To Chiang Mai!

We flew from Phuket to Chaing Mai and arrived in the mountainous city at 12:30. We were thoroughly excited by the lesser humidity than the beaches: although the temperatures are about the same, it is probably 30% less humid up here! I can sit down in the shade without sweating! We checked into a guest house and decided our first order of business was to get to a tailor so that our orders would be ready when we were back from our trek. We called a recommended tailor, who came and picked us up, and we spend the next two hours with Mr. Joe Sexy, a small, incredibly humorous Chiang Mai native.

Mr. Joe Sexy helped Justin decide on one suit (with vest), three pairs of pants, and two shirts all the while making wise cracks about California and body measurements and the resident lesbian puppy in the shop. I decided to buy a silk dress, the deal just too good to pass up. We’ll let you know how great everything is when we get it back!

When we left the tailor shop, we decided it was time to explore the city a bit. Chiang Mai is one of the few cities that has successfully built itself up from a timeless classic to a modern marvel without losing any of its charm. The old city still retains most of its exterior walls that once protected it from invasions and now serve as reminder of the city’s past. Some of the bricks are crumbling and fall haphazardly into the canal that squarely encircles the old city. The streets are a narrow mix of bricks and cobblestones with an utter lack of stop lights or stop signs that make crossing the streets far more interesting. Someone told us that there are upwards of 400 temples in Chiang Mai, and we believe it: about every third building has towering stupas and intricate gold detailing to pay tribute to a resident Buddha. As a direct result of the incredible number of temples, there are more monks in Chiang Mai that any other city we have visited. It’s a strange thing in this friendly city to be ignored by the hallmarks of Buddhism: monks are forbidden to look at, speak to, or even acknowledge females. Regardless of that, the people of northern Thailand are much friendlier than those of the south: everyone waves and smiles, people offer help and advice without expecting anything in return, and a man stopped us while we were drinking coconut water fresh from the coconut to tell us about his coconut farm and favorite temple in the city.

We wandered through the Night Market that was just getting set up and through the old city for a few hours. We went into a few temples, including the Center of Local Culture and Wat Bupparam where the monks train and attend meditation sessions. We enjoyed fresh coconut water and took in the city before heading back to our guest house, BMP, for our pre-trek meeting. At the meeting we met our guide, Jay Jay, and our fellow trekkers: Alex from England and Mandy, Debbie, and JP from Ireland. We were told what to expect and what to bring, and that was the end of that.

Alex decided to join us for a 20 minute walk to the Night Market. We found the food center easily but it took us awhile to decide what to eat because we were so overwhelmed by all the choices! After that, we wandered through the art studios, clothing stores, and stalls of everything you can imagine, inquiring about prices for our upcoming shopping spree. The only problem was that when you ask a price and then smile and start walking away, the Thais chase you down to barter out a better price! It was quite entertaining.