how this affects escalator protocol, an issue I take quite seriously.) 

Anyway, this whole left/right thing is not a big deal at 5pm when the market is just setting up. At 7pm when it’s shoulder-to-shoulder, it becomes an issue. But because I didn’t want to lose my bearings, I kept right. And I didn’t get lost. And I wanted to hang myself by the end of it. 

On this main road there is a bar-restaurant called ‘The Writer’s Club and Wine Bar.’ It’s owned by an ex-pat, serves Thai food and I suppose has something to do with writers. I have wanted to go. I passed it on my way and foolishly thought I’d get back to it. But there was no way I was putting myself through that crowd again. It’s okay because this is all in Old City, which is where I move to today. As for Sunday, by time I got back to my hotel, I just order room service. 

On Monday, I took the tour to Chiang Rai to see the ‘White Temple.’ There were a few ‘attractions’ (as our tour guide called them) on the trip, but I was mostly concerned with the Temple, and Golden Triangle, the place where Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet. There were some other stops, I could have done without them, especially considering it was a really long day and the driver, while very skilled, was obviously trying to get us everywhere as quickly as possible. Everywhere we stopped was a bit of a tourist trap with markets set up, which helped me feel less awkward about the last stop… most on that in a bit. 

The first stop was a hot springs, which was very pretty. 

The next stop was the Wat Rong Khun (the ‘White Temple’). It’s relatively new, built in the 90’s. It is the most beautiful human-made thing I can remember ever having seen (I have no idea if that sentence is grammatically correct). The pictures don’t do it justice (don’t we always say that). There were some, what I might call, tone issues. You can’t take pictures inside. But if I could, I could show you that they are working on the art and that there is a really beautiful mural (is it a mural if it’s inside?) of… I don’t remember of what because I was distracted by the depiction of Michael Jackson. The temple is modeled after concepts of heaven and hell and since MJ is shown in a rather orangey/warm looking location, I figured maybe the artist was showing him in hell for being a child molester. But then I realize that Kung-Fu Panda was about a three feet to his left. 

There were some others. And then there are the scary heads hanging from trees outside- and then you realize that Wolverine’s head is also hanging. The big gold building is the ‘Golden Toilet.’ I peed in there. The toilet part is unremarkable but the building is obviously beautiful. There were other white buildings there too, also really pretty. 

Then we had lunch at a buffet. By that time I was so hungry I wanted to start chewing on the seats.

Next we took a boat around the Golden Triangle and stopped in Laos for a half-hour. There was a market there where, among other things, they sold whiskey with reptiles in the bottles. I don’t know why. It was really creepy looking. The tour guide told us about the opium trade that used to go on with Thailand and that still goes on in other countries. Honestly, I was only half paying attention. It was a long hot day. The tour guide did talk about opium and pot a lot during the tour. 

Next we went to Mae Sai, the northern most place in Thailand. Again, more markets. 

The last stop was visiting the Akha Hilltribe Village. These are people who migrated from China and live in hut-like dwellings. The tour guide was pointing to an old woman’s headdress as she just stood there looking at us. It was odd how we just walked into these people’s village. And unlike the other stops, we were the only tourists there. But then the people there tried to sell us stuff too. Those headdresses were for sale. 

So that was it. It was an over three hour drive home. I got back in time to have that salad buffet at the hotel restaurant. The chef sent me some frozen chocolate covered ice-cream balls that I think were on top of a glass filled with dry ice. I don’t know if everyone got those because by this time, I was occupying one of two occupied tables. 

I just stuffed my face at the Kantary Hills breakfast buffet for the last time. I’m pretty sure the calorie count in the strawberry jelly I consumed alone exceeds my usual breakfast. Check out time is at noon. I’ll be packing up my stuff and going to my next hotel. I don’t remember the name but it’s in Old City. 

So..... shopping

5/17/15

I’m not quite sure what I did yesterday. After my last post, I booked my next place, this time in Old City. This hotel has been lovely but it’s full of couples and there is some convention going on. The neighborhood is like Bell Blvd on a Saturday night… but longer (for all you Queens folks reading this). I feel old here. I want to go to a bar for a drink and then I read in my guide book that is caters to college students (makes sense since the university is right here). I was cautioned against staying in Old City because it’s touristy but it’s also where most of the temples are and I will appreciate being in a smaller hotel and being closer to everything. And it has a pool so that’s nice.

Yesterday I was tired so hung out in the room for a bit. I’d wanted to take it easy because I’d be walking a lot. There was a massage somewhere in there. I got a back/neck/shoulder massage but it was really an all-over massage. I went in the pool but just for a bit. I had lunch. Then I walked to Saturday Walking Streets (not to be confused with Sunday Walking Streets) which opens at 4pm. It took about an hour to get there. I’ve become pretty shameless about pulling out my map in the middle of the sidewalk but this time I wrote down my directions so I wouldn’t have to do that (it’s a big unwieldy map). I ended up taking it out anyway, not because I got the directions wrong, but because it’s really hard to locate street signs in English here and I needed to orient myself with landmarks. (I got a Nancy Chandler map, also recommended to me by Tim’s friend. It has been my lifesaver this whole trip). 

So the Walking Streets is just what it sounds like; they close down the street and sell tons and tons of stuff. I got a lot of souvenir shopping done. I actually decided to pace myself since I am going to the other Walking Streets later today. And there is also a Night Bazaar which I hear is not as good but happens every day and I’ll be close to it at the new place. And apparently there is good shopping at the Chiang Mai airport mall, which is good, because I'll be getting there hours before my flight on Saturday.

Anyway, there are a ton of vendors, lots of street food. Thailand is known for its street food. I have not been partaking (more because I want to keep things relatively healthy than anything else), but yesterday I got a pork bun and custard pun. They were not good. Oh well.

Also, I had noticed that I have not seen homeless people here or anyone asking for money, (except for the two little kids who were trying to sell something to the patrons of that Italian restaurant I went to.) At the market, they have blind people singing for money (some of them are pretty good) and some people who are badly disabled asking for money. But they position themselves in the middle of the road and mostly stay there. 

And needless to say, it’s full of tourists. 

I got back to my hotel after being there 3 hours and got a take-out salad. By time I got done eating it was 10pm. I ended up staying up too late knitting and watching ’30 Days of Night.’ Does anyone know if the vampires are speaking a real language, and if so, which one? I tried to look it up on IMDB. My hotel has two movie channels and form some reason the other one keeps showing Mad Max movies. 

So right now I’m on about 5 hours sleep. I Facetimed with Mom and Dad this morning which was awesome. I am exactly 12 hours ahead of New York, so the math is easy. Now I just finished stuffing my face at the breakfast buffet. I forgot to take my malaria medication, which I have to start taking today because tomorrow I take that tour to Chiang Rai and they got malaria up there. I think I see a foot massage in my future. With all this walking, it’s pretty much a medical necessity. And more pool time. 
For today I act like one of those people, who gets massages and sits by the pool. 
Tomorrow I'm on a van to go see a very beautiful temple, and go stand in Laos for 30 minutes.

To meditate, or not to meditate

5/16/15

Ok I didn’t make it to the grocery store. It’s a long walk and I’m going to two walking streets, today and Sunday, and my Plantar Fasciitis has been acting up. But I did book my tour to Chiang Rai (on Monday). And if I pay 400 extra bhat, I’ll be able to cross the border into Laos for like 30 minutes. Yoohoo! 

Yesterday, I walked to the temple (Wat Suan Dok) that is next to Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University (no I didn’t just have a seizure on my keyboard, that's how it's spelled) which does the monk chat and mediation retreats. I found the vegetarian restaurant which is affiliated with the one I’d been going to daily by the YMCA.  I got info on the retreat. 

I walked to the University of Chiang Mai Art Museum; it shows the students’ work, which were all art installations. 

I got another foot massage (I know this is over-the-top but at about $7/hr, it’s too good to resist) and went in the pool. (as shown here... just so you know I'm not making anything up)

I went back to the temple at 5pm and did the ‘Monk Chat.’ I thought this was going to be a monk giving a talk to a group of people. Wrong. It’s part of an English-speaking program started by a British guy, who is an advisor at the school there. It is a program that gives monks opportunity to talk to English speakers as part of their learning English. At first I was the only one there and so I talked to a monk and his advisor, who corrected his English. I was kind of nervous about it but then I had to remind myself what I do for a living and that I essentially do this kind of thing everyday. I found out more about the over night retreat (Tuesday/Wednesday) and have since looked up reviews online. The thing is, I didn’t feel totally comfortable the these guys. There was a vibe I was picking up on that pet my fur in the wrong direction. But I could still do it. I am sure it would be valuable. The other part is that I kind of don’t feel like it. I don’t have to decide until the day. I can just show up, luggage in hand, and do it. I just booked my next and last stay from Tues to Sat. I wanted to guarantee I’d have a place to stay. If worse comes to worst, I go to the retreat and eat the cost of the hotel stay for Tuesday. I got the room for under $50/night. More on that later.

The monk chat itself was interesting. The monk is originally from Sri Lanka and traveled all over southeast Asia and has now been at this school for many years. He talked about how one becomes a monk and their daily routine. The advisor explained the different divisions within Buddhism; their Theravada tradition is supposed to be the original and most strict form of Buddhism. Three other Americans joined in the conversation. We were eventually joined by two other monks who, according to the advisor, should have joined us from the beginning rather than staying in the other room trying to learn Thai. When the Americans left, I left with them. So there you go. I can be a good student and go on the retreat, or I can have the extra days to run around Thailand, which is what I have been doing anyway. Anyone want to weigh in?

I tried to go to that vegetarian restaurant for dinner but they close at 4pm (bastards!) so I walked all around and settled on the salad buffet at the hotel restaurant, which was nice. 

So now I am at the breakfast buffet at the hotel... I've sitting here for like 2 hours, doing all my business. You have to pay for wifi in the rooms so I just do this computer stuff once a day during breakfast. I just booked a hotel on the other side of Chiang Mai. The area I am in was suggested to me but I think I want a change of scenery. I booked a guesthouse room (that has a pool) in Old City. I’ll stay there from Tuesday until the end of my stay. 

The next thing I am deciding on is whether to do a Thai Street Food tour. I have not been eating that much actual Thai food, so this might be nice. :) 

Livin' like rich person in Chiang Mai

5/15/15

Yesterday my goals for the day were to get to the new hotel, get a massage and go in the pool. This is crazy to me but I did manage to fulfill the day’s requirements with nary an obstacle (aside from the power going out at the massage place which kept me from adding a foot massage after my regular massage). It’s been a real bitch.

I fell in love with this hotel as soon as I got here. I was trying to figure out ways to extend my stay with the discounted rate. But we’ll see. This part of town and this hotel very much caters to tourists and I might get bored with it. (Check out the pictures. Keep in mind, I have the least expensive 'studio.') In the meantime, I found an awesome salad place and did more shopping (this is an upper scale neighborhood with lots of little boutiques). 

I went in the pool. I am an abysmal swimmer. I mean really. I can work out for well over an hour but I can’t swim the length of a not-that-big pool. So I mostly laid there and read my YA novel (I like to read YA when I travel because it helps distract me from flying anxiety, etc). 

The pool is right next to the hotel gym. I looked inside and saw people working out. For reasons I won’t bore you all with, not working out in a gym that is available to me is quite uncomfortable. When I booked my original hotel, I avoided a place with a gym because of this discomfort. I think I might have to use it. Which might be a good idea, given this place has free breakfast; it is a buffet the likes of which I have never seen. I went from promising myself that I would only eat salads to overdosing on carbs. Don’t worry. I think there was some actual yogurt in the mix… and some bacon… and fried rice… oh wait, that’s a carb. Nevermind. A restaurant next to the hotel is apparently famous for salted caramel pancakes. This is not going to end well.

When I got in yesterday I found out there is a day trip available to Chiang Rai (north of here) for 1000 bhat (about $33). There is a guy here who sells trips to hotel guests. So I'm probably going to book that. There is an incredible temple there I want to see. 

Also yesterday, I had an Italian dinner at a restaurant run by an Italian with Italian customers, speaking Italian. At 410 bhat (about $13), it has been my priciest meal yet. After dinner, I knit while watching Beyond Thunderdome on TV. Either that or someone slipped acid into my pizza. I’m pretty sure it was just the movie though.

The people here are incredibly nice. Several times a day I think to myself ‘you should be hating me right now.’ People told me you don’t need to know Thai here, which is true. But it’s not because everyone is fluent in English, because most people know only a little. It is because they are so accommodating. Many times someone has apologized to me for not understanding me and if I spoke Thai I would say ‘you are not the one who needs to apologize here.’ Of course if I spoke Thai, this would all be moot, but you get my meaning. 

To do list for today:

Go to temple, see about monk chats and meditation retreat

Go to art museum at the University

Book trip to Chiang Rai

Grocery store