Jodi and Carl, Thai//Burma border, Winter 2007-08

Flight:
28 hours in transit and we all survived. Highlights: several extremely long movies (Hairspray, Live Free or Die Hard, Shoot 'Em Up, Bordertown), interesting documentary on Chinese politics today. Great bibimbop (native Korean dish with vegetables, meat, rice, and chili paste) with seaweed soup. Four-hour layover in Seoul, where we created paper boxes, a traditional Korean craft.

Arrived in Chiang Mai sleepy, went through prolonged immigration screening. Two shuttles picked us up.We woke up guesthouse staff, smelled the honeysuckle in the garden, and were lulled to sleep by the moped traffic on the road outside at 3am.

Day 2: December 29
Woke up still slightly addled by jet lag. Most people went wandering through the streets. A few lucky ones found the local day market, with flowers prepared for temple-goers, stacks of spices and dried fish, sweets in banana leaves, candied water chestnuts which the vendor let us taste, pig faces, and the live birds in tiny cages. (We learned later that releasing these brings good luck.) We wandered into a less developed neighborhood--Chiang Mai waterfront property--and encountered an old woman who was watching a tortoise. She picked him up and encouraged us to pet him. (Note to parents: Yes, we pet. No, we didn't get bit.)

On every other block there was a wat, the name for the Buddhist temples, which are adorned, often with gold leaf, with the donations of patrons. In one wat, we heard a monk chanting so walked in where a group of people sat in chairs. We watched and listened for maybe 15 minutes before we realized we were party to a funeral. The people in back of us, we realized, all wore black. There was a framed photo of an older woman with a flowered garland. In the back: a casket. As we left, we asked a man with a black t-shirt and jeans if this was a funeral and he confirmed, with a broad smile, that yes, his 86-year-old mother had just died. Oops.

The whole group collected for lunch at Antique restaurant, where we ordered pad thai--the real thing of course, fried rice with pineapple served in a pineapple, pad ped (catfish curry) with an unnamed pea-looking spice or vegetable that was basically inedible, soup served in a green coconut, and other assorted dishes.

Then, our first excursion. Our shuttle took us up endless switchbacks to Doi Suthep, a magnificent wat overlooking Chiang Mai, where apparently half of Thailand was visiting that day. The parking line extended maybe for a mile. The wat stood at the top of a high set of stairs, where young Thais with guitars sang songs and asked for contributions to worthy causes. According to legend, an Indian king, as part of a religious rite, placed a relic of the Buddha on a white elephant, which wandered to the top of Doi Suthep and died of exhaustion. And so they built a wat there.

Up the stairs, a zillion tourists carrying white or red roses circumambulated the stupa, which was also lined with seven days' worth of Buddhas in seven different positions. Patrons were also prostrating themselves in front of various Buddha statues and offering incense and flower garlands. Monks sprayed water with short broom and tied white string around wrists as a blessing. Rows of bells inscribed with prayers were rung, reaffirming their prayers. The monks were selling candles, prayer flags, and prayers they wrote on paper that they would burn for you.

Next: more switchbacks to a native Hmong hillside village, which had been converted, somewhat anyway, into a tourist attraction. Fortunately we arrived at the end of the day when most tourists were leaving, so we were able to see the young Hmong boys play ball in the empty parking lot while older boys played basketball in a schoolyard. Overlooking the town stood a white temple structure. We tried to get there, avoiding the chickens that ran through the streets (Carl successfully overcoming his phobia) (the roosters were caged in overturned straw baskets) but ended up in field of old tires. We tried again, and ended up in the opium museum, which we refused to pay for. So we went down to the shops and wandered, finding a Tibetan prayer bowl that magically makes a beautiful sound, and bought an "electrolyte beverage," which tasted like corn syrup. Two others in our group found the right road to the temple and said it had beautiful flowers and a waterfall. A gorgeous pink sunset gave us the perfect ending for our excursion.

For dinner we wandered into a local restaurant. Dan, our trusty professorial leader, ordered a variety of dishes for us to try. (He had lived in Thailand for a year and his Thai is coming back, especially--luckily for us--concerning food.)

Dan went to get a massage, some of the women went to call or e-mail home, a few went off for Karaoke, and the bloggers blogged. Stay tuned. We'll be back.