Today was uneventful. In the morning we ate a quick breakfast and then headed out to an internet cafe to burn our pictures onto a CD. We also headed to Warorot Market, perhaps Chiang Mai's main market. This wasn't a tourist market, so it was mostly food and essentials for daily living. Think of a 3-tiered Giant Wal-Mart that takes up about 1.5 city blocks and around which vendors sell stuff on the sidewalks. The only difference is that it smells a bit more and you can buy entire pig heads. I have pictures.
Carrie: One neat thing, as we were leaving there were two girls who were at the front desk trying to get a room. Gap's was full, but we were checking out, so we showed them our bungalow and told them how great the cooking class was, good places to eat/check out. The one girls were just as enthusiatic about supporting a women's prison reform system and elephant conservation, and to hardly anyone surprise the one girl was from Portland. Ah Oregon!
Anyway it was just very cool to be able to pass our accumulated knowledge on and help out some fellow travelers in the same manner that we've been helped so many times this trip already.
After a lot of walking, we went to the bus station and caught an afternoon bus to Chiang Dao. The trip was 90 minutes and pretty comfortable. Chiang Dao is a small (I dunno, 6,000 people?), very non-tourist town whose primary interest to travelers is a base from which to explore some nearby caves. Chiang Dao is just one stop on a bus that kept going, and we were the only ones to get off there. We were let off on their equivalent of Main Street, and because no one else got off, we just had to wing it to figure out what to do. We had already made reservations at our guesthouse, but all guesthouses in Chiang Dao are closer to the caves than the town, and that means that we were at least a mile or two away from the guesthouse.
Our guidebook said that catching a taxi would be easy, but it wasn't. Think of the last time you were in a town of 6,000; how many taxis did you see cruising the streets? Yep, not many. Granted, Thailand generally has more than the states, but I've since learned that the "taxis" here run a few set routes a day and you need to call them to pick you up if you need to go somewhere off the route.
I needed a haircut anyway, so we walked with the idea that we would either hit a taxi or a barber before too long. The barber was first up, and I felt much better with a shorn head. But, we were still wandering and hoping a taxi would pass by.
Before too long, a kind shop-owner spied the confused Americans and offered help. Luckily, he understood "Chiang Dao Rainbow," the name of our guesthouse. Then he talked on his cell for a minute, motioned for us to stay put, hopped on his motor scooter, and took off. He returned 5 minutes later, and again motioned for us to stay put. Sure enough, a taxi soon followed.
The taxi quoted us a price that was much higher than we expected (150 baht), considering we paid 200 for a 20 km journey from Chiang Mai to Doi Suthep just a couple of days ago. We started negotiating the price (which is standard operating procedure for the pick-up truck taxis we encountered in Chiang Mai), and immediately sensed something was wrong. Apparently, negotiating in Chiang Dao is a little more touchy than in the big cities. We ended up paying 140, but the look on the face of the man who helped us suggested we crossed some boundary of decorum. I felt bad.
That night, at the guesthouse, we splurged on a nice, 4-course Thai dinner. At dinner, we had the sudden realization that although Chiang Dao is only a 90-minute, very slow bus ride north of Chiang Mai, it has a very different climate. Rather than nighttime temperatures of low 70s that we had in Chiang Mai, it gets down into the low 50s at night. Here's the kicker: our bungalow is a "traditional" Thai-style teak house. And in case you didn't know, "traditional" means "sans-heat." We asked for an extra comforter, and needed it. I slept with a bandana on my head to keep warm.
Carrie: Mong kun, the co-owner of our guesthouse is taking some trekkers up the mountain. I think they camp out for part of it. You wouldn't get me sleeping outside in this cold. It's hard enough getting out from under the covers in the morning.
Eric: On the plus side, the scenery is maginifcent. Internet access in Chiang Dao isn't as convenient as in Chiang Mai, so we might not be able to post pictures immediately, but when we do I'm sure you will be stunned.
Carrie: Here's what our little bungalow is like. The whole thing is up on thick wood beams, with a small porch out front. The room is decorated with finely stitched wall hangings in the Hill tribe style, as well as a hill tribe traditional X stitch quilt. The four poster bed looks charming and rustic with the gauzy mosquito net. (Although Eric will gleefully tell you that he has not seen any blood suckers since coming further north.) There are two wicker lounging chairs and a small table, now completely covered in travel sized bottles, papers, vitamins, mini locks, bug spray, etc. Open to all sides, except our bathroom (yes, regular plumbing.) are wooden shutters which open fully to the stunning views, Doi Chiang Dao rising up out of flat rice fields. This is a place for relaxation.
There is a very interesting mix here of traditional and modern. You can hear the chatter of chickens along with the high decibal boom of someone's speakers. The song might be a wailing, sing-song Thai voice, but then in will come electrical guitar for the melody. There will be a prune skinned old man in loose flapping clothes looking as though he's just stepped from the cover of National Geographic with his toothless smile, And then his cell phone will ring. The juxtaposition is startling.
