once the bus from koh chang ("best waterfight ever") dropped me off in bangkok, i took a tuk-tuk to the train station...
... where i saw huge (decades old) images of the king everywhere.
after 17 hours on the train for a trip that was advertised to take 14 hours, i made it to chiang mai, in the northwestern region of thailand.
some parts of the ancient wall still surround the square-shaped old part of the city.
a canal/moat system also surrounds the old city.
the region is known for wooden carvings and stone/gem inlays.
i wasnt disappointed!
there are markets open all over the city selling food and goods all day, and almost all night!
this group sat right in the middle of the the pedestrian path at a night market. all the musicians were blind and their music sounded amazing!
a beautiful place to visit is the flower market.
these are necklaces or bracelets for your buddha statues!
people present impressive offerings at all the many temples throughout the city. this one includes cigar(ette)s in the style of the hill tribes. i found some at a little hidden shop and tried one out of curiosity. yuck!!
this is the view from inside the little hidden shop:
this man sat with his collection on a completely empty road and seemed very pleased when i asked if i could take his photo.
this was a page inside a beginner's thai language book. so the important scenarios to understand: old people yelling at kids, mustached-men beating snakes, life in prison, and liquor...?
i visited an orphanage one afternoon and played with a lot of active two-year-olds.
i'm working on an entire post dedicated to the food i encountered in chiang mai... coming soon!
2 comments:
Never made it to N Thailand. Only saw the crowded polluted South. 20 years later it seems to be an impossible goal for a private sector worker to see his birth country. Maybe it's time to return to academia.
I love Chiang Mai, and the food there is sooo good, I am excited about your future post!
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