We left Ao Nang yesterday morning and flew up to the walled city of Chiang Mai. I just realized I never took a picture of the wall... Will have to rectify that today.
We took an Air Asia flight and I think they were humidifying the plane as we boarded and after we landed... Never seen this before. Anyone know what the deal was?
It was super easy to grab a taxi at the airport. They had kiosks where you paid a fixed price for coming into downtown - just 150 baht - ($4.50).
We were greeted by our host, Fon, when we arrived. She showed us to our room on the very hot 4th floor. Luckily, our room has a/c.
Our plan was to go to Baan Tawai crafters village, about 30 minutes outside of town, but FIRST we had to get some Khao Soi. Chiang Mai is known for this soup. I did some research and found this place just a 5 minute walk from where we're staying. AUTHENTIC! It's a tiny little outdoor kitchen and they had amazing reviews. Khao Soi Arak. I don't have anything to compare it to, but it was DELICIOUS! The only other people in there were locals which made me feel good - this is definitely not a tourist known spot yet. But it deserves to be. Total price for 2 dishes with 2 thai teas - 90 Baht. Less than $3.
After lunch we went back to our place and rented a scooter from Fon - she does it all.
When I asked if she offered insurance, she said, "only life". I chuckled nervously and crossed my fingers that we didn't cause our new steed, Red Rover, to come up lame.
I wouldn't have shown these pictures/video prior to this because my parents would have been freaking out (and rightly so). This was not the safest journey we've ever taken. Are we wearing leathers? No. Are we wearing good solid helmets? Ummmm. we're wearing a helmet... But Eric did a great job of getting us to Baan Tawai in one piece and Red Rover didn't get a scratch on him. p.s. I don't think these are clouds in the pictures - it's smog. Air quality in Chiang Mai is really bad because they burn their trash (and their fields). Makes me want to get a mask like the locals.
Baan Tawai
I'm not sure what I was hoping for, but this wasn't exactly what I had in mind. Yes, there were a ton of shops that had a ton of things in them. And they were inexpensive. I saw a whole store of furniture that I wanted BADLY. SUPER cheep, but well made. Stuff that sells in America for 5,000.00 and we'd get it here for a couple of hundred. I guess the other thousands are in getting them to America. Everything from Thai style to modernized looking furniture along with tons of little knick knacks. I did see a couple of artisans actually working on carving. Here is a very quick video of one in the back - I wasn't sure if it was rude so you only see a snippet of him as I pan his stall.
A lot of gold paint and crystals.
We're pretty sure these were out of one piece of wood - look at the intricate carving!
When we left Baan Tawai our google maps took us through back roads which we absolutely loved. First of all, less harrowing traffic and second we saw some rice paddies, a temple, and a huge saw mill. Look at the size of this tree trunk!!!
We made it safely back to town and returned the scooter. No more scooter driving, so Mom and Dad, and maybe sister and a friend or two - you don't need to worry. We won't be doing that anymore.
After a short nap we decided to hit the Chiang Mai Night Bazaar and hoped we'd find something fun to eat and look at. Ha! We had no clue. We still don't. It's HUGE!!!! and it goes every single night. A lot of the stalls carry the same thing but occasionally you find some really unique items. Things that were made by the person running the stall. This bazaar is like the Portland Saturday market on a grand scale. We maybe walked through half of it over a 5 hour period last night. I'm thinking it's spread out to be the size of the Pearl District in Portland. It's tough to tell. The stalls just line the streets and then there are pockets of stalls in parking lots and tons of different food courts. Here are some images and videos. We had a GREAT time and will be going back each night.
These were delicious Gyoza!
Eric with his chiang Mai meatballs
Eric's cheese Roti being cooked up - they used Kraft American - LOL
An exhibition going on in one of the food court areas
Streets lined with vendors, people and tuk tuks
And of course, a Hard Rock Chiang Mai.
We were staying about a mile away from this area so we began our walk home past all the bars, massage places, rivers, tuk tuks, etc. Our neighborhood was a bit quieter so we decided to drop into Rose Restaurant for a night cap and some mango sticky rice :). Love this stuff, and this place didn't make it too sweet.
Most cocktails we've received here are pretty small and mainly ice. So when we ordered 2 mojitos and she said, "Same Same?" and we said, "yes." She said, "buy 2 get 1 free?" We said, "Sure". These, of course, were huge! But I slept well and didn't move a muscle until the alarm went off this morning. I think I'm finally on Thailand time.
But 2, get 1 free!!!
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