Well, I just got out of the pool. I went for a quick swim. The best thing ever, is that we live in a building full of Thais. Yesterday, a girl went to her motorbike from the office, like 10ft. She put a pink parka with a fur lining on in order to go outside. In other words, I am in a bikini at 5:30 pm daily, in a swimming pool, in December. They are all looking at me like I am TOTALLY mad. There is never anyone in the pool but me.
My anxiety attacks are back, I am trying to deal with them. I am getting regular Thai massage now in order to help. I am only mentioning this to prove that the everyday gym trips I was doing, and the weekly yoga, was making a huge difference. Now that I am not doing these things, my anxiety is back. Now, I have to start making an effort again to go to the gym, and swim laps every day. I found a Thai massage place today, in the inner moat area, within the walls in a Wat. It cost 120baht, which is about $4 an hour. She was rough with me, and it really helped.
A couple days ago, we took the motorcycle up the mountain to Doi Suthep. We visited Wat Phra Doi Suthep at the top of the mountain. The view is impressive, as is the massive golden chedi. This is one of the most sacred and holy temples in all of Thailand. Entry cost 30 baht, and there is a tram if you do not want to climb the 307 steps.
This is from a travel website
Wat Phra That Doi Suthep is probably Chiang Mai's most important site for
visitors, and certainly its most visible. Wat Phra Borommathat Doi Suthep
nestles into the side of Doi Suthep some 3,000 feet above sea level amongst some
of the most picturesque scenery you are likely to encounter. Built by King
Gue-Na in 1383, the temple houses a large copper-plate Chedi (twenty-two meters
high) that is covered in gold and contains holy relics of the Lord Buddha. As
well as being a key tourism destination, the temple has considerable importance
and Buddhist pilgrims visit the site all year round. The temple has four chapels
and an important golden Buddha image is found at the temple.
The best part of the visit, is that we received blessing from a monk. He sprinkled on, well more like soaked us with, blessed water while chanting a prayer. Afterwards, he tied a white string bracelet in Mikae. I had another man, who was not a monk (monks cannot touch women) tie a more intricately knotted white string bracelet on my wrist. These bracelets have been blessed, and will, as the Thais believe, bring us luck. It was a beautiful experience. Definitely a highlight.
The ride up and down the mountain on the motorcycle was also a highlight. I took some video, for all those who have the stomach to watch.
We also took the motorcycle to Chaing Dao. It was a longer drive, maybe an hour and a half. The last 20km or so is extremely difficult, and not for a novice. Mikae has rider training and his Canadian Motorcycle license – which came in very handy. We were talking to an American about this, he said when he went up with his wife they saw people walking their scooters. The road is dirt and gravel, very windy, and a complete disaster at points. However, we did stop at the side of the road at one point to watch an elephant give itself a dust bath, which was interesting. We stopped in at Cafe Cafe, a lonely planet recommended restaurant, where Mikae chatted with the owner in French. Food was good and inexpensive.
The highlight of Chiang Dao was the cave complex which we visited, which is one of the major tourist attractions of the area. Now, I am generally claustrophobic, and not much of a “caver” but I tried. We hired a Thai guide with a lantern to take us through. It cost 100 baht, I think entry was 20 baht. She spoke very little English, so getting through the tour was a challenge enough, but she was a good sport and we had a great time. We got to use every Thai word we have learned sofar. The caves experience is very hot and sweaty, and you crawl through little caverns to get to the next area. I was mostly terrified. I found out later on the way out, that there is a much easier way to exit the caves, so if you needed to, in a hurry it wouldn't be such a production. The climbing and crawling is part of the experience. The rock formations are all named after things they resemble, for example: chicken, papaya, lotus, waterfall, elephant etc. It is truly incredible at at points the walls glisten with “diamonds”.(Please note that this could be a translation thing) It is breathtaking. The grounds around the caves, and the Wat, are all worth the tour as well. The tour guide in front of ours was giving a tour to Chinese tourists that had a mini boom box with them. We are observing glistening stalagmites, while Britney Spears songs echo throughout the chamber.
Food has been fantastic in Chiang Mai, and a welcome change in price from Phi Phi. Our two favorites are Ratana's Kitchen & MayKaidees. Both serve lovely vegetarian food. Prices are about 30-50baht per meal at both places. ($1-$2 approximately) Both also offer cooking classes. May Kaidees is spectacular, akin to Juice for Life back home. They serve Brown Rice, organically grown at a family farm. I am taking my classes from there. They are 1200 baht, the most expensive I have seen. Usually they run about 800baht. However, we ate lunch there the other day just as a couple was finishing up their class. The 10 dishes they made were on the table, and they let me sample one. The class was private, just the two of them, and five hours in length. It includes a trip to a Thai market, to help identify certain herbs and vegetables that we might not be familiar with. The ten dishes you learn are all 100% vegetarian, and they include all of my favorites like SomTam, Pad Thai, Massaman Curry and Cold Spring Rolls. The other classes I had looked into had “vegetarian options” but it is not the same. I was interested in classes at an Indian restaurant, until we tasted the food – which was awful. May Kaidee's has been fabulous both times we ate there. Generally, if someone focuses on only vegetarian for twenty years, chances are, the flavours have developed. This made my choice easy. Nikki sent me $30 for Christmas, so I am going to put it towards this class. Mikae doesn't want to come, so it might just be one-on-one. Well worth $40. I am very excited.
Two more places we visited that are worth a mention are the Huay Keaw Waterfalls. There are actually Two waterfalls, Pha Ngerb and Wang Bua Baan. The water cascades down a number of rocky ledges, with groups of Thai teens scattered on each having picnics. It is a beautiful area, with vendors outside selling fruit, roasted insects, beer, everything you need for a perfect afternoon. Its gorgeous, and a really nice spot. It is close to the university, so there are plenty of Thais in university uniform to chat with if you like.
Next to the waterfalls is the zoo. The Chiang Mai Zoo cost 100baht, or about $30. You can ride on an open aired bus for 20 baht, or take the monorail, which we didn't do. The zoo is pretty good, there are alot of animals. There are very insignificant barriers between you and the majority of the animals, which is slightly alarming. Other than a massive area designated as “open zoo” the animals are housed in terrifyingly small pens. After an entire day at the zoo, we witnessed many fights between animals. It seems as if each pen had a female and then two males, a younger one and an older, larger, dominant one. This caused a great deal of fighting. The Thais were eating it up, so we are pretty sure they do this on purpose. We saw two Asean Black bears seriously scrapping, and some extremely angry Hippopotamuses. To visit the Pandas is an extra 100baht. This is the upsell, so every path leads to the pandas. My camera died before I could take photos of me and all of the panda statutes everywhere. Heartbroken. Might return for Twilight zoo.
Today we visited the Dentist. I had a general cleaning and opted for a Flouride treatment. It cost me 900baht, or about $27. Luckily, I am cavity free. Mikae had a deeper clean, no flouride, and he has to return on Wednesday for three fillings. Fillings will cost about $20 each. We went to a place that appeared clean and sterile, and had a good brochure and website, and was full of Westerners – which is a good sign. The dentist did the cleaning rather than a hygenist. The hygenist simply assisted the cleaning. Good, thourough job. Flouride application was extra. The dentist got back from a recent 3 month trip to Canada. I thought that was fun.
For Christmas Eve, we are going to watch some movies and eat Pot-of-Noodle. Something Nicer tomorrow.
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