Chiang Mai, Thailand                                                                    March 22, 2000

Don't be embarrassed if you don't know where Chiang Mai is.  Although it's Thailand's second largest city, it's about 1/40th the size of Bangkok and not yet an industrial center.  And f.y.i., Thailand is north of Malaysia, surrounded in clockwise order starting at 9 o'clock by Myanmar (Burma), Laos and Cambodia. 

 We only ended up in Chiang Mai because our friends Steve Tong and Anne Campbell suggested we meet them here.  Thomas Cook Travel, through their consolidator, got us a great deal at the Westin -- a huge deluxe room with full American breakfasts for US$ 70/day.  That left us extra money to see the sights at our own pace with a personal  English-speaking guide (at $28/day), in a personal van with driver.  The average wage in Chiang Mai is less than $10/day, so people power is cheap.  The hotels are luxuriously over-staffed, and there's someone  available to meet your every need.  

As it turned out, Chiang Mai may have more interesting, touristy things to do than Bangkok.  Steve and Anne had done some reading and pre-planning, so we had an action-packed few days together.  Even with 2-year old Marguerite along, we were out every day and every night! 

The most famous sights in Chiang Mai are the wats, or temple complexes.  Ninety percent of the Thai people are Theraveda Buddhists, and most men become monks for a few months when they turn 20.  There are several dozen wats in Chiang Mai, complete with monks dressed in traditional orange or golden robes.  The wats and their famous Buddhas are like postcards and travel books come to life.  They are amazing -- lots of spires reaching heavenwards, winged tips on all the building's corners, golden surfaces, colorful ornaments and decorations, and everywhere Buddhas in different positions and different sizes.  These photos will give you an inkling of what it's like.  The Doi Suthep Temple complex up on the hill overlooking Chiang Mai is a most impressive wat, well worth the drive up the winding road and the climb up the 300 steps to the top.  The picture above shows part of it.

As Dick will attest, one of my favorite things to do is to watch people work, and that's one of the activities available in Chiang Mai!  We watched local artisans hammering designs into silver bowls, carving jade (most of  which is smuggled out of Burma on elephant back), making paper umbrellas starting with raw wood and pre-cut paper circles, painting colorful geometric designs on celadon pottery and converting freshly grown silkworm cocoons into silk thread.  Of course there were shops nearby to buy the finished handicrafts.   

Animal encounters are another regional specialty.  At a snake farm, we watched a snake handler taunt cobras into attacking him, and Witta had a 15 ft. python draped around her neck.  Although no longer used to do commercial work, Thailand's elephants have become a major tourist attraction.  We were treated to a show by the big guys and gals.  Several young mahouts washed a half dozen elephants in a big pond.  After being washed, the elephants did their stuff: work, like hauling and stacking logs, and tricks, like sitting up and holding trunks.  Eventually Dick and I hopped onto one elephant for a bumpy hour-long ride into the hills and through a small stream.  For the last half, Dick rode bareback with his legs tucked right in behind the elephant's big floppy ears.  All in all, the experience included lots of work done by man and beast, but none by us "rich" Americans.

It's the "hot" season in Thailand (a 3-season country, with "rainy" and "cold" being the others), so the evenings are warm, humid and rainless, with surprisingly few insects of any sort.  Chiang Mai has some great Thai (well, duh, what would you expect?) restaurants dotted along the river banks, complete with local musicians and ambiance.  We took in a leisurely dinner cruise one night.  Quite romantic, though it's probably fortunate there aren't lights on the river --  I don't think it's especially clean.  

One recommended outing is the dinner show at the Cultural Center.  Here traditional Thai dancers display their skills; the women dressed in costumes "telling" stories using small rhythmic foot movements and exotic hand positions, and the men in warrior mode, brandishing knives and flaming torches.  As we sat at the edge of  dance floor, little Margot was totally mesmerized.  Then she stood up and began gyrating to the music and imitating the women's intricate hand movements.  She was clearly ready to join in.  It seems she's already found a calling, at the tender age of two.

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