Actually, as so often happens with real postcards, this one isn't being written from Chiang Mai, but instead from a rather luxurious suite on the 52nd floor of a hotel in Bangkok. Yes, I seem to be back in Bangkok but this time only a pit-stop. And, a luxurious, pampered one at that. But that's for a different postcard. This one's about Chiang Mai.
So, I arrived in Chiang Mai on Wednesday evening. Took a taxi direct to the hotel I had been recommended and thankfully they had room. Oh, it seemed so lovely in comparison to Ananda! A huge bed, an actual duvet (oh, to not have just a simple sheet, it was sooo amazing!), air conditioning, TV, lovely oak wood furniture. The hotel, Awana House, was very sweet, everything seemed good.
Thursday, I decided to explore. I walked around a bit, batting off the tut tut drivers and those who wanted to know where I was from, and stumbled across a Wat or two to wander around. After a while, it got boring though, and the heat was intense. So, I took a tut tut to the local market, recommended by the hotel. The tut tut experience was far more positive than Bangkok, less fumes in your face, nicer scenery. But the market?! Not full of lovely Thai artetacts as I had hoped, but instead, cheap clothes, flowers, and the scent of meat and fish left out in the sun too long... Not what I wanted. So, another tut tut. This time to the mall. I don't know, once a mall rat, always a mall rat?! I felt far more at home, air conditioning, name brands, and ummm, a cinema! The afternoon was spent pleasurably watching Public Enemies and admiring the wonderful Johnny Depp! :)
But it kind of confirmed what I had been thinking... I am not cut out for this travelling lark. I am a tourist, not a traveller. I like my comforts and I don't like to rough it. And, left to my own devices, I will prefer to spend time in a place that reminds me of home (e.g. the mall) rather than tenaciously exploring the local vicinity...
So, that evening, plans were made...
Friday I took it easy. And I'm glad I did, as mid-morning a knock at my door brought Karen (from detox) into my holiday. It was nice to spend some time with someone else, not be by myself all the time. Friday night we went to the night market together; I probably went a little overboard, but was quite restrained by my normal standards!!!
Saturday was thai cooking class. Excellent! Since I came here (and have been able to eat!) I've fallen in love with Phad Thai, and now I know how to cook it!! It takes 5 mins and is my new comfort food, containing rice noodles, no wheat! And tofu, and bean sprouts and veggies, and very healthy! I can also cook a 3 course meal of spring rolls, green curry and sticky coconut rice with mango. I think my guests will be very impressed... That is, when I have a kitchen of my own to cook in!
Sunday was elephants. Or, it was supposed to be elephants all day, and instead was elephants for half a day. I don't know exactly what it was, but somehow I didn't want to be there. So, I came back. The problem started on the way to see the elephants. We were walking through the rice paddy fields, and the path was very narrow, sometimes helped out by some bamboo (which made your ankles twist), or a plank of wood. It was when we came to a thin plank of wood that looked very fragile, taking us across a large dip with a foot or so of water beneath. I stepped on. And then I couldn't step forward. And I couldn't move back. This has never happened to me before, but I am evidently turning into my mother (Mum, I love you!) and developing vertigo of some sort. Starting to panic, I didn't know what to do. I simply couldn't move. Eventually, of course, help arrived and I negotiated the 'bridge' and the rest of the 'trek' to the elephants...
But my state of mind had become undone.. and the first thing I see in an undone state of mind... the elephants were chained around one leg. And only one of them had both tusks intact. I found it very distressing. The elephants only remained chained whilst we were 'feeding' them with bananas and sugar cane, and it was explained to me that before the elephants had come here they had been mistreated and the ivory stolen, or the elephants themselves had lost their tusks in an accident. But, to me, I just felt badly. Whilst we, as tourists, were providing the money to care for these elephants, and apparently 70% of what we paid went directly to the elephants, I couldn't get it out of my mind that the elephants were akin to circus animals, here to entertain the tourists. And it didn't seem right. It was more right than previously when the elephants in Thailand were made to be work horses or mules, carrying the stones that made the temples that adorn the country everywhere (even Buddhism has its ugly side!) but it still didn't seem right. The elephants should be able to roam free.
So, with this in my head, playing my role of happy tourist wasn't going to happen! I had thought the day was more about feeding/bathing and caring for the elephants but it appeared it was more about riding them... And to get on, you had to grab hold of the poor thing's ear. And once on, take a long stick with a hook at the end, and jab the thing at the top of its ear and in its head. No, this wasn't going to happen! I did get on. But after that, I was determined not to get on again, not to ride, and to go home. So I did.
Sunday night was another night market - but far better than the bigger nightly one, this one was once a week (on a Sunday strangely enough!) and lots of more wide-ranging, better quality fare for sale. And for dinner, we went to one of the more expensive resorts for a civilised dinner. It was delicious, not too expensive, and quite strange to eat without the sound of traffic in the background!
Today, I came to Bangkok.
I liked Chiang Mai. It's a nicer city than Bangkok, more manageable, cleaner. But I doubt I'll be back.
