A Step Off The Beaten Path

Sorry folks. This post is a little long…

Strange that we’ve been in Thailand for only 14 days. We’ve been so busy trying to see and do and figure things out, that we’ve had very little down time. Given the vast number of unknowns (housing, eating, drinking, language, this blog(!), etc.), I’d say we’ve managed pretty well so far.

The excitement of it all has kept us pretty busy. However, for the past few days, Chiang Mai experienced unseasonably cold (low 50s) and rainy weather. Really. The locals are all saying this “cold” front is historic. I might add that heaters are non-existent in Thailand. So we’ve doubled-up on blankets courtesy of the hotel. Since we didn’t really pack for colder weather, we’ve been staying inside, which has really slowed us down and given us a chance (read “forced us”) to catch our breath. It never ceases to amaze me how we Americans tend to speed up our pace of life…all voluntarily.  Hunkering down has also enabled us to kick-start the whole home schooling thing. See Anna’s recent blog post for one assignment :-).  More on home schooling in future posts!

So I mentioned the walking streets last post. We just attended the Sunday Walking Street, a night market in which 1km of streets are blocked off and converted into a massive market from 4pm to midnight. The Sunday Walking Street is a showcase of the art and craftsmanship of the Northern Thai people. Many of the stall vendors make and sell their own products. It was no small feat resisting the temptation to buy lots of things we couldn’t possibly hope to bring home (in one piece anyway). One section of the market seemed to focus on food, and the choices were so vast and various that I felt overwhelmed. Ultimately, Evan and Lori ordered a chocolate chip waffle that they agreed was among the best they’ve ever eaten. I settled on a simple Pad Thai meal and a serving of bacon wrapped enokitake mushrooms (Yum!), Anna had pot stickers, and Gage ordered himself a sausage. We’ve been warned many times and have subsequently been very careful of what we put in our mouths. However, we weren’t careful enough, as Gage’s sausage came back to bite him. No worries though. He recovered quickly! 😉

Start of the food section of the Sunday Walking Street

Now that the weather has warmed up a bit, we decided to head out and explore again. Everyone had been telling us that we need to take a trip up the mountain to visit Wat Doi Suthep (Mount Suthep), widely regarded as the most magnificent temple in Chiang Mai. So we did!

The base of the Naga Serpent Staircase – 300 steps to the top. Note all the people climbing the stairs behind us!

I can see why this temple is held in such high regard. It’s absolutely beautiful! I’ve never been surrounded by so much gold!

We made it to the top. The Pagoda at Doi Suthep.

We entered one of the various shrines with a Buddhist monk seated along our left. The sign said “please kneel when taking photo”. I hadn’t planned on taking a photo, but figured it would be a respectful for us to kneel. Just as Anna, Evan and I kneeled down, the monk began dipping a small bamboo brush into a bowl of water and then spraying devotees (including us!). And then he said “have long life” and “have good luck”. Not sure quite why, but it felt good, and the kids thought it was so cool to be blessed by a monk!

Kneeling and receiving a blessing from a Buddhist Monk

After a busy day of home schooling and various outings, the kids wanted to take a break and watch a movie.

Movie night, complete with popcorn!  We saw The Intern. Funny

Eating out one night, we took a recommendation to eat at a traditional Thai restaurant and partake of a traditional Northern Thai meal. See below image (clockwise from left): special fried rice (fried rice and stuffed sausage in an egg wrap), green chile “dip” appetizer (you dip the veggies in the green chile), fried rice with more stuffed sausage, spicy chicken with morning glory (green beans), chicken curry soup, 3 sprites and tea – $540 Baht ($15):

A Northern Thai meal

Next up, Thai cooking school on Sunday, Elephant Mahout Training and Trek on Tue/Wed, Chiang Rai a few days after that, and then it’s off to Laos and some sort of Gibbon monkey experience in tree houses (not quite sure what that one is all about yet – Lori set it up). Until next time . . .