I'm sure a lot of you have heard me say before "a city is a city is a city". It's been my experience that they are all the same no matter where you go in the world, big buildings, lots of traffic, starbucks, and english signs everywhere. I'm not so sure i can use that saying anymore, as Chiang Mai has shown me a few things to prove otherwise...It all started out with a joke i heard ... A canadian girl goes into a bar in Thailand and an elephant walks in... oh ok wait - that's not a joke! Hands down the strangest experience of my life. After a dinner out with the English boys we headed to a bar on the main street so they could play pool. The bars are set up with only 3 walls and the front is open to the street. i was sitting down taking pictures of the nightlife when an elephant walked into the bar. i'm not sure if i've ever been so shocked at anything before - it was just so weird! After i got past being mind-boggled i realized how truly sad it was, the poor baby elephant trapped into a brutal life. Mirrored with that was the thai girl-boy hooker who was near by trapped into a brutal life of selling his/her body for money. I watched for about an hour as western men were lured into bars where thai girls flirted with them for awhile until you saw them both jump on a scooter, only for the girl to return later to repeat the practice yet again.
I haven't been up to too much still in the city. Yesterday I wandered around trying to take in some of the 300+ temples, and tried to make it up into the mountains to see what is supposed to be one of the most beautiful temples in northern thailand. that didnt really work out due to a tuk tuk driver who decided he didn't want to go any further and dropped me off on the outside of the city. then it started to pour and i flagged down a taxi, showed him on the map where i wanted to go, and he just said no and drove away! for as much as the taxi drivers harass you here it's unbelievable that he did that! needless to say i spent about 5 hours walking in the rain getting lost in the city. thank god i paid for hot water at my guesthouse! On the bright side i got to explore the ENTIRE city and enjoyed almost every minute of it.
Today I signed up for a cooking class which was absolutley amazing! I couldn't have been happier. We stopped by the local market and i got a tour of what everything was, then we went into the "suburbs" of chiang mai to the cooking school which was an open-air set up with our own personal stoves. The food was unbelievable and the teacher was fabulous, made me want to study cooking at a thai school! I got the most amazing picture of when i was learning how to "adventure cook" as my thai teacher called it - which involved oil, water, and a HUGE flame!
Plans for the next few days are up in the air. i wanted to head north to a town called Pai and do some treks from there into the jungle but this typhoon has been causing a lot of rain and i dont think i'm fond of mudslides. but maybe i will be tomorrow! this is what i get for coming in the rainy season!
if i've done this right i think this link should take you to some photos ...
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=8562&l=dd500&id=508333320
