October 11
beautiful chiang mai
First I must apologise for my ranting yesterday, I had a lot of shit to get off my chest, and since so much has happened since we got here (feels like a month, not three days), as you can imagine my mind is in a muddle.
Ok, so here goes for a slightly more relaxed overview of what has happened recently.
Today we walked around the streets of old town Chiang Mai looking at some of the realy old temples, and the buddhas inside them. I didn't imagine there would be so many temples (or buddhas) in Thailand. They are EVERYWHERE! On the train ride up here we would look out the window and see the most run down shitty houses in a farming village, then WHAM, out pops this huge temple, absolutely sparkling and clean, with all the authentic decorations, etc. I am also surprised at the number of buddhas sitting outside, some 10 metres in height!
Unfortunately we've lucked out a bit on the food here. Maybe it's just where we've chosen to eat, or what we've chosen to eat, but Mon's Thai Cafe in Tingalpa still beats any Thai food we've eaten here. Whenever we've ordered a meat dish, we either just get deep fried chicken bones and gristle, or deep fried processed sausage pork. Ok, fair enough, the meals are about the equivalent of $2AUD, but that's not the point. The serving size is also MUCH smaller than what we would get back in Australia. However, that doesn't seem too matter too much since the rice and noodles are fairly filling.
I'm embarrassed to say we've already given in to Western food. We just shared a footlong Subway, and it was OH SO NICE! We haven't had much salad recently, and the bits we have had were never that great. But Subway... yum! A little bit cheaper than back in Australia, but only by about $1 or so.
Walking down the street in Chiang Mai is much nicer than Bangkok. There is practically no pollution in comparison, although you still get hounded by tuk-tuk drivers and red panel vans (they have a weird name I can't yet pronounce), beeping at you or yelling out to you as you walk past. In the night markets it's a similar experience, but with people trying to sell tuxedos, or watches, or t-shirts, or whatever.
They sit outside the main tourist areas, including all of the major hotels, and follow you asking where you're going, what you're doing, and offer to take you around town for 40B. Some even have nice coloured maps showing pictures of the temples, and then they turn it over and show you the nice silk and clothing shops that give you "best price" on all nice goods. :) Yeah, thanks mate, I learnt my lesson two days ago :)
Tonight we plan to see some Muay Thai boxing (authentic! apparently, haha) and then tommorrow probably head out to see some more temples and maybe even a visit to the Chiang Mai zoo and snake farm. We are also staying right in the middle of a night bazaar/market so hopefully I can buy a shirt or two for me to wear around (I've worn each of my shirts for two days each already - Nee said I'm starting to smell). I think I'll try a foot massage tonight as well. Only $3 for 15 minutes. Sweet!
Ok, so here goes for a slightly more relaxed overview of what has happened recently.
Today we walked around the streets of old town Chiang Mai looking at some of the realy old temples, and the buddhas inside them. I didn't imagine there would be so many temples (or buddhas) in Thailand. They are EVERYWHERE! On the train ride up here we would look out the window and see the most run down shitty houses in a farming village, then WHAM, out pops this huge temple, absolutely sparkling and clean, with all the authentic decorations, etc. I am also surprised at the number of buddhas sitting outside, some 10 metres in height!
Unfortunately we've lucked out a bit on the food here. Maybe it's just where we've chosen to eat, or what we've chosen to eat, but Mon's Thai Cafe in Tingalpa still beats any Thai food we've eaten here. Whenever we've ordered a meat dish, we either just get deep fried chicken bones and gristle, or deep fried processed sausage pork. Ok, fair enough, the meals are about the equivalent of $2AUD, but that's not the point. The serving size is also MUCH smaller than what we would get back in Australia. However, that doesn't seem too matter too much since the rice and noodles are fairly filling.
I'm embarrassed to say we've already given in to Western food. We just shared a footlong Subway, and it was OH SO NICE! We haven't had much salad recently, and the bits we have had were never that great. But Subway... yum! A little bit cheaper than back in Australia, but only by about $1 or so.
Walking down the street in Chiang Mai is much nicer than Bangkok. There is practically no pollution in comparison, although you still get hounded by tuk-tuk drivers and red panel vans (they have a weird name I can't yet pronounce), beeping at you or yelling out to you as you walk past. In the night markets it's a similar experience, but with people trying to sell tuxedos, or watches, or t-shirts, or whatever.
They sit outside the main tourist areas, including all of the major hotels, and follow you asking where you're going, what you're doing, and offer to take you around town for 40B. Some even have nice coloured maps showing pictures of the temples, and then they turn it over and show you the nice silk and clothing shops that give you "best price" on all nice goods. :) Yeah, thanks mate, I learnt my lesson two days ago :)
Tonight we plan to see some Muay Thai boxing (authentic! apparently, haha) and then tommorrow probably head out to see some more temples and maybe even a visit to the Chiang Mai zoo and snake farm. We are also staying right in the middle of a night bazaar/market so hopefully I can buy a shirt or two for me to wear around (I've worn each of my shirts for two days each already - Nee said I'm starting to smell). I think I'll try a foot massage tonight as well. Only $3 for 15 minutes. Sweet!
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As for the food.....I'm thinking that it must jsut be the places you are choosing to eat. If you are going for the 'western thai' kinda places they are not so great. Try some street food! Just eat where all of the locals are eating and you will be fine!