C & C globetrotting around the world…

The bus to Chiang Mai covered 280km in 3.5hrs, so we were very happy. This is definitely not Laos, hehe. The roads are much better and in certain areas there are even “highways”. Chiang Mai, a city of 175,000 inhabitants is a cultural jewel in northern Thailand. The area has a strong Lanna heritage which has much in common with southwestern China (Yunnan), Laos and Myanmar and is mainly seen in the architecture style of Chiang Mai. The old city is a square surrounded by a wall and a moat built 700 years ago to defend against the invading Burmese. Today the city is a very pleasant place where we spent a week and used it as a base for various trips in the area: trekking tour, Visa run, Elephant Mahout training and a trip to Sukhothai.

While in Chiang Mai (meaning “New City”), we walked the lively streets, but we enjoyed even more wondering through the little “sois”, small alleys which are nice and quiet. From there you can discover leafy gardens, small cafes and enjoy the local life. During one of these pleasant strolls, January 25^th to be exact, Christoph’s flip-flops “died” after intensive wear for 6 months. It was a sad moment, but they served their purpose and we bought new ones, which will hopefully last until the end of the trip.

There are lots and lots of beautiful temples (Wats) in Chiang Mai, so we visited a few in the old city.

Our first one was Wat Phan Tao, a pretty little temple made of old teak wood and with coloured mirror mosaics inside.

We then went to Wat Chedi Luang, a temple complex which contains the ruins of a huge chedi (stupa) dating from 1441. The chedi once housed an Emerald Buddha statue (now in Bangkok) and has only been partially restored to preserve the “ruined” look. There are also “monk chats” here, where you sit down with a monk and ask him questions.

Wat Phra Singh, the old city’s most famous temple, was built in 1345 and is a perfect example of Lanna architecture. It also houses the city’s revered Buddha image (Phra Singh) and is the focal point for the religious festivities during Thai New Year (Songkran, mid-April).

Close to our guesthouse was Wat Chiang Man. Being built in 1296 by King Mengrai, Chiang Mai’s founder, Wat Chiang Man is the oldest temple within the city walls. There are 2 small and famous Buddha images kept in a sanctuary next to the main building, believed to have the power to bring seasonal rains.

One day we visited Doi Suthep, a temple on a hill not far from Chiang Mai. It is said that there was a white elephant transporting a relic of Buddha on its back. The elephant died here and it was seen as a sign that the relic should stay here. The temple built around this relic is beautiful with an impressive golden stupa in its middle.

Chiang Mai is a pleasant city, but we wouldn’t have enjoyed it so much had it not been for the wonderful people we met here. Right on our first two evenings we met up with Bruce and Liz from Perth at the Ta Phae Gate, which is part of the old city wall. They come to Chiang Mai almost every year, so they offered to show us around and give us some tips on the best places to eat. We went to the Night Bazaar and chatted the entire evening. They are super nice and we enjoyed their company. They introduced us to Mango Sticky Rice, a dessert of sticky rice in coconut milk served with a fresh mango and Cecilia fell immediately in love with it. They also suggested a cafe, right by Ta Phae Gate for its mango sticky rice and cappuccino. Everything was really good, the cappuccino was great and had a “Hello Kitty” design on the foam. A great barrista for such a small place. Liz had a dragon for the Year of the Dragon earlier, which was even cooler (we saw the pics). Thanks again!

On our trek we met Britta, Jan, Lena and Sandra, with whom we hung out after our trek and had lots of fun together. They are just at the beginning of their South-East Asia trip, so we gave them travel tips about Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. They said we should think about opening a travel agency upon our return, hehe. We decided to put up an “Advice” page on our blog in the meantime (maybe in time for the next “update”). Together we went to the Night Market where we had dinner (this time we were the ones showing others around, hehe). We then got a group massage, some foot, some shoulder. It was pretty good and Cecilia’s guy was more like an artist than a masseur, making elegant and extravagant hand gestures. We also spent a few evening chatting and playing games together, such as “Pass the Pigs” and “10,000” which they taught us. Good times!

One evening at the Sunday Night Market we met a couple from Holland, who we first met in Kampot, our first stop in Cambodia, almost 2 months ago. It was nice catching up on travel stories and discussing our next destinations

Chiang Mai has numerous markets and many people from Bangkok come here to shop because it’s cheaper. There is the Friday Market, which is actually on every evening. Then there is the Saturday Market, which is close to the South Gate. And let’s not forget the Sunday Market which starts around Ta Phae Gate and stretches for many blocks into the old city. It is more crowded than the other markets because of its location, but also fun to browse. There are also tons of food stalls around, which is a great place to sample lots of different snacks or even have dinner. It turned out that we went 3 times to this market and also bought a few souvenirs there.

One rainy afternoon we took a cooking course. We have decided to do one in every second country and luckily Thai food is so great. We went to the market again, but this time it wasn’t so interesting for us because we knew all the different vegetables and fruits already from our previous cooking courses , but it was still fun. The cooking course was set up differently from other ones we did because we had lots of choice. As a group we chose 4 of the 6 the different categories of dishes (eg. appetizer, soup, curry, dessert). Then, within each group we could choose between 5 different dishes, so Christoph and I chose to cook different things. It’s cool because you see so many other things prepared, even if you don’t do them yourself, which is all in the cook book you receive at the end. The lady was nice and she was explaining things well. It was funny because there was an Australian lady in the group who always cut her vegetables the wrong way. The instructor got a bit “angry” because her dishes won’t be as pretty. Cecilia cooked Thai beef salad, Stir-fry chicken with holy basil, green curry paste and green curry. Christoph made spicy green papaya salad, stir-fry chicken with cashew nuts, curry paste and massaman curry. As a closure, the teacher made banana with coconut milk for everyone. The food was scrumptious and we hope to be able to recreate this delicacies at home upon our return.

We love delicious Thai food and there is so much choice in Chiang Mai. For breakfast however, we still prefer “Western” food. We found a bakery on a soi next to our guesthouse: “Da Home Bakery”. They bake their own pastries and we tried the croissant, the apple strudel and a blueberry-yoghourt cake, as well as their hill tribe coffee and all were very good. Another wonderful discovery was “The Hut Cafe”, a pretty small restaurant also on a soi close-by. It is run by Noot, a very friendly and funny Thai lady and her niece. The food was so delicious, the prices low and the portions large, that we went back there a lot. We tried so many different things and everything was perfect. They started knowing us and were offering free fruit shakes or bananas because they were happy.

Among our favourites are: the curries (red, yellow or green), Kao Soi (a typical Chiang Mai noodle curry dish), Massaman curry (like red curry but with a few added spices, such as cinnamon), Pad Thai, Pad Sew, Spicy green papaya salad (grated green papaya served with grated carrots, lime juice, chillies and peanuts), Tom Kha Gai (spicy coconut milk soup with chicken), Penang curry and last but not least Mango Sticky Rice (sticky rice cooked with coconut milk, served with a mango on top and more coconut milk poured over it). We loved this dessert so much, we had one almost every day.

From “Hut Cafe” we discovered a massage parlour. We each took a combo: one hour Thai massage and one hour Foot massage. The 2 ladies got to work and we were really enjoying it. Traditional Thai massage is like Lao massage where you get to wear some pyjamas and lie on a mattress on the floor. They start with a foot massage and then work their way up to the head, using their entire bodies and body weight to massage you. There is no oil involved and it uses a lot of pressure points and stretches. It’s not the “comfortable” Swedish massage, but it feels really good. During the foot massage (with oil) we even fell asleep, that’s how relaxing it was. We went back 3 more times during our stay. It made Cecilia want to take a massage course, but then we decided against it. We will try to remember some techniques they used on us though and then hopefully apply them.

In Chiang Mai we spent a lot of time catching up on our dairy and blog, as well as researching and reading up on our upcoming destinations. In the guesthouse we came across copies of “South East Asia Backpacker” magazine (www.southeastasiabackpacker.com) and read a few very interesting articles written by fellow travellers in the area. One was saying how people don’t experience as much the place where they are because they are too busy writing a dairy and updating their friends and family via email and blogs. It could not have been more true here! We enjoy writing the blog to keep people updated and also because it will be great memories for us in the future, but it is indeed time-consuming. So we decided not to take our netbook to South America. Another article talks about how after a while you get tired of travelling and taking in so many new experiences, that you need a break to process everything that you have seen, done and felt. How true too! We think that this mental and emotional exhaustion might be why we have lost our enthusiasm on some days. Then yet another one talked about Buddhism and how people might seem lazy to us from a Western perspective, but that it’s their way of enjoying life. They live the moment, not worrying too much about what tomorrow might bring. Why always rush places and always have to-do lists? Well, because we live in such a culture in Europe and North America, where we need to get things done. We are now in a different world here, but somehow we cannot leave this attitude behind. We still plan what we’re going to do, where we’re going to go and we also have to-do lists. They are different from the ones we had at home, but we still think about all the things we want to achieve and how best to achieve them, possibly in the shortest period of time. We are not truly backpackers who take things as they come; we are travellers with a backpack. Reading that article made us realize that we have to take a step back and relax a bit. Maybe we will change a bit for the last two and a half months we still have in Asia… In any case, we will try to, but considering we still have 4 countries (Malaysia, Myanmar, Brunei and Bali) to visit in this short period of time, it is unlikely that we will be able to completely relax. We can try to change our attitude though, even if not our pace…

All these articles made us realize a few things and think about our travels and experiences in a different light. It also reminded Cecilia of the short story by Heinrich Boell written in 1963 and told by her German teacher back in high school, “Anekdote zur Senkung der Arbeitsmoral”.

“Anecdote to the Decline of the Work Ethic”:

The story is set in an unnamed harbor on the west coast of Europe. A smartly-dressed enterprising tourist is taking photographs when he notices a shabbily dressed local fisherman taking a nap in his fishing boat. The tourist is disappointed with the fisherman’s apparently lazy attitude towards his work, so he approaches the fisherman and asks him why he is lying around instead of catching fish. The fisherman explains that he went fishing in the morning, and the small catch would be sufficient for the next two days.

The tourist tells him that if he goes out to catch fish multiple times a day, he would be able to buy a motor in less than a year, a second boat in less than two years, and so on. The tourist further explains that one day, the fisherman could even build a small cold storage plant, later a pickling factory, fly around in a helicopter, build a fish restaurant, and export lobster directly to Paris without a middleman.

The nonchalant fisherman asks, “Then what?”

The tourist enthusiastically continues, “Then, without a care in the world, you could sit here in the harbor, doze in the sun, and look at the glorious sea.”

“But I’m already doing that”, says the fisherman.

The enlightened tourist walks away pensively, with no trace of pity for the fisherman, only a little envy.