Journey to Peace Village

I took the train up to Chang Mai from Ayutthaya. It took about 12 hours and cost less than 20 US dollars. A beautiful trip ascending through mountains. We went passed rice paddies, green green, rainforests, rivers and mountains under mist. I arrived at Chiang Mai at 8:30 pm in a rainstorm. The guesthouse was by the bustling nightmarket, but I was too tired to go out.

The next morning, I did some business, visitng the university and some language schools. Chiang Mai University is a huge, bustling campus very similar to UWM. I had some time finding the language department, but finally met Khun Sriwilai. The Thai language department is small, but the students get personal attention from an experienced teacher. The campus is interesting, a large group of students were doing exercises in the courtyard as I arrived. The Thai school year is just starting!

Later, I did some visits to the temples. Chiang Mai is a historic city full of Buddhist temples. It was the home of the first Royal dynasty of Thailand (well before Ayutthaya). The name Chiang Mai means "elephant city." Elephant motifs are everywhere.

At nightfall I went to the market. This is a fantastic experience. I saw a fantastic puppet show, see: http://www.youtube.com/user/maryecroy
It brought together a variety of people, Muslims, Buddhists and foreigners such as myself. Everyone was enchanted by the spectacle.

I bought some clothing and some food for the students. It's a fun place, except some of the women dressed in Hmong clothing are pretty aggressive. They follow you trying to get a sale.

There is a wide variety of tourism in Chiang Mai. Many restaurants are geared toward the Japanese, but there's also German, Chinese, Indian and Pakistani restaurants. Roaming the nightmarket is like visiting the UN.

I went past some rather dodgy looking "Karaoke" places fronted by women sitting "on display" in miniskirts. The places, with plenty of Japanese writing, featured pictures of the women in even racier clothing and provocative poses and bragged of special "VIP" rooms that could be rented for some private "singing time."
To end the evening, I found a massage place and got a traditional Thai massage. (Right next door to one of the karaoke places). You might think that the massage places would be sleazy; but most in the night market area seemed "legit." The place I went to was typical-- there are a group of masseuses from young to middle aged dressed in yellow polo shirts with the royal emblem and loose fitting pants. You can get a good massage for about 10 dollars an hour. Thai massage can get rough though as they do a lot of chiropractic type pulling and manipulating of the limbs and put the full weight of their hands and elbows on the back to get rid of tension. I chose one with "an herbal compress" which is a ball with herbs. It's steamed and put on sore spots and the joints of the body. After the full treatment I got a great night's sleep.

Labels: Chiang Mai, medicine, Thai culture