Chiang Mai - The Land of a Billion Temples

After the chaos of Bangkok, arriving in Chiang Mai was a breath of fresh air. Everything was more mellow in Chiang Mai, even the tuk-tuk drivers left you alone after you said no for the first time. We arrived at the train station and were met by our driver and transported to our hotel in another form of tuk-tuk: a truck with a covered back and seats lining the bed. Our hotel was a cute place in the old city of Chiang Mai, which is a perfectly square area surrounded by a moat and remnants of the old city wall and packed with temple after temple. After a much needed shower, we proceeded to wander around the city, stopping for lunch and at all the temples we found along the way. The temples were all gorgeous, ranging from old wooden structures to ones dripping in gold and bright colors. One of my favorite temples had a path around the grounds lined with green signs containing life advice in both Thai and English.

So one thing I have not yet addressed is the heat in Thailand. The sun is hot, and the humidity is intense, and after walking about a block out of air conditioning I was consistently drenched in sweat. At one point we had to hide out in a convenience store to escape the sun and hit some much needed sweet sweet air conditioning. So after a few hours of this journey we were pretty exhausted and looking to relax.

Another wonder of Thailand is the super cheap massage. For 200 Baht (about 8 bucks) each, we had an hour long full body Thai massage. We were taken into a dimly lit room and sat on a couch to let our feet soak. We were then led up to a private room where we had beds next to each other, and were treated to an hour of paradise. I didn't know anything about Thai massage before this experience, but what I learned was that when they say full body they mean not only my entire body, but also theirs. It was the most complicated series of movements where my whole body was stretched and massaged until I didn't want to move ever again. I may have been violated a few times, but I didn't care one bit. At one point she was balancing with her knees digging into my butt and massaging my shoulders at the same time. Sometimes my legs were over her shoulders, sometimes she used her chin, sometimes I couldn't tell what the hell she was doing, but it was all amazing.

After we were thoroughly relaxed, we wandered into the big night market in Chiang Mai to get some dinner and check out the stands. One of my closest friends from when I studied abroad in Sydney, Michael, happened to be in Chiang Mai for a few months doing his PhD research on bees, and we were able to meet up with him to walk around and grab a few drinks. I am used to the night markets in Taiwan where often the smells make me lose my appetite and I'm turned off by the mystery animal products at the stands. But in Thailand every single stand had something that looked delicious and made my mouth water. My absolute favorite was a fried banana, some banana mush in what looked like an egg roll. The only thing I regret not sampling was the fried bugs that were also abundant. Along with the food were also tons of souvenir stands, and I was able to purchase a NorthFace back pack for our jungle trek for about 20 US dollars after I used my perfected bargaining skills.