Chiang Mai impressions

I seem to have started very fast and then simply stopped here in Chiang Mai. I have spent a week in this city. It is not too big, but also not a straight forward city. I did spend a fair amount of time in my room trying to calm an over exuberant tummy, but I also slowly explored this city. I was quite upset on the first night I went out into the night bazaar and found a perverse Disneyland of t-shirts tailored to tourists. It reminded me of that song, 'Love for sale', where you can buy young love, old love, any kind of love but true love. But something in me decided to give it a chance. And the next night, I found the market that the locals go to. I also found a row of more upmarket shops along Charenras Road. I am particularly fond of The Gallery, an old Chinese wooden shophouse, which is now an upmarket gallery and restaurant. The food is good and reasonably priced.

I find the temples in Chiang Mai beautiful. And even though it is a tourist destination, Wat Doi Suthep in the hills outside Chiang Mai is still worth the visit. I find the rich gold on red walls elegant. And it has been hard for me to ever find gold elegant. And the buddhist statues of saints and the buddha, slowly being covered in fluttering gold leaf, seems to reflect that one does not reach enlightenment unscathed, intact, but via a path of imperfect trials and tribulations. And there is humor here too. At the front of what is proclaimed 'The Centre of local Culture of Wat Pupparam', is a life sized statue of Donald Duck. And it little shrines all over the city, are toys amongst the religious figures. But the ultimate sense of humor must be their religious new year, Songkran! This must be the largest water fight in the world, and it lasts about a week! I have never seen so many super soakers and pails in one place before. And everyone gets into it from the kids to uncles and grannies. I think life, via Songkran, is trying to tell me to loosen up. Life should not be taken too seriously. And with so many people on the streets, dancing and having fun, it is a potent message.

Oh yes. And thank goodness for Zip Lock bags! Essential for Songkrang.

In spite of the turmoil in Bangkok, and over twenty red shirt protesters dying, it is still peaceful here in Chiang Mai. I heard that there is unrest here too but I have not seen it. What I do find extraordinary is the grace of the people. There is very little hard sell here in Chiang Mai and I get a sense that the Tuk Tuk drivers are not as mercenary as those in Bangkok.

I have not explored the villages around Chiang Mai. I guess this is for another trip.

It may be the April heat, but Chiang Mai has left a mixed impression on me. I guess like any largish city, one must separate the wheat from the chaff.