The Anatomy of a Perfect Day, Part 1 of Many

What makes for a great day?  How often do you go to sleep and think, “wow, that was really a good day!”?  Food, relaxation, exploration, meeting interesting people, and feeling at the right place at the right time are all ingredients I need.  Here is one great day I had, although since I arrived in Chiang Mai, I have had many!

Woke up unsure how to spend my day.  Ate a banana and got some tea at the hostel.  Decided to head to the Hill Tribe Museum so I could learn about the ethnic groups in the area.  On the way to the Lonely Planet designated bus stop, hop into a huge Wat, or temple, which is beautiful and covered in gold, green and blue.  Hear monks chanting inside the main temple which is painted red inside, and see local men wearing rope tied in a circle around their head as a sign of something holy; the rope was attached to a square of ropes (like a rope matress) above their heads, connecting everyone.  Unsure if I should take a photo, so after seeing a foreign couple do, I discretly do the same.

Outside I meet the foreign couple, who is from Argentina and very friendly.  We take photos of each other next to the chedi, or round sacred temple monument, which is white with elephant sculptures at the bottom.  I walk towards the bus stop, getting a red bean bun on the way which I put into my pack and forget about til evening.  Can’t find any bus stop or busses, so walk in the direction I think the bus would go.  Mini taxis stop and ask if I want a ride, but they are charging too much so I stubbornly keep walking in the heat.  Darn Lonely Planet (or is it me?).  Give up and hop in a mini taxis after negotating a price.  The driver takes me to the museum which is closed for renovation.  So much for trying to be an educated traveler!  He gives me a piece of candy to make me feel better.  Negotiate again and ask him to take me to the Fair Trade shop which was far and a bit hard to find.

The fair trade shop gives a fair wage to the hill tribe people who makes all the beautiful handicrafts they sell.  Ten Thousand Villages buys from them.   The sales clerk is super nice and I spend about an hour and a half chatting and looking at everything.  The air conditioning felt good too.  I took a photo of her and her cute neices.  Each hill tribe is known for a different kind of stichwork and I like it all.  In the end only buy a few things, knowing I have to carry it in my small stuffed backpack.   She recommends a vegetarian restaurant around the corner which I appreciate, as most of the street food is not veg and I am not having an easy time eating here.  I can only take so much pad thai!   Perhaps I am the only one in the world not in love with Thai food, with notable exceptions of  curry, and mango with sticky rice.  I have seen a few veg restaurants I can check out but they are more pricey than street stalls.

The ladies who run the restaurant were very happy to have me eat at their establishment.  I choose green curry, red rice (they don’t sell white), Chinese greens, and tofu and veggies for about 80 cents.  It’s all yummy.  The women are curious and eager to talk to me, but we had a slight language barrier.  The one woman would say a perfect English phrase but not quite understand my answer.  Maybe she learned it at school.  She was Buddhist and happy to hear I was a vegetarian and going to study meditation.  I had a great time  with them and even took a photo when I left.

As I walk in the direction of town, I stop at mechanic and ask if he could cut the lock off of two zippers clasps.  I forgot the combination, but was able to safely remove the two clasps with the lock from my backpack, showing it wouldn’t be so hard to break into my pack.  Success!  He cuts it off and gives me the clasps intacts and doesn’t charge me anything.

Find my way into a cool art gallery partially owned by a friendly New Zealander who spent 25 years working for the International Red Cross all over the world, including 3 years in Myanmar (where I am considering going).  She offers me all sorts of advice on Chiang Mai and Myanmar.

Stop into a tea shop, a few fancy souvenier shops, and down a busy touristy street while I eat a grape popsicle.  Relax at the hostel before meeting a British gal I met the night before and we head to a night market among hundreds of locals and foreigners alike shopping for food, souveniers, and kitch they don’t need.  Stop at a noodle stall on the way home.  Repeat next day, but replace above with a Thai cooking class where I learned to make curry, pad see yew, coconut soup, papaya salad, and coconut with banana.