Chapter 9
Day 10
Chiang Mai
I woke up in my comfortable bed that was already half morning. The hotel staff, the previous night, informed me that I should leave my hotel before 10.00, but when I woke up, it was much earlier.
I got dressed and I sneaked out of the hotel. I wished to go and have breakfast at the Wawee Coffee, just there near, on the main road. I entered the bar and it was empty with the exception of a waitress and two English-talking women that were waiting for their coffees. The waitress took ages to brew their coffee, and then, finally it was my time. I ordered a Latte (Coffee and Milk) and nothing else. They had some not-so-good looking cakes and bagged biscuits. The girl told me to take a seat and she’d take me the Latte. I went outside and relaxed while sitting on a bench facing the street. It was nice and quiet. I looked around and there were many pots with water lilies in a deep green water with something moving inside. I looked more carefully and hundreds of tiny fish were swimming like crazy in the green water.
Soon arrived my Latte and the girl drew a Teddy Bear in the foam. She told me that they won the first prize in “Coffee Decoration” and I’ve seen that it was really well deserved. At least, in drawing foamy teddy bears waving to the drinkers. As soon as she left, I searched in my backpack and I found what I was looking for. In fact, all of a sudden I reminded that I had a snack laying somewhere in my backpack from my trip in Kuala Lumpur.
When I finished this nice breakfast, I went back at the hotel, made my bags, wore my backpacks and left the place. I made about the same way that I made the night before when I was going to the night market as my guesthouse was there near. I easily found it as it’s the same that I took the previous times. I took this again as it was the cheapest that I could book from Italy, but the next time, when I’ll come back here, I’ll not book a guesthouse and I’ll take one straight from the Airport, or I’ll reserve via mail a room in the guesthouse that I had the previous night.
I entered The Royal Guesthouse and I was welcomed by the brand new friendly staff. It was already something good that the terrible staff of the previous times wasn’t anymore around.
I checked in and I was given the key of my room. It was at the second floor, that it’s already a good point, seen that there is no elevator. The room itself was quite nice. It was Lanna Style and, in spite the nice “typical” furnishing, made of a bed a small wardrobe with over a TV, a small fridge, two wooden chairs with a small table, had nothing else. It also had a phone-booth sized bathroom with toilet, sink and shower all together. The good point is that it was very large and middle-clean. I mean, I was in cleaner places and much worse ones, worst places like the Embassy Hotel in Hong Kong or the Long Beach Lodge in Samui.
It took short for me to unpack my backpacks, wear sandals, make a bag of dirty stuff to take at a laundry nearby and leave the place for some new adventure. The friendly staff took my key and I was ready to go.
I got dressed and I sneaked out of the hotel. I wished to go and have breakfast at the Wawee Coffee, just there near, on the main road. I entered the bar and it was empty with the exception of a waitress and two English-talking women that were waiting for their coffees. The waitress took ages to brew their coffee, and then, finally it was my time. I ordered a Latte (Coffee and Milk) and nothing else. They had some not-so-good looking cakes and bagged biscuits. The girl told me to take a seat and she’d take me the Latte. I went outside and relaxed while sitting on a bench facing the street. It was nice and quiet. I looked around and there were many pots with water lilies in a deep green water with something moving inside. I looked more carefully and hundreds of tiny fish were swimming like crazy in the green water.
Soon arrived my Latte and the girl drew a Teddy Bear in the foam. She told me that they won the first prize in “Coffee Decoration” and I’ve seen that it was really well deserved. At least, in drawing foamy teddy bears waving to the drinkers. As soon as she left, I searched in my backpack and I found what I was looking for. In fact, all of a sudden I reminded that I had a snack laying somewhere in my backpack from my trip in Kuala Lumpur.
When I finished this nice breakfast, I went back at the hotel, made my bags, wore my backpacks and left the place. I made about the same way that I made the night before when I was going to the night market as my guesthouse was there near. I easily found it as it’s the same that I took the previous times. I took this again as it was the cheapest that I could book from Italy, but the next time, when I’ll come back here, I’ll not book a guesthouse and I’ll take one straight from the Airport, or I’ll reserve via mail a room in the guesthouse that I had the previous night.
I entered The Royal Guesthouse and I was welcomed by the brand new friendly staff. It was already something good that the terrible staff of the previous times wasn’t anymore around.
I checked in and I was given the key of my room. It was at the second floor, that it’s already a good point, seen that there is no elevator. The room itself was quite nice. It was Lanna Style and, in spite the nice “typical” furnishing, made of a bed a small wardrobe with over a TV, a small fridge, two wooden chairs with a small table, had nothing else. It also had a phone-booth sized bathroom with toilet, sink and shower all together. The good point is that it was very large and middle-clean. I mean, I was in cleaner places and much worse ones, worst places like the Embassy Hotel in Hong Kong or the Long Beach Lodge in Samui.
It took short for me to unpack my backpacks, wear sandals, make a bag of dirty stuff to take at a laundry nearby and leave the place for some new adventure. The friendly staff took my key and I was ready to go.
Doi Suthep Temple Trip
It was the 6th November 2012, the day that I was supposed to arrive in Chiang Mai and, as I arrived a day earlier than scheduled, I had a day in more to visit the area. Before leaving the hotel, I sat in the hall and I checked at my email using the guesthouse free WiFi. It was about a full day that I didn’t turn that phone on, and all of a sudden, it started to ring. I received three message in a row. I thought that maybe my friends were missing me much, but the reason was another. The messages said.
Mom: “How’s there? Here rained so hard that it caused some damage, but all is fine”. It sounded quite good. Perhaps, there was an heavy storm with strong gusts of wind.
Friend L (which lives in another city): “Hi Fra! How’s the family? Are they safe? I guess that this time not only the Bisagno (a river in my city) broke out. I hope that your family is fine!”. This smelled a little fishy. What the hell was she writing about?
Friend M (which lives in my city): “Hi Fra, here there was a complete disaster. The rain, the flood. A lot of people died, many more lost everything. You can’t imagine…”. A disaster in my city? What was going on? The rain and floods? I was starting to get scared as I still had in my mind the images of the Thai flood that I’ve seen the previous day, and it was still horrorific. I had to know what happened.
I switched the mobile phone to the free WiFi, but instead looking at the email, I searched for news in the Italian newspapers. Here I discovered what happened. In the afternoon of the previous day, in my city there was a terrible flood caused by such a strong rain. The flood caused massive damages and killed six people. I searched in which areas it happened, and it was away from my home. The stories written in the newspapers were scary and I could only imagine what a terrible scene it might had been.
I connected to my email box and I asked to my mom for further information about what happened, and then, I switched the mobile phone off. I waited some minute relaxing at the sound of the fountain and the crazy concierge girls that were screaming from the hotel desk. One moment, two moments, three…
Now it was time to go.
While planning this trip I wished to go to see the Doi Suthep Temple, but in the original plans I hadn’t time for it. It looked that the chance gave me the opportunity to visit this Temple. Was the Temple calling me? Or was someone else to call me to Chiang Mai, again?
The sun was burning on my skin as it was late morning. I took a random street just after having left my stuff at the laundry and soon somebody called me. I turned and it was a Tuk-Tuk driver. He stopped by and it started my bargaining. I knew that I wanted to go to Doi Suthep, but I first pretended to be uninterested on the destinations, and then we started the bargain. He first offered me an extremely overpriced tour of the Handmade Factories Street. Then he offered me a trip to the shooting range with ten free bullets to shoot. We kept on bargaining a little bit and in the end I’ve got my trip to Doi Suthep and the Handmade Factory Street tour for less than the original price for the Handmade Factories Street tour.
I hopped in and the driver floored the thruster, rocketing up the streets of Chiang Mai. The warm breeze and the tropical smell, the strong light and bright colors, all mixed into a fantastic feeling. A feeling dressed up with the adrenaline of the reckless driving of my driver.
We went down a fast street, that I guess was Huai Kaeo Road until the driver stopped on a side of the road, near a Song-Tew bus. All of a sudden, I thought “Here’s the hidden catch”. The driver went down the Tuk-Tuk and told me that his vehicle, in spite it looked like was enough fast to make multidimensional time-travels, wasn’t enough powerful to climb up the hill, so I had to take his friend’s Song-Tew and we’d meet back in this place.
I went on the Song-Tew and sat next the driver. He started the engine and we went to the hill. The street that goes up the hill is quite long and full of turns. The driver was barely speaking English, so I tried to keep a little conversation with my basic English and more basic Thai
Driver “You lon hé?”
Me “Yes, me alone here!”
Driver “Noooo! You lon hé!” making circles downward with spread fingers. I guess that he meant “How long you’ll stay here?”
Me “Me here 5 days… Ah Wan (five days in Thai)”
Driver “Ah-ah-ah! You lie hew?”
Me “Lie… Lay… Ah, like here?”
Driver “Ah-ah-ah! Hm, Yé, lie hew?”
Me “Yes, sway mak (very beautiful in Thai)!”
Driver “Ah-ah-ah! You foot?”
Me “No, me go car…”
Driver “Ah-ah-ah! Nooooo! No fùt, foot!”
Me “Foot… Food! Yes, I love Thai food! I love Pad Thai! Phom alloy Pad Thai mak mak!”
Driver “Ah-ah-ah! You stop hew”
Me “What?” I thought that he wanted to drop me on the side of the street and leave.
Driver “You stop hew…” and he took the hands off the wheel miming a man taking picture and then he pointed a terrace from where there was a beautiful sight over the city.
I told him that was ok, to stop before we crashed some car coming from the opposite direction. I went out of the car and I went to the terrace. In the same time, my driver went to buy an ice-cream and some other stuff that, later, told me that was for his family. That's why we stopped, not to let me to take some picture.
I took a nice set of pictures, especially to the centre of the city, where I could distinguish quite well some landmarks. I thought that this place would be really nice at night during the Loy Krathong festival to see the thousand lanterns flying up to the sky. Even if I’d prefer being in the middle of the party than watching it from far.
After this short break we started our ride again, but soon later we arrived at the lower gate of the temple, where start the stairway that leads uphill to the very temple.
The driver told me that he'd wait for me at the end of the stairway
“Me hew!” bumping first his chest with both hands and then pointing a place where there were parked other Song-Tews.
“Ok, see you later...”
I love the universal talking. When two people understand each other in spite the differences of nationality, language, beliefs... Ok, he waited for me only because I'd give him his money once back in Chiang Mai.
I headed to the beginning of the crowded stairway, marked by a beautiful portal crammed with people.
I'd say that in spite the stairway does a few turns, it's made of two main parts. The first, with many vendors, mostly of souvenirs and food, while the second part, just after a small terrace, it's narrower and goes up, flanked by two dragons. In the second part there were many kids asking to the tourists for some money for their schools. I've read the boards that they were keeping and it looked like the most of them were asking for money to fix the schools after the floods. I just wondered if all those kids were there as it was Sunday, that means, a school day-off. Maybe they were sent by the schools to make some fund raising? Among them, there were also some very young kid with their parents in traditional clothes, still asking from cash.
I arrived on the top of the stairway with another beautiful portal. I went through it, and I was in the first enclosure. This part is made like a ring all around the very temple. Here there were many stalls with monks selling souvenirs placed among shrines, praying bells and terraces where people can see a very gorgeous panorama. Among all the people, there were still many kids with boards from the schools, dressed in traditional clothing, both playing some traditional music or performing traditional Thai dancing.
The Legend of Doi Suthep
According to legend, a revered monk had a dream; in this dream God told him to go to Pang Cha and look for a relic.The monk travelled to Pang Cha and is said to have found a bone, which many claim was Buddha’s shoulder bone.The relic displayed magical powers; it glowed, it was able to vanish the re-appear, it could move itself and replicate itself.
King Nu Naone who ruled the Lanna Kingdom (around what is now Chiang Mai Province)got word of the relic and requested that the monk take it to him . The monk took the relic to King Nu Naone to what is now Lamphun, in northern Thailand.
On the journey the relic apparently split into two pieces,the smaller piece was enshrined at Wat Suan Dok Temple which is located just west of the old city walls on what is now called Suthep Road in Chiang Mai.
The larger piece was placed by the King on the back of a sacred Royal White Elephant which was then released into the jungle.
The elephant is said to have climbed up Doi Suthep, which at the time was called Doi Aoy Chang (Sugar Elephant Mountain), trumpeted three times before dying at the site. It was interpreted as a sign and King Nu Naone ordered the construction of a temple at the site.
Over the centuries the temple has expanded considerably, and been made to look more extravagant with many additional holy shrines added, but it has never lost the the aura that surrounds its very existence
I started my tour of the temple. I wasn't thinking literally of why I took it in the counter-clockwise way, but I should do it in the opposite way. Perhaps, it was some sort of a remembrance of the Angkor Wat touring around. Or my inner ability to mess things up.
Among all the people, I passed by many believers devoted into their prayers to Lord Buddha. The incense gave a nice smell to the air and the sound of the bells was the soundtrack of the place. Soon I arrived to the terrace from where people can see the beautiful panorama. I went close to the parapet and I asked to a guy if he could take me a picture, he answered
“You want to take me a picture?”
“No way, can you take it to me?”
“Hmmm... Ok.”
The guy, an English speaking redhead boy shown a face like somebody was carving his spleen using a wrench and chopsticks. When he finished just gave me the camera back and vanished into the thin air, perhaps afraid that I'd ask him for more pictures.
I kept my touring around until I reached again the point where I started. Now it was the time to enter the core of the temple, the Sancta Sanctorum as Christians would say. The main Stupa for the Buddhists.
I went toward the central enclosure and as I approached at the gate, a large group of monks went out of the white gate. The saffron colored procession went by before me, each one of them whispering each-other, carrying their own bags or keeping in hand a rosary. Then it was my time to enter.
The scene that was before me is hard to explain. The faith, the religious essence, the colors and still the religious design mixed before me into an unique, golden and incense smelling blend.
Looking the central enclosure of the Doi-Suthep from the sky, I think that it might look like a mandala. A colored concentric, geometrically perfect and symmetric draw. I like to think it like a square, which each corner is the centre of four smaller squares. Between the squares, on each side, a small rectangle protrude toward the centre. In the centre, there is the Golden Stupa, while the four squares are places where people can stand, gather or sit to behold at the exquisite sight for the Golden Stupa.
People come from all Thailand and beyond to see and pray in this golden place. They come here as a place of worship and, even somebody that doesn’t believe, can feel, almost to touch the dense sense of faith in this place. The people of Buddhist faith keep a procession in a alley between the sides of the Golden Stupa and a line of golden statues of Lord Buddha that encircle the alley. People were walking in clockwise direction, like it should be in every Buddhist tradition, most of them were carrying a white Lotus, or incense sticks or both.
Around this enclosure there are four shrines, all dedicated to Lord Buddha, and many other ways to show the faith, like candles to light, oil candles to feed with oil, statues to pray before and even two places where having fortune telling.
I spent quite a long time there and I took many pictures as the light was incredible. First the Golden Stupa stood against a very clear blue sky, and then, it was still in the nice bright sun, but with dark grey clouds all behind. It looked amazing. The Stupa was delighting everybody changing its background and remaining awesome.
After many circles all around the Golden Stupa, I came back to the outer enclosure where I had one more circle. It was so hard to leave this place. I felt like bound to keep on circling it and to make my staying there longer. Watching the shrines, hearing the thick metal pray bells being played, the tourists of any kind were all wandering, or at least the most of them, with bead eyes and open mouths in amazement. The traditional music, the local young people dressed in traditional clothes, the panorama from the main terrace, it was too much to let it go without one more round. Then I became aware that it was truly the time to go back to my driver. So, I looked at the Golden Stupa that towers the enclosure walls, and I told him “See you again”, and it was time to go back to Chiang Mai.
I went back down the stairway. It was crammed with tourists and young babies asking for cash. It was unbelievable how many people were around, and in some points, it was a real queue. It looked more like an human traffic jam than a supposedly quiet stairway to a temple.
Then, after the terrace with the souvenirs stalls, as the stairway became broad, it became easier to walk down. As I stepped down the stairway, I noticed that it was already past midday, and I was attracted by those nice food stalls. The first stop was where a young lady was selling charcoal-fried quail eggs. I bought some of them. The lady asked me if I wished some dressing over them, but I simply chosen some powdered white pepper. Then, I stopped to a nearby stall, where I bought a small bottle of Maracuja or “Passion Fruit” juice. Actually, it wasn’t juice, but the content of the fruits were poured inside the bottles. So, I sat at a side of the stairway to eat those very good eggs and drinking the juice. People were passing by and kept on looking at my eggs dish. I wonder what’s strange on seeing a guy eating quail eggs. By the way, the eggs were awesome, and since then, I’m keeping on dressing the eggs with powdered pepper.
Once I finished the eggs, I went downstairs a little, where I met a stall selling charcoal-cooked skewers. I stood there, and I bought two skewers, one of meatballs and one with a spicy sausage, both dressed in spicy sauce. The lady grilled my skewers and then, with the procedure handed her down by generation of skewers cookers, mastering the HACCP or Hygienic Procedures better than Bio-Hazard-lab-geek, she took my skewers, looked at them in the bright light, and she decided that they were ready. She took a pair of not-so-clean scissors, that only Buddha knows what she had cut before with them, and using them as tweezers, she dropped the meatballs into a small plastic bag. Then it was time of the sausage. This was the best. She pulled it a bit out of the skewer and then, she cut it with the same dirty scissors, she pulled it a little further, and she cut it again and so on for all the sausage, making it in dices. Once she finished, she took a unlabeled plastic bottle of spicy sauce that lied on the sun all the morning, and I guess also all the previous days, and poured a lot of it in my bag. Lunch was served.
I told her that I’d seat next to her, and she replied that it was good as I’d make her a good advertisement.
She said “Good, you commercial! People see you, buy from me!”
I told her that, if she wished some advertisement, she had to pay me with one more meatballs skewer. She laughed and as I was eating, she grilled for me another meatball skewer for real. I love Thailand and also the Thai skewers street vendors.
When I finished my lunch, I left the stall and I went back to my driver. I was very satisfied of this food. Both the eggs and the skewers had been awesome and all the food cost me about 3 Euro.
I arrived at my driver and we made all the way downhill and back to the Tuk-Tuk driver, which we found that was sleeping hard. As soon as we arrived, he woke up, asked me to give a part of the money that we agreed in the morning at the Song-Tew driver, as he’d not meet him anymore to give him his part of cash, and we left.
The Tuk-Tuk driver staggered to his Tuk-Tuk still dizzy. I sat in the backseat hoping that, maybe the wind will wake him up. As for the driver, as soon as he sat down, he turned the engine on with a pavlovian conditioned gesture. You seat, you turn the Tuk-Tuk on. Easy. The gestures of a lifetime. I wonder if he does the same gestures even when he seats at home. Maybe he tries to turn the refrigerator on using a chopstick.
The driver, as soon as he switched the engine on, in perfect symbiosis with his Tuk-Tuk, he passed from the “Idle” status to the “Fully Operative” one. In a matter of seconds, we were again rocketing down the street, like a three-wheeled, gasoline propelled, chrome and acid green colored bullet shot toward the manufacture street.
The engine was roaring in the air, the wind was screaming and we were passing by cars like they were movies in slow motion. Then, the driver invaded the opposite side of the street, went toward, without slowing down, straight pointing at the face of that white minivan and all of a sudden he slowed a little and turned. The gravity switched, from the bottom to the left. For a moment the white minivan that was passing at a meter from us was looking as the core of the universal gravity, people inside were looking at us, I was focused to not being thrown off the seat, and then, we pushed again forward, gravity came back at its place, the minivan kept his track without having a Tuk-Tuk, a Tuk-Tuk driver and an idiot tourist on its fender. Then, few meters later, we slowed like he were hooked at the concrete with a chain and stopped. We were in the covered parking lot of a paper umbrella factory. The bright colors of the traditional umbrellas. The sense of quiet that would be given by the bamboo-and-paper umbrella crafting was in deep contrast with the rush of adrenaline that I had few seconds before. I jumped off the Tuk-Tuk and the driver told me that he’d wait for me there. Then he went to lay in the back seat of the Tuk-Tuk, apparently falling asleep.
I went into the factory and I followed a guided tour on how they craft the umbrellas, followed by a tour in their shop. Soon I was ready to go to the next shop. The ritual of a crazy ride followed by a tour on the crafting facilities, which was followed any time by a visit of a shop repeated over and over that afternoon in all the Handicraft factories tour. My favorite places were the laqueware factory and the jewelry, which were the only ones where I bought some things to take back home. Then, it was time to make a ride to the centre of Chiang Mai.
The driver was waiting for me strangely awaken. I hopped on the Tuk-Tuk and we rocketed back to the city. The distance, with my map, looks like it was about 10 Km, but it felt less than 5. Then, when we were in the city, the driver asked me if he could take me at his Travel Agency as they were selling “cheap priced” tours for the following days. Seen that I was looking for a day trip for the following day and he had been a good driver, I told him that for me it was fine.
We arrived at the agency where he was welcomed by a girl that looked like waiting for him with a dish of chicken and rice. It looked like he was working there for real. I entered the agency and the very kind girls asked me if they could help me. I told them that I just needed to collect some leaflet to plan my day trips. I didn’t tell them that I already programmed a cooking course for the following days, and only the next one would be free. The girl I was talking to asked me if I already had an hotel.
Girl: “You have loom?”
Me: “No, I’m travelling in T-Shirt, short and camera around the globe” I wished answer like this, but I replied “Yes, I already have a room”
Girl: “In hotew?”
Me: “No, I’ve spread a sheet on the grass next the airport runway” that’s what I thought, but I said “Yes, in a guest house”
Girl: “What Gow-How?”
Me: “That’s The Royal Guesthouse”
The girl shivered and then, laughing at my expression when she shivered, said that she hoped that I had a room at the lower floors as there was not an elevator.
I was having a Deja-Vu. She was having the same reaction and said the same words of the girl from the Hotel Association at the airport.
I told her that my room was in the second floor, at the price of the seventh floor, that meant, very cheap. She asked me if I liked the room, and I told her that it was big and mildly clean, but I preferred the one of the Grace Boutique Guesthouse. She smiled and said “Aaahhh! Glass Boutik Gow-How, Lilly goo!”. Then, I told her Good-Bye and I left the place. While I was going to the door she said “Hav goo stay in Loyal Gow-How!”, grinning and shivering like hiding something from me.
I went outside and I was called by the Tuk-Tuk driver. He was eating his chicken and rice, and asked if I needed a ride. I told him to eat as I wished to have a walk to the centre seeing that later should start the Sunday market. He smiled and, before leaving, he presented me a small map of the city over which he wrote the exact place where we were. I love maps, and it was a very nice gift from him.
Mom: “How’s there? Here rained so hard that it caused some damage, but all is fine”. It sounded quite good. Perhaps, there was an heavy storm with strong gusts of wind.
Friend L (which lives in another city): “Hi Fra! How’s the family? Are they safe? I guess that this time not only the Bisagno (a river in my city) broke out. I hope that your family is fine!”. This smelled a little fishy. What the hell was she writing about?
Friend M (which lives in my city): “Hi Fra, here there was a complete disaster. The rain, the flood. A lot of people died, many more lost everything. You can’t imagine…”. A disaster in my city? What was going on? The rain and floods? I was starting to get scared as I still had in my mind the images of the Thai flood that I’ve seen the previous day, and it was still horrorific. I had to know what happened.
I switched the mobile phone to the free WiFi, but instead looking at the email, I searched for news in the Italian newspapers. Here I discovered what happened. In the afternoon of the previous day, in my city there was a terrible flood caused by such a strong rain. The flood caused massive damages and killed six people. I searched in which areas it happened, and it was away from my home. The stories written in the newspapers were scary and I could only imagine what a terrible scene it might had been.
I connected to my email box and I asked to my mom for further information about what happened, and then, I switched the mobile phone off. I waited some minute relaxing at the sound of the fountain and the crazy concierge girls that were screaming from the hotel desk. One moment, two moments, three…
Now it was time to go.
While planning this trip I wished to go to see the Doi Suthep Temple, but in the original plans I hadn’t time for it. It looked that the chance gave me the opportunity to visit this Temple. Was the Temple calling me? Or was someone else to call me to Chiang Mai, again?
The sun was burning on my skin as it was late morning. I took a random street just after having left my stuff at the laundry and soon somebody called me. I turned and it was a Tuk-Tuk driver. He stopped by and it started my bargaining. I knew that I wanted to go to Doi Suthep, but I first pretended to be uninterested on the destinations, and then we started the bargain. He first offered me an extremely overpriced tour of the Handmade Factories Street. Then he offered me a trip to the shooting range with ten free bullets to shoot. We kept on bargaining a little bit and in the end I’ve got my trip to Doi Suthep and the Handmade Factory Street tour for less than the original price for the Handmade Factories Street tour.
I hopped in and the driver floored the thruster, rocketing up the streets of Chiang Mai. The warm breeze and the tropical smell, the strong light and bright colors, all mixed into a fantastic feeling. A feeling dressed up with the adrenaline of the reckless driving of my driver.
We went down a fast street, that I guess was Huai Kaeo Road until the driver stopped on a side of the road, near a Song-Tew bus. All of a sudden, I thought “Here’s the hidden catch”. The driver went down the Tuk-Tuk and told me that his vehicle, in spite it looked like was enough fast to make multidimensional time-travels, wasn’t enough powerful to climb up the hill, so I had to take his friend’s Song-Tew and we’d meet back in this place.
I went on the Song-Tew and sat next the driver. He started the engine and we went to the hill. The street that goes up the hill is quite long and full of turns. The driver was barely speaking English, so I tried to keep a little conversation with my basic English and more basic Thai
Driver “You lon hé?”
Me “Yes, me alone here!”
Driver “Noooo! You lon hé!” making circles downward with spread fingers. I guess that he meant “How long you’ll stay here?”
Me “Me here 5 days… Ah Wan (five days in Thai)”
Driver “Ah-ah-ah! You lie hew?”
Me “Lie… Lay… Ah, like here?”
Driver “Ah-ah-ah! Hm, Yé, lie hew?”
Me “Yes, sway mak (very beautiful in Thai)!”
Driver “Ah-ah-ah! You foot?”
Me “No, me go car…”
Driver “Ah-ah-ah! Nooooo! No fùt, foot!”
Me “Foot… Food! Yes, I love Thai food! I love Pad Thai! Phom alloy Pad Thai mak mak!”
Driver “Ah-ah-ah! You stop hew”
Me “What?” I thought that he wanted to drop me on the side of the street and leave.
Driver “You stop hew…” and he took the hands off the wheel miming a man taking picture and then he pointed a terrace from where there was a beautiful sight over the city.
I told him that was ok, to stop before we crashed some car coming from the opposite direction. I went out of the car and I went to the terrace. In the same time, my driver went to buy an ice-cream and some other stuff that, later, told me that was for his family. That's why we stopped, not to let me to take some picture.
I took a nice set of pictures, especially to the centre of the city, where I could distinguish quite well some landmarks. I thought that this place would be really nice at night during the Loy Krathong festival to see the thousand lanterns flying up to the sky. Even if I’d prefer being in the middle of the party than watching it from far.
After this short break we started our ride again, but soon later we arrived at the lower gate of the temple, where start the stairway that leads uphill to the very temple.
The driver told me that he'd wait for me at the end of the stairway
“Me hew!” bumping first his chest with both hands and then pointing a place where there were parked other Song-Tews.
“Ok, see you later...”
I love the universal talking. When two people understand each other in spite the differences of nationality, language, beliefs... Ok, he waited for me only because I'd give him his money once back in Chiang Mai.
I headed to the beginning of the crowded stairway, marked by a beautiful portal crammed with people.
I'd say that in spite the stairway does a few turns, it's made of two main parts. The first, with many vendors, mostly of souvenirs and food, while the second part, just after a small terrace, it's narrower and goes up, flanked by two dragons. In the second part there were many kids asking to the tourists for some money for their schools. I've read the boards that they were keeping and it looked like the most of them were asking for money to fix the schools after the floods. I just wondered if all those kids were there as it was Sunday, that means, a school day-off. Maybe they were sent by the schools to make some fund raising? Among them, there were also some very young kid with their parents in traditional clothes, still asking from cash.
I arrived on the top of the stairway with another beautiful portal. I went through it, and I was in the first enclosure. This part is made like a ring all around the very temple. Here there were many stalls with monks selling souvenirs placed among shrines, praying bells and terraces where people can see a very gorgeous panorama. Among all the people, there were still many kids with boards from the schools, dressed in traditional clothing, both playing some traditional music or performing traditional Thai dancing.
The Legend of Doi Suthep
According to legend, a revered monk had a dream; in this dream God told him to go to Pang Cha and look for a relic.The monk travelled to Pang Cha and is said to have found a bone, which many claim was Buddha’s shoulder bone.The relic displayed magical powers; it glowed, it was able to vanish the re-appear, it could move itself and replicate itself.
King Nu Naone who ruled the Lanna Kingdom (around what is now Chiang Mai Province)got word of the relic and requested that the monk take it to him . The monk took the relic to King Nu Naone to what is now Lamphun, in northern Thailand.
On the journey the relic apparently split into two pieces,the smaller piece was enshrined at Wat Suan Dok Temple which is located just west of the old city walls on what is now called Suthep Road in Chiang Mai.
The larger piece was placed by the King on the back of a sacred Royal White Elephant which was then released into the jungle.
The elephant is said to have climbed up Doi Suthep, which at the time was called Doi Aoy Chang (Sugar Elephant Mountain), trumpeted three times before dying at the site. It was interpreted as a sign and King Nu Naone ordered the construction of a temple at the site.
Over the centuries the temple has expanded considerably, and been made to look more extravagant with many additional holy shrines added, but it has never lost the the aura that surrounds its very existence
I started my tour of the temple. I wasn't thinking literally of why I took it in the counter-clockwise way, but I should do it in the opposite way. Perhaps, it was some sort of a remembrance of the Angkor Wat touring around. Or my inner ability to mess things up.
Among all the people, I passed by many believers devoted into their prayers to Lord Buddha. The incense gave a nice smell to the air and the sound of the bells was the soundtrack of the place. Soon I arrived to the terrace from where people can see the beautiful panorama. I went close to the parapet and I asked to a guy if he could take me a picture, he answered
“You want to take me a picture?”
“No way, can you take it to me?”
“Hmmm... Ok.”
The guy, an English speaking redhead boy shown a face like somebody was carving his spleen using a wrench and chopsticks. When he finished just gave me the camera back and vanished into the thin air, perhaps afraid that I'd ask him for more pictures.
I kept my touring around until I reached again the point where I started. Now it was the time to enter the core of the temple, the Sancta Sanctorum as Christians would say. The main Stupa for the Buddhists.
I went toward the central enclosure and as I approached at the gate, a large group of monks went out of the white gate. The saffron colored procession went by before me, each one of them whispering each-other, carrying their own bags or keeping in hand a rosary. Then it was my time to enter.
The scene that was before me is hard to explain. The faith, the religious essence, the colors and still the religious design mixed before me into an unique, golden and incense smelling blend.
Looking the central enclosure of the Doi-Suthep from the sky, I think that it might look like a mandala. A colored concentric, geometrically perfect and symmetric draw. I like to think it like a square, which each corner is the centre of four smaller squares. Between the squares, on each side, a small rectangle protrude toward the centre. In the centre, there is the Golden Stupa, while the four squares are places where people can stand, gather or sit to behold at the exquisite sight for the Golden Stupa.
People come from all Thailand and beyond to see and pray in this golden place. They come here as a place of worship and, even somebody that doesn’t believe, can feel, almost to touch the dense sense of faith in this place. The people of Buddhist faith keep a procession in a alley between the sides of the Golden Stupa and a line of golden statues of Lord Buddha that encircle the alley. People were walking in clockwise direction, like it should be in every Buddhist tradition, most of them were carrying a white Lotus, or incense sticks or both.
Around this enclosure there are four shrines, all dedicated to Lord Buddha, and many other ways to show the faith, like candles to light, oil candles to feed with oil, statues to pray before and even two places where having fortune telling.
I spent quite a long time there and I took many pictures as the light was incredible. First the Golden Stupa stood against a very clear blue sky, and then, it was still in the nice bright sun, but with dark grey clouds all behind. It looked amazing. The Stupa was delighting everybody changing its background and remaining awesome.
After many circles all around the Golden Stupa, I came back to the outer enclosure where I had one more circle. It was so hard to leave this place. I felt like bound to keep on circling it and to make my staying there longer. Watching the shrines, hearing the thick metal pray bells being played, the tourists of any kind were all wandering, or at least the most of them, with bead eyes and open mouths in amazement. The traditional music, the local young people dressed in traditional clothes, the panorama from the main terrace, it was too much to let it go without one more round. Then I became aware that it was truly the time to go back to my driver. So, I looked at the Golden Stupa that towers the enclosure walls, and I told him “See you again”, and it was time to go back to Chiang Mai.
I went back down the stairway. It was crammed with tourists and young babies asking for cash. It was unbelievable how many people were around, and in some points, it was a real queue. It looked more like an human traffic jam than a supposedly quiet stairway to a temple.
Then, after the terrace with the souvenirs stalls, as the stairway became broad, it became easier to walk down. As I stepped down the stairway, I noticed that it was already past midday, and I was attracted by those nice food stalls. The first stop was where a young lady was selling charcoal-fried quail eggs. I bought some of them. The lady asked me if I wished some dressing over them, but I simply chosen some powdered white pepper. Then, I stopped to a nearby stall, where I bought a small bottle of Maracuja or “Passion Fruit” juice. Actually, it wasn’t juice, but the content of the fruits were poured inside the bottles. So, I sat at a side of the stairway to eat those very good eggs and drinking the juice. People were passing by and kept on looking at my eggs dish. I wonder what’s strange on seeing a guy eating quail eggs. By the way, the eggs were awesome, and since then, I’m keeping on dressing the eggs with powdered pepper.
Once I finished the eggs, I went downstairs a little, where I met a stall selling charcoal-cooked skewers. I stood there, and I bought two skewers, one of meatballs and one with a spicy sausage, both dressed in spicy sauce. The lady grilled my skewers and then, with the procedure handed her down by generation of skewers cookers, mastering the HACCP or Hygienic Procedures better than Bio-Hazard-lab-geek, she took my skewers, looked at them in the bright light, and she decided that they were ready. She took a pair of not-so-clean scissors, that only Buddha knows what she had cut before with them, and using them as tweezers, she dropped the meatballs into a small plastic bag. Then it was time of the sausage. This was the best. She pulled it a bit out of the skewer and then, she cut it with the same dirty scissors, she pulled it a little further, and she cut it again and so on for all the sausage, making it in dices. Once she finished, she took a unlabeled plastic bottle of spicy sauce that lied on the sun all the morning, and I guess also all the previous days, and poured a lot of it in my bag. Lunch was served.
I told her that I’d seat next to her, and she replied that it was good as I’d make her a good advertisement.
She said “Good, you commercial! People see you, buy from me!”
I told her that, if she wished some advertisement, she had to pay me with one more meatballs skewer. She laughed and as I was eating, she grilled for me another meatball skewer for real. I love Thailand and also the Thai skewers street vendors.
When I finished my lunch, I left the stall and I went back to my driver. I was very satisfied of this food. Both the eggs and the skewers had been awesome and all the food cost me about 3 Euro.
I arrived at my driver and we made all the way downhill and back to the Tuk-Tuk driver, which we found that was sleeping hard. As soon as we arrived, he woke up, asked me to give a part of the money that we agreed in the morning at the Song-Tew driver, as he’d not meet him anymore to give him his part of cash, and we left.
The Tuk-Tuk driver staggered to his Tuk-Tuk still dizzy. I sat in the backseat hoping that, maybe the wind will wake him up. As for the driver, as soon as he sat down, he turned the engine on with a pavlovian conditioned gesture. You seat, you turn the Tuk-Tuk on. Easy. The gestures of a lifetime. I wonder if he does the same gestures even when he seats at home. Maybe he tries to turn the refrigerator on using a chopstick.
The driver, as soon as he switched the engine on, in perfect symbiosis with his Tuk-Tuk, he passed from the “Idle” status to the “Fully Operative” one. In a matter of seconds, we were again rocketing down the street, like a three-wheeled, gasoline propelled, chrome and acid green colored bullet shot toward the manufacture street.
The engine was roaring in the air, the wind was screaming and we were passing by cars like they were movies in slow motion. Then, the driver invaded the opposite side of the street, went toward, without slowing down, straight pointing at the face of that white minivan and all of a sudden he slowed a little and turned. The gravity switched, from the bottom to the left. For a moment the white minivan that was passing at a meter from us was looking as the core of the universal gravity, people inside were looking at us, I was focused to not being thrown off the seat, and then, we pushed again forward, gravity came back at its place, the minivan kept his track without having a Tuk-Tuk, a Tuk-Tuk driver and an idiot tourist on its fender. Then, few meters later, we slowed like he were hooked at the concrete with a chain and stopped. We were in the covered parking lot of a paper umbrella factory. The bright colors of the traditional umbrellas. The sense of quiet that would be given by the bamboo-and-paper umbrella crafting was in deep contrast with the rush of adrenaline that I had few seconds before. I jumped off the Tuk-Tuk and the driver told me that he’d wait for me there. Then he went to lay in the back seat of the Tuk-Tuk, apparently falling asleep.
I went into the factory and I followed a guided tour on how they craft the umbrellas, followed by a tour in their shop. Soon I was ready to go to the next shop. The ritual of a crazy ride followed by a tour on the crafting facilities, which was followed any time by a visit of a shop repeated over and over that afternoon in all the Handicraft factories tour. My favorite places were the laqueware factory and the jewelry, which were the only ones where I bought some things to take back home. Then, it was time to make a ride to the centre of Chiang Mai.
The driver was waiting for me strangely awaken. I hopped on the Tuk-Tuk and we rocketed back to the city. The distance, with my map, looks like it was about 10 Km, but it felt less than 5. Then, when we were in the city, the driver asked me if he could take me at his Travel Agency as they were selling “cheap priced” tours for the following days. Seen that I was looking for a day trip for the following day and he had been a good driver, I told him that for me it was fine.
We arrived at the agency where he was welcomed by a girl that looked like waiting for him with a dish of chicken and rice. It looked like he was working there for real. I entered the agency and the very kind girls asked me if they could help me. I told them that I just needed to collect some leaflet to plan my day trips. I didn’t tell them that I already programmed a cooking course for the following days, and only the next one would be free. The girl I was talking to asked me if I already had an hotel.
Girl: “You have loom?”
Me: “No, I’m travelling in T-Shirt, short and camera around the globe” I wished answer like this, but I replied “Yes, I already have a room”
Girl: “In hotew?”
Me: “No, I’ve spread a sheet on the grass next the airport runway” that’s what I thought, but I said “Yes, in a guest house”
Girl: “What Gow-How?”
Me: “That’s The Royal Guesthouse”
The girl shivered and then, laughing at my expression when she shivered, said that she hoped that I had a room at the lower floors as there was not an elevator.
I was having a Deja-Vu. She was having the same reaction and said the same words of the girl from the Hotel Association at the airport.
I told her that my room was in the second floor, at the price of the seventh floor, that meant, very cheap. She asked me if I liked the room, and I told her that it was big and mildly clean, but I preferred the one of the Grace Boutique Guesthouse. She smiled and said “Aaahhh! Glass Boutik Gow-How, Lilly goo!”. Then, I told her Good-Bye and I left the place. While I was going to the door she said “Hav goo stay in Loyal Gow-How!”, grinning and shivering like hiding something from me.
I went outside and I was called by the Tuk-Tuk driver. He was eating his chicken and rice, and asked if I needed a ride. I told him to eat as I wished to have a walk to the centre seeing that later should start the Sunday market. He smiled and, before leaving, he presented me a small map of the city over which he wrote the exact place where we were. I love maps, and it was a very nice gift from him.
The Palaung Party and Sunday Market
I left the agency that was near the North Gate of the city and I kept following the first street toward the centre. I went down the street and all of a sudden, I started to hear music. I wondered if it was already some stall for the Sunday Night Market that was playing music, but no, there were no stalls around. The music, traditional Asian music, was coming from within the boundaries of a temple. I got closer at the gates and a very huge crowd of locals were sitting on the floor, watching something that was hidden from the wall. So, I decided to enter.
I walked down the white walled alley and I entered the courtyard. Almost all the people were dressed in the same way. All women with a shirt which many had dark, a red striped skirt and what looked like a copper plated belt.
I sat down among them, as I was the only farang around. I looked at what they were watching and, in a moment, I recognized something that I already know. It was a scene from the famous Ramayana. In this scene, the Monkey King Hunuman was fighting some soldiers of the Lanka army.
I relaxed as the sun was starting to go down. I wished to chill down a bit, so I took out of the backpack my hot water bottle and I searched in the bottom of it, the same package of cookies from Kuala Lumpur that I used as breakfast the same morning. It’s always good to have some trans-fatty-acids filled double-chocolate cookies from Kuala Lumpur in the backpack.
I sat there, relaxing and nibbling my cookies while the Ramayana scene was finishing. Then, it was time for a Very Important Officer to talk and introduce a Very Important Monk. Mr. Very Important Officer spoke for a long time. I guess that in spite of the cultural differences, all the world is the same. I guess that the first thing that Mr. Very Important Officer was saying, was that the boys that acted the Ramayana had been so good and fantastic performers. I’ve to say that the boy that played the King Hunuman had been very good for real. Then, reading his gestures, he introduced Mr. Very Important Monk, which started some sort of pray. People were praying along with him.
I looked around while listening at their prayer, that to me looked like some sort of a mantra. I looked at the ladies before me, and it was in that moment that I understood a thing. This was a social happening. Yes, I’m slow in understanding things. This was a tribe party, maybe some social religious event, but something that should be important. The calendar said that the next day should start the Loy Krathong, which, even if with different names, is celebrated in all the south East Asia.
I walked down the white walled alley and I entered the courtyard. Almost all the people were dressed in the same way. All women with a shirt which many had dark, a red striped skirt and what looked like a copper plated belt.
I sat down among them, as I was the only farang around. I looked at what they were watching and, in a moment, I recognized something that I already know. It was a scene from the famous Ramayana. In this scene, the Monkey King Hunuman was fighting some soldiers of the Lanka army.
I relaxed as the sun was starting to go down. I wished to chill down a bit, so I took out of the backpack my hot water bottle and I searched in the bottom of it, the same package of cookies from Kuala Lumpur that I used as breakfast the same morning. It’s always good to have some trans-fatty-acids filled double-chocolate cookies from Kuala Lumpur in the backpack.
I sat there, relaxing and nibbling my cookies while the Ramayana scene was finishing. Then, it was time for a Very Important Officer to talk and introduce a Very Important Monk. Mr. Very Important Officer spoke for a long time. I guess that in spite of the cultural differences, all the world is the same. I guess that the first thing that Mr. Very Important Officer was saying, was that the boys that acted the Ramayana had been so good and fantastic performers. I’ve to say that the boy that played the King Hunuman had been very good for real. Then, reading his gestures, he introduced Mr. Very Important Monk, which started some sort of pray. People were praying along with him.
I looked around while listening at their prayer, that to me looked like some sort of a mantra. I looked at the ladies before me, and it was in that moment that I understood a thing. This was a social happening. Yes, I’m slow in understanding things. This was a tribe party, maybe some social religious event, but something that should be important. The calendar said that the next day should start the Loy Krathong, which, even if with different names, is celebrated in all the south East Asia.
Full Moon Festivals that fall at the time of the Thai Loy Krathong
Burma
Ta-Zaung-Dine Light Festival - On this particular full moon day number total 9,999 candles are ceremoniously lit at mid night. Visitors are served with mixed salad of maezali buds, believed to possess powerful, magical and medicinal properties if eaten at this time. |
Cambodia
Bonn Om Touk (Water Festival) - The Water Festival in Cambodia coincides with the end of the rainy season and reverses flow of the Tonle Sap River which is a unique phenomenon where the water pressure of the Mekong River causes the river to change its direction. The Water Festival also marks the start of the Cambodian fishing season and originates back to the reign of King Jayavarman whose navy celebrated in order to keep the god of the river happy to supply a plentiful crop of rice and many fish. |
Laos
Boun That Luang or That Luang Stupa Festival (Only in Vientiane) - It is a three-day religious festival celebrated at full moon. It gathers thousands of monks, coming from the whole part of Laos and some are from Thailand at That Luang in Vientiane Capital to listen to prayers and sermons chanted by hundreds of monks. During the following days, a fair is held nearby. |
Thailand
Loy Krathong - The tradition wants that small bamboo rafts carrying incense, flowers and candles will be released in rivers and at sea. Also are lighted the hot air balloons. |
I checked carefully at the clothing of the girls and I wandered from which Hill Tribe were from. Seeing that I’m not an expert I guessed that they were Akha, I couldn’t be more wrong. I think that, looking behind, the Akha are the ones with more different traditional clothing. A traveler friend, when he saw my pictures, said that they surely were Lisu, while my first search said that they were Karen. It took quite a long and extensive search to understand that they were Palaung.
The peaceful Palaung welcomed me to spend some time at their festival and to witness their art. I loved to stay there, but then, it was time to go. I placed back my bottle and cookies in the backpack and I went toward the gate of the temple, but I couldn’t. A group of girls were announced and they appeared on the same stage where the boys played the Ramayana. They were dressed like dancers, and I wished to witness this show too.
They all had the same haircut, they were dressed with a traditional pink skirt, white large shirt, an hairpin shaped as golden narrow leaves and they held in hand a cup filled with petals and rice.
Soon the music started, they threw, graciously, the content of their cups in the air. Placed the cup on the ground and started their dance. The dance was quiet, with an heavy rhythm remark. The steps were quite repetitive as also were the hand movements. Even though, the dance looked as polite as sensual. I guess that is the meaning of the Asian dancing, to let much at the imagination more than putting obvious things under the nose of the audience. Both Mr. Very Important Officer and Mr. Very Important Monk looked very interested into the dance.
The dance itself lasted only few minutes and then the girls turned their back and in a manner of second as graciously as they danced, they disappeared. It was the time to leave this temple and the friendly Paluang tribe to go to the centre of the city. While leaving some young boys of the tribe looked at me and, in order to show their English skills, which were better than mine, said
Boy with red shorts: “Hi, what’s your name?”
Me: “Hello, my name is Francesco!”
Boy with red shorts: “Faaaaaaaaa…. Hssooooo!”
Me: “Yes…”
Tall boy: “Hi, what’s your name?”
Me: “My name is Francesco…” and I wanted to add “like five seconds ago”
Tall boy: “Flaaaahoooo Totti!”, always Francesco Totti when I say my name…
Me: “Yes, that’s me”
Boy with the bicycle: “Hi, what’s your name?”
Me: “I’m Charles, pleasure!”
Boy with the bicycle: “Hello Mr. Charles Pleasure!”
Me: “Thank you”… I guess somebody is making fool of me…
I went out of the temple and I went straight toward the centre of the city. The sun was starting to go down in the city and the air was starting to be less hot. It was a real pleasure to wander around. Yes, it was feeling like a true relaxing holiday day. Soon I arrived in the centre, and started to appear the first stalls of the Sunday night market.
I kept going in the direction of Ta-Phae Gate without paying much attention to the stalls, as I planned to be back in the evening and dine there. Or maybe I could have a snack there.
I was going down one of the crossroads, when I found myself surrounded by stalls selling foods. I decided to call that place “Food Square”. I browsed the stalls of “Food Square” and I bought a grilled skewer of mixed meat and fruit. With it, I decided to buy a juice served into a cut section of a Bamboo. The bamboo gave some wooden backtaste at the juice, while the skewer, except for the pineapple part that I discarded, was quite good, especially because it was dressed in spicy sauce.
I kept going down the main street and I also passed by the intersection that leads to the Grace Boutique Guesthouse. I kept going further. A lot of people already gathered there, mainly young Thais. I like the Sunday market as it's not just a market, but its more similar to a party. Moreover, it was just a day before the beginning of the Loy Krathong Festival, and it means, that it should be even better.
I arrived in front of the Tha Pae gate. On the corner there was a temptation that I already endured this morning. It was the Black Canyon Coffee shop. I love these shop. I looked at it, trying to find an excuse to not enter it. But then, the shop said something that I couldn't endure. The temptress had a board with written the inviting words “Free WiFi”. I couldn't keep myself, and in less than I could ever think, I was sitting in the shop with and already ordered Latte at the waitress Pui, which gave me the password to access into their WiFi. My smartphone connected without any problem, and it was time to enjoy my dear coffee with milk and see if there were news from home.
My mom had just sent me an email. She told me that the previous day there had been such a strong rain that caused damages in our neighborhood and caused a flood in many areas of the city. Many shops and houses were flooded. Six people had been killed by the rage of the water. She said that I couldn't imagine the disaster.
Yes, I could, as I witnessed a catastrophe just the previous day. I still felt sorry for my dear city, but it looked like it was over.
Then in my mailbox there were still a bunch of mails of friends telling me the flood news. At least, somebody kept me updated even if I were so far. Pui came again at my table asking if I wished something more, but I told her that I was set. So, I finished my Latte and I left the place.
I headed to my Guesthouse, I went to take back my stuff from the laundry, and I went to my room. It was time for a nice shower. A shower in my not so clean bathroom.
It took me short to get ready again to get out of the room. I went first to the hall, to check one more time my emails, still worried about home, and then I went back in the streets. First checkpoint, Loi Khor road. I went there as it's packed with travel agencies. I browsed some of them, and then I stuck at one in the end of the street where I found what I was looking for. I could take a full-day trekking or a “Flight of the Gibbon” also known as “Jungle Flight”. The “Jungle Flight” is a very funny thing. You're geared with rock climbing equipment and you've to follow a path in the jungle. A path made cables between the trees on which you've to use pulleys to ride them down, or ropes to descend. It's fun, and it's 100% safe as you're followed by the staff in every step. I asked at the travel agency lady, which was eating fried noodles, if knew the weather of the following day, and she replied, spitting pieces of noodles and covering without any result her mount with the back of her hand “Aaahh! Velly Fany!” pointing with a finger at the brochure of the “Flight of the Gibbon”. Ok, it was a little expensive, but I think it was worth the experience. So, I took it. She wrote me the voucher, I took the trekking leaflet and I used it to remove some piece of noodle from the “Flight of the Gibbon” leaflet and pocketed it. I said “See you again” and she, with already her mouth full of noodles hanging out of it, opened wider her mouth and said “Aaaahhhh!” waving her hand and chopsticks.
I went up the street again. Now the dark fell of the city. The smell of food, the lights of the pubs and the sound of music were the choreography that this tropical night was playing for me.
I went back at the Sunday Market. Now it was very crammed with people. There was music everywhere. It was exactly like the previous time that I was there. The only difference was that few years before I've found some handmade stuff for very cheap money, but this time it looked all factory made.
Along my strolling I stopped into the boundaries of a temple where there were many food stalls. Here I bought a beautiful dish of Pad Thai, a roasted potato cut as a spiral and a pepsi. I sat on the side of a pavement along many other Asians. In the beginning the Asians were curious to see if I could master the use of the chopsticks. Too bad for them that in front a nice dish of Pad Thai I can overcome every challenge. I tried it, and it was such a long time that I didn't eat such a good Pad Thai. It was a simple Pad Thai with egg and vegetables. Nice, easy and great.
I left this square that I was with a broad smile on my face. But I still wished to eat a thing that I've seen before in a stall. I went down all the way, until it was blocked by a stage where some young girls were performing some techno dancing.
I went straight at the stall. The lady looked at me, I looked at her, and in less than a minute, in the horror of all the farangs that were next to me, I bought a bag of fried crickets and bamboo worms. People were puzzled as I walked away with my bag. The problem was that I couldn't eat them with my dirty hands. So, I took the only bamboo skewer that I was given, I broken it in two and I had my brand new chopsticks. I went down the street eating these very nice and crunchy crickets and worms. They were simply great. They were deep fried and flavored with something that tasted lightly like garlic. It was also funny to see the face of the Westerners when they were seeing me eating crickets. More than once I've heard them saying “Have you see him?” and “Bugs!”.
It was late. The next morning I had to get up early for the “Flight of the Gibbon”, so, one more Chang Beer and then to bed.
Good night Chiang Mai, I was missing you for such a long time!
The peaceful Palaung welcomed me to spend some time at their festival and to witness their art. I loved to stay there, but then, it was time to go. I placed back my bottle and cookies in the backpack and I went toward the gate of the temple, but I couldn’t. A group of girls were announced and they appeared on the same stage where the boys played the Ramayana. They were dressed like dancers, and I wished to witness this show too.
They all had the same haircut, they were dressed with a traditional pink skirt, white large shirt, an hairpin shaped as golden narrow leaves and they held in hand a cup filled with petals and rice.
Soon the music started, they threw, graciously, the content of their cups in the air. Placed the cup on the ground and started their dance. The dance was quiet, with an heavy rhythm remark. The steps were quite repetitive as also were the hand movements. Even though, the dance looked as polite as sensual. I guess that is the meaning of the Asian dancing, to let much at the imagination more than putting obvious things under the nose of the audience. Both Mr. Very Important Officer and Mr. Very Important Monk looked very interested into the dance.
The dance itself lasted only few minutes and then the girls turned their back and in a manner of second as graciously as they danced, they disappeared. It was the time to leave this temple and the friendly Paluang tribe to go to the centre of the city. While leaving some young boys of the tribe looked at me and, in order to show their English skills, which were better than mine, said
Boy with red shorts: “Hi, what’s your name?”
Me: “Hello, my name is Francesco!”
Boy with red shorts: “Faaaaaaaaa…. Hssooooo!”
Me: “Yes…”
Tall boy: “Hi, what’s your name?”
Me: “My name is Francesco…” and I wanted to add “like five seconds ago”
Tall boy: “Flaaaahoooo Totti!”, always Francesco Totti when I say my name…
Me: “Yes, that’s me”
Boy with the bicycle: “Hi, what’s your name?”
Me: “I’m Charles, pleasure!”
Boy with the bicycle: “Hello Mr. Charles Pleasure!”
Me: “Thank you”… I guess somebody is making fool of me…
I went out of the temple and I went straight toward the centre of the city. The sun was starting to go down in the city and the air was starting to be less hot. It was a real pleasure to wander around. Yes, it was feeling like a true relaxing holiday day. Soon I arrived in the centre, and started to appear the first stalls of the Sunday night market.
I kept going in the direction of Ta-Phae Gate without paying much attention to the stalls, as I planned to be back in the evening and dine there. Or maybe I could have a snack there.
I was going down one of the crossroads, when I found myself surrounded by stalls selling foods. I decided to call that place “Food Square”. I browsed the stalls of “Food Square” and I bought a grilled skewer of mixed meat and fruit. With it, I decided to buy a juice served into a cut section of a Bamboo. The bamboo gave some wooden backtaste at the juice, while the skewer, except for the pineapple part that I discarded, was quite good, especially because it was dressed in spicy sauce.
I kept going down the main street and I also passed by the intersection that leads to the Grace Boutique Guesthouse. I kept going further. A lot of people already gathered there, mainly young Thais. I like the Sunday market as it's not just a market, but its more similar to a party. Moreover, it was just a day before the beginning of the Loy Krathong Festival, and it means, that it should be even better.
I arrived in front of the Tha Pae gate. On the corner there was a temptation that I already endured this morning. It was the Black Canyon Coffee shop. I love these shop. I looked at it, trying to find an excuse to not enter it. But then, the shop said something that I couldn't endure. The temptress had a board with written the inviting words “Free WiFi”. I couldn't keep myself, and in less than I could ever think, I was sitting in the shop with and already ordered Latte at the waitress Pui, which gave me the password to access into their WiFi. My smartphone connected without any problem, and it was time to enjoy my dear coffee with milk and see if there were news from home.
My mom had just sent me an email. She told me that the previous day there had been such a strong rain that caused damages in our neighborhood and caused a flood in many areas of the city. Many shops and houses were flooded. Six people had been killed by the rage of the water. She said that I couldn't imagine the disaster.
Yes, I could, as I witnessed a catastrophe just the previous day. I still felt sorry for my dear city, but it looked like it was over.
Then in my mailbox there were still a bunch of mails of friends telling me the flood news. At least, somebody kept me updated even if I were so far. Pui came again at my table asking if I wished something more, but I told her that I was set. So, I finished my Latte and I left the place.
I headed to my Guesthouse, I went to take back my stuff from the laundry, and I went to my room. It was time for a nice shower. A shower in my not so clean bathroom.
It took me short to get ready again to get out of the room. I went first to the hall, to check one more time my emails, still worried about home, and then I went back in the streets. First checkpoint, Loi Khor road. I went there as it's packed with travel agencies. I browsed some of them, and then I stuck at one in the end of the street where I found what I was looking for. I could take a full-day trekking or a “Flight of the Gibbon” also known as “Jungle Flight”. The “Jungle Flight” is a very funny thing. You're geared with rock climbing equipment and you've to follow a path in the jungle. A path made cables between the trees on which you've to use pulleys to ride them down, or ropes to descend. It's fun, and it's 100% safe as you're followed by the staff in every step. I asked at the travel agency lady, which was eating fried noodles, if knew the weather of the following day, and she replied, spitting pieces of noodles and covering without any result her mount with the back of her hand “Aaahh! Velly Fany!” pointing with a finger at the brochure of the “Flight of the Gibbon”. Ok, it was a little expensive, but I think it was worth the experience. So, I took it. She wrote me the voucher, I took the trekking leaflet and I used it to remove some piece of noodle from the “Flight of the Gibbon” leaflet and pocketed it. I said “See you again” and she, with already her mouth full of noodles hanging out of it, opened wider her mouth and said “Aaaahhhh!” waving her hand and chopsticks.
I went up the street again. Now the dark fell of the city. The smell of food, the lights of the pubs and the sound of music were the choreography that this tropical night was playing for me.
I went back at the Sunday Market. Now it was very crammed with people. There was music everywhere. It was exactly like the previous time that I was there. The only difference was that few years before I've found some handmade stuff for very cheap money, but this time it looked all factory made.
Along my strolling I stopped into the boundaries of a temple where there were many food stalls. Here I bought a beautiful dish of Pad Thai, a roasted potato cut as a spiral and a pepsi. I sat on the side of a pavement along many other Asians. In the beginning the Asians were curious to see if I could master the use of the chopsticks. Too bad for them that in front a nice dish of Pad Thai I can overcome every challenge. I tried it, and it was such a long time that I didn't eat such a good Pad Thai. It was a simple Pad Thai with egg and vegetables. Nice, easy and great.
I left this square that I was with a broad smile on my face. But I still wished to eat a thing that I've seen before in a stall. I went down all the way, until it was blocked by a stage where some young girls were performing some techno dancing.
I went straight at the stall. The lady looked at me, I looked at her, and in less than a minute, in the horror of all the farangs that were next to me, I bought a bag of fried crickets and bamboo worms. People were puzzled as I walked away with my bag. The problem was that I couldn't eat them with my dirty hands. So, I took the only bamboo skewer that I was given, I broken it in two and I had my brand new chopsticks. I went down the street eating these very nice and crunchy crickets and worms. They were simply great. They were deep fried and flavored with something that tasted lightly like garlic. It was also funny to see the face of the Westerners when they were seeing me eating crickets. More than once I've heard them saying “Have you see him?” and “Bugs!”.
It was late. The next morning I had to get up early for the “Flight of the Gibbon”, so, one more Chang Beer and then to bed.
Good night Chiang Mai, I was missing you for such a long time!