Chiang Mai

Well, today has been infinately better than the last two days, although yesturday wasn't bad. We spent yesturday morning looking for the Canadian Embassy in Bangkok to register ourselves...took us forever to find the place because we kept getting lost (who, me?). By the afternoon we decided to lay low and hung out at a park, trying to beat the heat and the noise. Then we went back to our guest house, got our packs, and rode the bus to the train station to catch an over-night train to Chang Mai. We decided to be cheap and took the 2nd class sleeper with air con instead of the first class. It was basic, but comfortable and full of fellow travelers. The seats on the train folded and a compartment over each seating pair came down to make rows of bunks along the walls of the train, with a little curtain for privacy. It kinda felt like being back at summer camp! Plus, each train car was locked after 10pm and there were guards on the train that made sure nothing was stolen and all the passengers were kept safe while we slept. The staff on the train were very nice and took good care of us!

We arrived in Chang Mai at 9am this morning and, after a little bit of confusion, managed to figure out how to use the public phones and called a guest house to book a night. The place we're staying at is called "Lamchang House", a converted wooden house that has a rustic feel, with a really nice Thai family running it. Nothing fancy but cozy and comfortable. Much nicer than our place in Bangkok, although tonight will be our first night without A.C. and it is HOT here! (30-35 degrees C). Not to mention humid. We're pretty well sweaty and smelling all the time. I don't know how the local Thais look so clean and fresh!

We wandered around after we settled into our room looking for a place to rent bikes. 1.5 hours later, we settled for some old street bikes that our place was renting out for 30Bht /day. To put it in perspective, 1 Canadian dollar is about 33 Bht...so we're doing really well here. Our 13 hour train ride here only cost us about $25 Canadian, and the guest house we're staying at tonight is only about $5/night for both of us combined! We took our rickety bikes and cycled around the city. It's small enough that just about everything is within bike distance. We visited the "Three Kings Monument" and then went on to Wat Phra Singh, a temple recommended by the Tans. The design is really beautiful, both inside and out. I have pictures but I forgot to bring the cable I need to down-load pictures from my camera to the computer. Hopefully I'll have pictures here on my next post. There were some monks sitting in the temple that were there to talk to visitors. It's a way for novices to practice their english and for us travelers to find out about Thailand, Thai cuture, and Buddism. We chatted with a novice for a bit, who was just wonderful. It turned out that he was our age (24) and had commited himself to being a monk for life.

A Thai man was chatting with the monks there and told me that he had been a monk also and had tought novices for 8 years at that place. He left that practice and took up other employment as a taxi-driver. He offered to take Corinne and I and back from Bo Sang for only 100Bht...cheap. Bo Sang is a village (street) outside of the proper city of Chang Mai where the making of local hand crafts is shown to tourists, with the opportunity to buy stuff, of course. After our experience in Bangkok, we were fairly reluctant to take him up on his offer. But the monk supported him and after humming and hawing, we took him up on his offer. It turned out well. We went to a place that makes jewlery with precious gems, a place that specializes in lacquered items (boxes, vases, furniture, etc), a place that makes Thai silk, and a place that makes persian-style rugs with silk. It was very touristy, set up to show visitors first how these products are made and then bringing you into a very nice shop to show finished items for sale. There were tour busses that had broght in people at each of the stops except that last one. However, it was all very interesting, and I managed to get out of there without too much damage to my wallet. No small feat!

My favourite was the place where woven articles were for sale, including Persian rugs. We were the only ones in the shop, full of high-priced items that we obviously couldn't afford. Still, one of the owners (it's a family-run business) took the time to explain everything to us and answered all our questions. The rugs were the highlight of the place, hand made and incredible original works of art. An averaged-sized rug took 16 months to make! And when a rug is finished, the weaver never does the same one again. They truely view each rug as a work of art...which they are. Each thread on these rugs is individually knoted, with as many as 2000 in a single row! The tradition of this art form is passed on exclusively through family lines, and there is worry that as younger generations look for ways to earn money now, unable to take the years necessary to complete single rugs, that the art form is starting to fade and may be lost. Although this is a Persian form, they work here in Thailand because they can get silk and labour cheaper.

It's now evening here and we're going to head off and find ourselves some supper. I'm much relieved that our experience in Bangkok was not a prelude to what was to follow. Even locals here said that 2 days in Bangkok was enough and that Chang Mai is a much nicer city. I agree.

Take care all and thanks for the encouraging comments. Hopefully I'll have some pictures for you posted soon.

Cheers!