Bye Bye Chaing Mai
Some how it already feels long ago that we were in Chaing Mai. My favorite thing in Chaing Mai was the day Anika and I went to cooking school. It was so well organized and presented and I learned a lot about Thai culture. Going through the market with some one who could explain what everything was really great. I now know about the 15 kinds of rice for sale and why some are cheaper or more expensive than others, among other things. And that stuff I thought (or wanted to think) was fermented tofu is actually cooked chicken blood. Yum. Hopefully to can replicate what we made when we get home from the recipe book we got as part of the class.
I also found out in Chain Mai that Dave can be a shop - a - holic. Who knew, at home it is almost impossible to shop with him as he just wants to go in, get what you need and get out, no looking around. But he went nuts in the night market in Chaing Mai. He bought 6 pairs of pants, 2 shirts and a new day pack, and more. I lost count and I did not join him and Anika on every shopping outing. I did buy a couple of things but I was overwhelmed by all the choices. We sent our first package home form Chaing Mai of stuff we have accumulated but don't want to carry. I hope it really gets there as we sent it regular Thai air mail which they say should take a month.
Dave also got a massage in Chaing Mai that it has taken him almost two weeks to recover from. He asked for firm and this small woman almost brought him to tears he said. Hopefully he will say more in his blog. Anika and I got manicures and pedicure and foot massage instead. I almost fell asleep in the chair.
I expected toenjoy Chaing Mai more based on what others had told me about their advetures here. But I still prefer Lampang to anywhere else we have been.
Lamai Guest House
Well it was a long hall to get there, a night bus from 8:30pm till 8:00am or so. Then a lay over at the beautiful Kohrat bus station till 11:30 and finally another bus to Si Da. Si Da is basically a cross roads of two highways. Jimmy from the home-stay was supposed to pick us up there. So we waited. We had called him and tried to call several more times on our new Nokia cell phone. Only once did it seem like some one picked up and may have heard us. Anyway after two hours Jimmy shows up. And he gives us a hard time about not being where we were supposed to be when we were supposed to be and the route we took to get there and this and that. Not a great start. Jimmy is from Wales and has been living in Thailand for 15 years. We figured out he's about 58 or so. So we spent a week almost hearing his take on every thing Thai as we shared his home with him, his wife Lamia and their two daughters.
They live in Kophet the village where Lamai grew up. Kophet is a very small village of about 700-800 people although most people of working age no longer live there. They live in Taiwan, Singapore or a big Thai city where they can make more money. But their parents and children live in the village. The main economy of the village used to be rice farming. Rice farming is still very important but its labor intensive and mostly old people are left to do it. The best part about being in the village was that it was quiet and slow. It was also beautiful. After three cities in a row I really liked taking a walk after dinner passing the rice paddies and watching the fire flies come out.
We were there for six nights. Some of the highlights were:
Phimi a ruin that was part of the Angkor Wat Khmer era. It was started in 900AD and completed in 1200, although thing were added and changed after that as well.
We went to the zoo and water park in Korhat. Everyone else was Thai and it was clear they did not see many foreign tourists here. I am not a zoo person but this was a great zoo. Almost all the animals had large outdoor enclosures. It was nothing like zoos I have seen in other “developing” countries. (But then Thailand is much more developed than many of the developing countries I have visited.)
We learned to weave baskets from bamboo from one of the two men in the village who still does it by hand. He also weaves all the fish traps used to catch fish from the rice paddies.
We learned about silk weaving and wove a scarf. Spending two days in the silk weaving village with the women who continue a dying art was the highlight of the time at the home stay for me. We observed the entire process fomr sild moth cacoon to finished product. We even ate the caterpillars that are in the cacoon like they do, not very tasty or bad, sort of salty, I don't feel the need to eat more. It took all day to weave one scarf 16 in by four ft. It takes focus and more energy than I imagined. I am sending the scarf I made home and I hope it gets there or I will be really sad. Our teacher who you can see in the photo was chewing and spitting beetle nut all day. At one point her back was bothering her so I gave her a little massage. She talked (like many people here) to me on and off all day even though I couldn't understand a word.
We visited the village school. Lots to say about this of course, but I think it will have to be another entry.
We walked around the village and observed village life; planting rice, hearding cows, kids playing after school etc.
I think we all liked the home stay overall. But we got tired of Jimmy's smoking and opinion on everything Thai. He doesn't eat Thai food or speak the language and after 15 years that seems unfortunate. His opinions were some times interesting but he seemed to enjoy telling us about every negative thing that could happen in Thailand from political corruption, to traffic accidents, to tourist fatalities of various kinds.
Next stop Ko Chang island and the beach!
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