Northern Thailand: Chiang Mai to Pai

November 18, 2010

Ad and I enjoyed our time on the islands, yet decided to leave the “dodgy” weather behind (cyclones, tropical depressions, etc) and booked a flight to Chiang Mai rather than endure a 2-3 day bus-train-bus trip.

As we were landing, we took notice to the many lights scattered below and realized that Chiang Mai is a bigger city than we expected. In the taxi from the airport, Ad shared his vision of Chiang Mai --men standing around in samurai uniforms and large swords dangling from their hip similar to Tom Cruise’s The Last Samurai, yet realized that we were heading into a vibrant city surrounded by mountains and filled with restaurants, bars, street markets, motor-scooting Thais, tuk tuks and friendly smiles.

Chiang Mai is considered one of Thailand’s “cultural darlings”. The walled city is surrounded by a moat and filled with plenty of places to stay and eat; they are hip, laid-back, and funky and filled with the north’s distinctive Thai architecture made of teak wood, intricate carvings, mosaics and sometimes colorful dragons and lions that guard the entrances.

Our first day in the city, we walked around and checked out the weekly Sunday market conveniently located across the street from our guesthouse. As we strolled around smelling the delicious aromas, we immediately took notice of the 60 baht foot massages (roughly $2 American dollars) and decided to indulge. Next, we ate one of our favorite Thai dishes, a spicy Papaya salad made with papaya, hot red and green peppers, rice wine vinegar, tomatoes, shrimp and peanuts—yum!

After a night or two in the city, Lucia and I decided to enjoy a girl’s night out and headed to a yoga class on the north-side of town. A friend of Lucia’s who is studying Thai massage in Chiang Mai is also a yoga teacher was hosting a class. After an hour of stretching and sweating, we enjoyed a delicious fresh Thai dinner of, curry, chutney, salad and brown rice at a restaurant called Cat House.

While we enjoyed our night, Eddie and Adam headed to their first Muay Thai Boxing match. [Adam here]- Eddie and I were stoked to check out the fight, but first we had to ‘prep’, so we went and had some tasty Pad Thai and a couple/few/a couple more than a few big Leo beers; we wanted to be in the right frame of mind, and we were.

The fight(s) were fun to watch; there were about 5 fights, beginning with boys, girls, lightweight men, middle weight men, and then the premier fight between Canada and Thailand. Before the main fight they had 5 Thai boxers in the ring (at the same time) blind folded and let them go at it, hilarious!

Eddie and I both bet on the Thai boxer in the main event (thinking that he would dominate the Canadian) but towards the end of the 3rd round our guy took a shot to the chops and was down for the count, despite my yelling “NO NO NO!! Get up!” We should have known better than to bet against North America, I lost 200 baht and Eddie lost 100.

After the fight we nursed our losses (and soaked up some of the beer we drank) by eating french fries from a street vendor out in front of the venue. While we were eating our tasty fries an elephant came walking down the road, a weird thing to see at 12:30am, but pretty cool too. We didn’t win our bets, but had a great ‘Man Night’ out (with no tartlets, cake and ice cream, lemon bars, or fish tacos), beers and Muay Thai boxing, that’s a “Man Night!”

Next, we decided to check out the mountains and booked an all-day guided mountain bike tour. Ad, Eddie, Lucia and I ventured out into cooler temperatures and the lush forest to enjoy some challenging single track, uphill climbs and amazing views of Chiang Mai. As we made our way through the 18-mile ride, we enjoyed getting to know our Thai guides, Nu and Daniel, as they laughed with us (and at us) while we enjoyed the dirt trails while both riding and falling off our bikes.

One of the great joys of Chiang Mai is the street markets – the Night Bazaar happening every evening, the Sunday Market and the “special occasion” markets. There is never a shortage of “hawkers” (small food stalls) serving delicious Thai food such as noodle bowls, curries, or mango sticky rice, pad thai, and if you are really courageous, you can enjoy the “insect cart” filled with fried silk worms, crickets, grasshoppers, cockroaches and many other interesting critters. When we stumbled upon the cart, we noticed that there was not much left in each tray to enjoy…..ugh.

One of the things I wanted to do while in Chiang Mai was to attend a meditation class. So, Lucia and I decided to attend a two-hour Ratu Bagus Shaking Meditation class. When we arrived, the instructor explained the Balinese shaking technique as “a way for the body to feel its energy from the high vibration of the body’s movement” and gave us a brief demonstration (it looked like a women convulsing in front of us) and instructions on how to draw out the body’s energy.

While shaking your head, hands and feet, you focus on a poster-size portrait of Ratu Bagus (who is pointing at you) and repeat the mantra “Om Swastiastu Ratu Bagus”. Ratu Bagus is considered an energy master whose method teaches you how to connect with your internal energy not just with your mind yet with your body through the shaking method. After 45 minutes of butts and boobs bouncing everywhere to loud trance/techno music while staring at a poster and repeating the mantra, Lucia and I decided that it was enough and headed for a tasty Thai dinner and a few cocktails.

During our stay in Chiang Mai, we stayed at the Boonmee Mansion, a centrally located and inexpensive teak wood guesthouse run by Florence and her brother Sam. Each morning we woke up to Sam giving tours to new Chiang Mai arrivals that included him flushing toilets and turning the faucet on in the shared bathroom while forgetting to turn off the faucet during the tour. Additionally, for 90 baht (or roughly $3) you could enjoy a dip in the pool filled with green water so dark you couldn’t see the bottom of the pool. And each night we experienced a new adventure at the guesthouse, like the one from our neighbor Dan and another from two Russians.

Chiang Mai to Pai

After almost a week in Chiang Mai, we decided to head to the small mountain town of Pai. After 762 windy turns, we arrived in the small, hippie town filled with cool and inviting restaurants and bars featuring live music, a night market for inexpensive local eats and just outside of town, scenic vistas, hot springs and waterfalls. There is not much to the town yet the Thais have made it an urban playground for those hoping to escape the heat and enjoy cooler temperatures in the mountains.

Since we have arrived, we have enjoyed the live music scene, delicious food at the lively night market, entertained by refurbished VW vans selling everything from tourist gifts to coffee and chai, motor scooter trips to the hot springs and waterfalls and simply, enjoying the peaceful surroundings of the mountains.

More to come….

Miss and love you tons,

Cathy and Adam