Sawasdee สวัสดี

Wonder what a VIP class bus is? We were curious about it ourselves and it turned out to be very similar to buses we took in Argentina several years ago - 24 huge seats that remind of the 1st class on an airplane and can be almost completely reclined, a steward that gives out snacks and breakfast in the morning, a stop in the middle of the night for dinner (people aactualy got out of the bus and went to eat at 1.30am!), movie in Thai with no subtitles and with full volume ...

Check out the pink ribbons and heart-shaped pillow!

So this was our fancy mean of transport for getting to Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai, "the new city" in Thai, is not a small town, it is in fact the second largest city of Thailand but compared to the Bangkok hassle it has a nice village-like feel to it. Sure,the

traffic is terrible here as well and it is such a rush to try to cross the street, but still it feels much more relaxed, people smile more and were it not for the heat we would probably like it here a lot. Yes, the heat... It looks like it will take us some more time to get used to it. D got a bit of a heat stroke after the first day here, and has been feverish since, lets hope he'll get over it soon. It's strange, everybody on the street looks like they're having the time of their lives and I'm thinking that all I know is that I haven't stopped sweating since I woke up.

Chiang Mai is a city full of tourists and made for them. Everyone owns a hostel, organizes a tour or sells bus tickets, literally everyone. It is a must stop for all the tourists that come to Thailand, it is easily accessible and very friendly, the food is great, there are many possibilities for easy trekking around and (in theory) the temperatures are lower that those of Bangkok. And it is very, very cheap. That is why Chiang Mai is also very popular with expats, mostly retired, who come here to live like kings with their British, American or German pensions. And why shouldn't they... If we live long enough to ever actually retire, we might look for something inexpensive and nice (and cooler) too.

There is a certain category of expats that we noticed in Bangkok already but is much more common and visible here, the so called sexpats. An older white man accompanied by a Thai girl/lady/boy (we've seen those in Bgk only), that's the pattern ... At first I found it repellent but hey, in the end they're both consenting adults and both know what they are giving to the relationship and what they are getting from it.

We decided not to do any of the typical things people usually get to do here, we took no cooking class nor did we go on any of the million tours offered (how can you possibly manage to go see an 'authentic' tribal village, do rafting and trekking, and ride an elephant in just one day??). Instead we took it slow since D wasn't feeling too hip, and wandered around the city and its Buddhist temples, aka wats. There really are hundreds of them, from the important ones like Wat Phra Singh or Wat Chedi Luang to those with no name and no tourists around. It is a shame we could only visit them at the end of the afternoon right before the sunset when the temperatures weren't so high.

Wat Phra Singh

Wat Chedi Luang

One morning we took a local taxi, the red saengthaew, to the Wat Phra Doi Suthep, a temple overlooking the town at the altitude of 1073 meters. Despite the masses all around and a bit disappointing view it was one of the nicest spots in Chiang Mai and we definitely recommend it. Just get ready for a little arguing about the price for the taxi and for a very twisting road up.

Wat Phra Doi Suthep

On our way down we dropped by the WonGen Kafe to leave a message for my American friend Len who is visiting Thailand just now. I was hoping to coincide but he is in a village 3 hours drive from here building houses for the local kids and won't come back until next week, so at least I left a note for him there, hopefully it'll reach him. If you are ever in the neighborhood, stop by the cafe, they cook real well, their smothies are awesome and they let you hang around there for as long as you like without bothering you and your sick-looking boyfriend at all. It is close to the zoo and right in front of the Chiang Mai University.

And we found another place indoors to survive the warmest hours of the day....

Ready for the X-rays

It is time for a full disclosure... You might have noticed the bandage on D's hand on one of the pictures we published before. He slipped and fell while still in Tokyo, and hurt his wrist but did not go see any doctor. Since it is still a bit painful we decided to go to the hospital here in Chiang Mai. Laos or Cambodia aren't very famous for their healthcare but Thailand is and so we thought better have it checked here. There was nothing too special about the visit itself, no horror story from a 3rd world country, the hospital was very modern and well prepared for foreign patients, they even had the entrance form in English, something unthinkable in Spain at least! And the results: a small fracture to the joint that would have been best cured in a plaster of two or three weeks. But carrying the backpack with the plaster starting well above the elbow would be impossible, so a simple bandage and some rest will have to do the trick. Cross your fingers!

What to do after a long day of hospitals and wats? Get a foot massage! 1 hour for 4 euros, who can say no to that!

She worked me well

Before we head north up to the green valleys around Soppong, there is one more thing to do. We said we didn't try anything touristic around here but that's not entirely true. One of the main reasons for coming to Chiang Mai was to get a chance to see elephants! Not to ride them or watch them do tricks for the organized tours, but to spend some time around them and learn something while doing so.