Ahhhhhhhhh Chiang Mai, Thailand! I'm not normally a city lover, but I'm in love! There is plenty going on here for a city in Northern Thailand and half the time you forget where you are when you see Macdonalds, Starbucks and 7 Eleven! Everything is in English and everyone speaks some understandable English so its soooooooo easy to get around. When i got off the plane the familiar smell of Asia brought back memories of going to China in 1988, but so much is different here than what i remember. The streets in 1988 were a sea of black hair with everyone riding bicycles...and now, everyone is on motorbikes/scooters! They travel as a family of 4 sometimes and even include the family dog! I even saw a 3 year old steering other day! I ride my bicycle (not scooter) to school and i have to say it has been the most exciting, liberating and memorable part of my trip so far. The streets appear crazy and hectic but once you are riding along you realized it is organized chaos....just like the culture here, everyone works together. Everyone watches out for each other and are used to all forms of transportation on the streets, so you can ride with confidence knowing people will just go around you. It works just perfectly, and if there is any moment of confusion and you cross the same path as someone else, they just smile and laugh at you as you work it out and safely pass each other. Not like at home, if you cross someones path they are so intensely focused on where THEY are going, they get pissed at you for getting in THEIR way! None of that here, just peaceful, happy traffic... can you imagine???
I am half way through my Thai Massage training now and loving it! Every morning at 9 my class of 10 meets at the beautiful Sunshine Thai Massage School that is on the most quite street off the busy highway...its like magic when you turn off the highway and arrive in serenity. We open the day with our beautiful teacher Dot's singing and prayer. But it isn't long until we are sweating in the 45 degree heat, pummeling, twisting. stretching and kneading each other on the mats! Dot will cool us down by spraying us with flower water and distracting us with her funny tell-it-like-it is comments! Thai Massage is a very active form of massage where you take the client through yoga postures passively, while massaging them with your palms, knees, elbows and feet. Needless to say i have gotten to know my fellow students quite well in a very short time.
My class is full of the most beautiful, smorgasbord of people! Slowly through the week we have been starting to meet up after class to share dinner or cool off at the pool. I have even met another Canadian, Theresa (Tree) from Whitehorse! We get along famously and we have been the best shopping buddies at the famous Chiang Mai markets.
Today i completed a cooking class where i learned how to make curry paste, mango sticky rice, pad Thai, fish cakes, chicken curry...and more! My belly is so full but so satisfied. My favorite thing to do here is to wonder through the markets and see all the glorious and interesting food. So many new flavors and food combinations...its endless! Thai's LOVE sugar so many things are sweet...but they balance that off with the spice and I learned today in cooking class that "spicy make you sexy"...but i didn't need to know that to be convinced that a thai diet is the way to live. Yum yum....sweet coconut milk, juicy mango, spicy curry and to wash it all down with iced tea or thai iced coffee with condensed and coconut milk. HEAVEN! And the best part of it all is any meal out at a restaurant will not cost you more than $5...i usually eat for under $3!!
Tonight i wonder the markets again with Tree and i'm sure it will turn into another marathon like last night - 4hours of endless streets of magnificent crafts, food, clothes, shoes, homewares, fairy lights...anything you can think of. Its a sea of people and i'm happy to be amongst it.
Its the slow season here and I now know why...the heat is almost unbearable! I am paying a little more for my room of luxury...POOL, air conditioning and fridge and i feel like i'm living extravagantly until i make the conversion and realize i'm paying only $16/night!
The melting humid heat, the sweet and spicy food, the noisy and polluting traffic and the happy-go-lucky people, i'm in love!!!!
So who's wants me to cook them dinner and give them a massage???????
