A Weekend in Chiang Mai

We just spent a long weekend in Thailand’s “Rose of the North” Chiang Mai. It is Thailand’s second largest city about 720km north of Bangkok. Chiang Mai is surrounded by mountains and there are many opportunities for hiking, biking, rafting, etc. However, we’ve had quite a few experiences hiking and visiting local villages so we spent our time relaxing, shopping and cooking. In our defense it was also raining most of the weekend. Here are a few highlights (and I think this time I will actually just stick to highlights and not describe every moment!):

• So we jumped into a taxi on the way to the airport – ha, ha just kidding – highlights only!
• Margaret had told me about a burger place called Mike’s, as she had been to Chiang Mai before. I think this was the thing I was most excited about. We got there late Friday night and it was pouring rain. But we braved the rain and made it to Mike’s – and I am so glad we did. I had the burger, fries and Singha combo meal. And it was the best burger I have had since I have been out here. I realize that isn’t much competition – but it was damn good. And the employees were talkative and funny as hell. They even got their groove on while cooking. We went back late night the next night as well.
• Chiang Mai, being surrounded by mountains, is quite beautiful. The old city is surrounded by a moat, which is kind of cool if you like moats and gates to the city and stuff like that (I do). Anyway – here are some scenes from Chiang Mai.
• Of course there are a lot of temples. And I guess Malaysians aren’t the only ones with the love of Donald Duck.
• Chiang Mai is a shopper’s paradise. There is a famous night bazaar, much like the one in Bangkok. Time for an aside: for those of you who have been to Suan Lum Night Bazaar in Bangkok, it is being closed! Honestly. And you probably don’t have to guess what is being built there – another Central Mall – ugh. There was an interesting article in the paper about how Bangkok has to be careful about losing all its unique things, like the night market. It pointed out how at mall you mostly see Thais and at the night markets you see mostly farang. So if Bangkok wants to continue to be a tourist destination it needs to stay unique. Anyway – Suan Lum was supposed to already be gone, but the shopkeepers refused to leave. Rumor has it that the Thai authorities won’t kick the shopkeepers out, but are going to put police at the entrances and not let people in. So far it hasn’t happened. We are trying to cover the whole night market in a few trips before it is closed for good. Back to Chiang Mai markets – there is also a Sunday market that rocks!
• Two food items: we frequented this great breakfast place – it was so good. The made their own yogurt – unreal. There is also an absolutely wonderful vegetarian place, AUM Restaurant – if you are there you must go – things like veggie spring rolls with carrot dipping sauce!
• I know that I shouldn’t admit this. But cats rock!
• Oh yeah, one more food item – the main thing we did in Chiang Mai was take a day long cooking class at the Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School. There were about 16 of us for the day, which began at a local produce market. We were split up into small groups and our instructors explained the different items we would be using. Then it was off to the school, where we had classroom time where the instructors demonstrated how to cook certain dishes.Then we gave it our best shot! We even got instruction from the owner, Sompon Nabnian, Thailand’s “International TV Chef.” So if you come visit us in Toronto we can make you any of the following: chicken in coconut milk soup, red curry with fish, fried mixed veggies with baby corn, fried big noodles with thick sauce and pork (what a name!), papaya salad (although we aren’t nearly as good as the papaya salad vendor on our Soi) and steamed banana cake. We also got a cookbook with a bunch more recipes so we might experiment on you.

So as promised, short and sweet. As our days are numbered in Bangkok (we leave the end of June) there probably won’t be very many more blog entries, so enjoy each and every last morsel!

Laos Part III - Sah Bah Dee Bee Mai!

Here is the last installment for Laos - and as promised it is much shorter, with far fewer pictures.

A Day in Savannakhet – How Getting Soaked Earns You Beer Lao
Before we get into the day's adventures, here is a little bit about Bun Pi Mai Lao (Lao New Year’s). Nik had told us a little bit about what to expect – basically getting soaked. The Lao New Year is started by the three day Songkan festival, which is basically a three day nationwide water fight! Note that Thailand does this as well. In Laos they keep it pretty fun and under control – we didn’t see anyone get angry over getting doused and nobody went overboard so to speak (with the exception of some falang of course). I hear it is quite different in Thailand, as it is the most violent three days of the year in Thailand! I guess in Thailand you need to be careful who you are soaking. To be fair I imagine the festival in Thailand is mostly fun and ruined by a few rotten apples. Thailand also has cities with much more population than all of Laos, so there is more chance of bad tempers. Anyway, we had an idea of what we were in for, but you’ll get a better idea if you keep reading.

We decide that it is going to be a lazy day as we need it. So we sleep in and then decide to just walk around Savannakhet and not get crazy and try to see everything. Our hotel is a ways from the heart of the city so we decide to walk and see the celebration. There isn’t too much going on in the morning, although we see these guys getting their food ready by cutting up a goat (I think). I read about a “baguette vendor” in the LP and really want to go there and try it. I can tell that Margaret thinks this is going to be “one of those” trips, but she humors me. We walk to where we think it should be but are not sure which place it is as there are a few that look similar. Anyway I check the map and figure out where we are by the church near us and then figure out where we need to be and we find it. The lady doesn’t speak English and we are a little worried so we order on baguette with just cheese and some coffee. And then we kind of just check things out. I get a little braver and since the LP said they made amazing breakfast baguettes I point to an egg and ask her for another one. She scrambles the egg and then adds unripe papaya and then asks if I want sauce. Before I can say no she is lathering the sauce on – two different sauces – one hot and one not. And was it a good thing she didn’t listen to me. It was the BEST breakfast sammich I have ever had. Honestly it was heavenly. So good. Here is a picture of me devouring it (can you tell that it is hot out?) and a picture of the vendor.We then walk around Savannakhet, which is a crumbling old colonial city. It has a certain laid back charm to it and all of the kids are out celebrating. And everyone is so nice – many people in their houses or at big parties wave and smile and yell “Sah Bah Dee Bee Mai!” (Happy New Year) – a few of them motion for us to join them. So the water festival is basically people (mostly kids) hanging on the side of the street with buckets of water, hoses, water guns, etc. and soaking motorbikes, cars and people that go by. It is pretty relaxed in Savannakhet (although I feel sorry for the people on motorbikes) and we are able to remain pretty dry as we walk around. Savannakhet, much like Vientiane, is right on the Mekong (with Thailand across the river) and so we head down to the river to see if it is as wonderful as in Vientiane. And it is pretty nice. We relax with some Beer Lao and water. And of course see just about the cutest kids. We decide to check out the market next, and it is a little bit out of town so we jump in a tuk-tuk. And it is on the tuk-tuk ride that we get doused pretty good for the first time. I get it worse than Margaret although I wasn’t completely drenched. It actually felt really good. When you get doused, the kids that douse you will yell Sah Bah Dee Bee Mai! And we yell it back. I mean, how is that not the best New Year’s celebration anywhere? The market is huge, but there once again doesn’t seem to be much there that is very unique or very Lao. However, the market is not super crowded and it isn’t hot either, so I like it just fine. And the people are all friendly and really interested in us. We walk by one group that is partying and they hold up a pitcher of Beer Lao to motion us to come over and have a beer. But of course when we come over they pull out the buckets of water! And they are really funny because they are so shy about dumping water on me. They basically look at me and motion to see if it is ok – and then they pour water over me. But then I get a glass of Beer Lao! It’s like the best, a little water to cool you down and some Beer Lao to cool you down even more. Too good. Just check out the smiles in the pictures.After the market we took a tuk-tuk back into town – and this time we managed not to get soaked. We stopped for some soup at a little café and then decided to walk back to the hotel. We knew we would have to have a strategy in order to make it back without getting soaked, so we kept crossing the street to avoid the water. But then we came to an impasse: there were kids on both sides of the street. So we decided to walk by the older kids (college age) and hope for the best. Of course they weren’t going to let us pass without some New Year’s cheer. And they were definitely more aggressive about it, but still they hesitated to make sure that we were ok with it. Anyway – we both got doused and then they gave us some Beer Lao. They were hilarious – having the time of their lives. One of them spoke passable English, and most of the others knew a few phrases. They told us to sit down and hang out with them for awhile. So we did. And they poured us both big glasses of Beer Lao and as we were about to take our first sip we both got destroyed with water. Two buckets poured over each of our heads – soaked all the way through. And then they kind of paused to wait for our reaction. Margaret and I looked at each other, laughed and then yelled Sah Bah Dee Bee Mai! And then it was onto the Beer Lao! Have I mentioned how much I love Laos?

We then went back to our hotel to rest and relax. By dinner time we were zombies and decided just to eat at the hotel restaurant. We had to get up really early the next day to catch a bus back to Vientiane. We were thinking that we would be able to get a VIP bus – one that has AC, a bathroom and makes very few stops. We figured we had experienced the local travel and could treat ourselves to a little comfort. But it was not to be. We ask the manager of the hotel about the buses and if we can get a VIP bus tomorrow. He shakes his head and tells us no VIP buses in the morning, only one every night. The LP had listed morning VIP buses, but I know things change quickly in Laos. So we could have taken that evening’s bus, but we had already paid for the room, needed a good night’s sleep and didn’t want to take an overnight bus and end up in Vientiane at five in the morning. So we decided that we would go local again in the morning. The manager phones the bus company for us and gives me the phone – there are buses every hour starting at 6am. So we decide to suck it up and take the 6am bus. We ask the manager if he can get us a tuk-tuk at 5:30am. He just shakes his head and says 6am. We are confused, so he jots down the bus times and draws a line between 6am and 7am. And I have no idea what this means, but he just says 6am tuk-tuk. So we figure whatever, we’ll just take the 7am bus then. I am thinking that the manager just won’t get up earlier than 6am and that is why he won’t get us an earlier tuk-tuk.

Dinner was pretty good. When we walked into the restaurant there were no customers and the family was sitting around watching a huge flat panel TV (they also had a PS2). When we walked in they jumped up and all went to their positions. Three of them went to the kitchen, one brought us menus and another one went and turned on the AC (which we actually asked them to turn off as we were still chilly from being doused with water all day and the AC was blowing right on us). After dinner we had some Beer Lao in the room (we had bought a bottle opener at the market) and vegged out to some quality BBC news.

Back to Vientiane – Fancy Meeting You Here!, a Bus Chase/Race for the Ages and More Dinner Plans Gone Amok
We were up early again to get our 6am tuk-tuk. We dropped into the office at 6am, and woke up the manager who was sleeping on the couch. I imagine he spends most of his nights on that couch. He checks us out and gets another employee to go flag down a tuk-tuk for us. The ride to the bus station is short and we are dropped off by the bus to Vientiane. At this bus station though you actually buy tickets at the ticket office! So we get two tickets to Vientiane, about $5.50 each. The porter loads our stuff and tells us the bus will leave in about 20 minutes. And that’s when we realize that this is the 6am bus and the hotel manager wasn’t being lazy, he was trying to tell us that the 6am bus will leave between 6am and 7am, so no reason to get there right at 6am. I still feel like an ass for thinking that he was just too lazy to get up that early.

We are about ready to go looking for some food at the bus station when someone calls our names and who could possibly be there? Nik! And she is on our bus, at least for a couple of hours as she is heading to Tha Khaek to hang out with a friend for New Year’s. Nik tells us that she saw us yesterday, but was too far away to get our attention. Small town. Small world. We are in seats on the front of the bus – and it starts out as a comfortable ride. We chat with Nik for the two hours she is on the bus. When we get to Tha Khaek it is time for our final goodbye with Nik, and it is sad again.

We were also really lucky that Nik was on our bus, because this really annoying guy was also on our bus. He started talking to us before we boarded the bus and sat right behind us. It was very difficult to understand him as his English wasn’t very good and he was a really soft talker. But he kept tapping us on the shoulders and leaning his head over our seats and telling us things. When Nik was on the bus we could kind of ignore him and chat with her. But when she left, we were fair game. He kept it up for an hour or so after Nik got off the bus, including showing us a picture of this dam site he worked at and giving us his phone number so we could call him the next day. Um, yeah – right. And it was still New Year’s weekend – as we passed through villages kids on the side of the road would toss water at the bus. So we had to be aware and close the windows every once in awhile. Our bus porters got in on the action once as well – at one stop they filled up a bucket with water. As our bus passed a pick up truck our porter leaned out of the bus door and just drenched the people in the back of the pickup. It was smiles all around. One other thing I forgot was about 30 minutes into our journey our bus stopped at a village and no one got on. Our porter dashed out of the bus, went to a temple and came back with some flowers – the monks blessed them for good luck and safe travels, and we would need them.

We had stopped for a bathroom break out in the middle of nowhere. People filed off the bus and crossed the road where there were some trees for coverage. We had been in no hurry the whole day so far – in fact the bus wasn’t very full when we left and when we went through villages our driver went at a crawling pace to see if there were any possible passengers. But while we were pulled over for the bathroom break another bus passed us. And then things changed. All of a sudden there was a sort of panic and the bus driver started honking at people to get back on the bus. I was outside waiting for Margaret and they motioned me on the bus. I kind of shrugged my shoulders at them and waited. Margaret and another woman finally emerged and started across the road, the bus honking the whole time. As we got on our driver was already going. And it turned into a race with the other bus. I think the problem was that when the other bus passed them it could then pick up what should be our passengers on the side of the road. Now in a perfect world, each bus would just continue at its pace, and when one pulled over to get passengers the other one would pass it and be in front for the next passengers waiting. But this isn’t a perfect world. Total game theory problem here – kind of a prisoner’s dilemma (man, is grad school ever paying off): it would be best for both buses to go normal speed and each would get some passengers. But if one bus goes fast and the other goes normal speed, the fast bus might make up enough time to never get passed and get all the passengers. So knowing this, both bus drivers go ape-shit and speed. And for an hour it is the scariest ride I have ever been on. Our driver is going about as fast as he can. You can see the intensity of the situation on his face. When we have to pull over to drop people off the porter throws them and their bags out the door while we are still moving! Getting picked up isn’t much safer either! And our bus is tearing around corners (you can feel it skidding) at break neck speeds. When we go through villages the driver doesn’t slow down at all, just keeps the horn down the whole time. We pass the other bus, it passes us and this keeps up for an hour or so. Finally we pass the other bus while going over a bridge and then we slow down. At first I’m not sure why, but then the other bus turns off the road and all is clear. And then it is back to normal just like nothing ever happened. Ye gods.

It was a long 9 hour bus ride. I think that it felt longer because it was the end of the trip and the local travel wasn’t so new and charming anymore. In fact, the karaoke CDs they played were driving me insane the last two hours. And I had to chuckle, as it was the same music that I made a little movie of on our first bus ride from Vientiane at 6am, thinking how funny it was. We finally pulled into the bus station and got off the bus. We grabbed our luggage and a tuk-tuk driver motioned us into his vehicle. Then four Lao people got in and with the bags it was packed. The driver pulled up near the exit and then pulled over to the side and motioned for the Lao people to get out and he put them in another tuk-tuk. And we were thinking he wanted us alone so he could charge us a lot. But then he drives slowly around the bus station. At this point I am about to explode. All I want to do it get to a hotel and drop my stuff off and crack open a Beer Lao. He finally drops us at another tuk-tuk (I managed to keep my cool). Two elderly Lao ladies join us and we are off. And riding into the main part of the city we are sitting ducks for all the people tossing water! We get grazed a few times, and right before we get to our hotel I just get nailed. Now I have to admit getting soaked in a tuk-tuk with your luggage after a long day of traveling isn’t my favorite thing that has ever happened to me. But I manage a Sah Bah Dee Bee Mai and we finally arrive at the Mali Namphu Guesthouse. This is the place we had tried to stay on our first night – but it had been full. They had a room this time – and it was such a cute little place. The LP doesn’t really go out of its way to highlight this place – but it is by far the best guesthouse I have been at in Vientiane. And it was way cheaper than the Day Inn we had stayed at before.

I was so hungry and so excited for dinner. Much like when we pulled into Savannakhet from the hike I felt like a big, fat western dinner. And if you are thinking how many western meals do I need, remember that picture of the crap spaghetti I got! So we decided on L’Opera Italian Restaurant and I am all excited. We are a little wary of getting soaked before we can get to the restaurant, but there is no one throwing water on our street when we walk out. And the restaurant is very close. It is also closed for New Year’s! Fook me. There were five restaurants in the area and the one we wanted was the only one that was closed. Unreal. We had a second choice, Sticky Fingers Café and Bar – but it was a bit of a walk and closer to the Mekong. And I wasn’t sure exactly which side-street it was on, so we decided to walk up to the main road by the Mekong (Th Fa Ngum) and stroll around until we could find it. Of course once we got there, we had to avoid all the water being thrown. People were out and having a grand time, but we didn’t feel like getting soaked before sitting down for dinner. We started going up one side-street, and thought we might get by this group throwing water, but they smiled at us and we turned around and jogged back to the main street. And this is where we ran into the falang who went way overboard. I should mention that people in Vientiane were more aggressive than we had seen in Savannakhet where it was more polite. But these two idiot white boys had plastic garbage cans full of water and were just destroying people. They saw us and started to make a run for us – luckily we saw them coming and ran into a restaurant and waited them out. And I think this is a perfect example of why this festival could never work at home. Can you imagine the violence that a weekend of people dumping water on each other would cause? Combine our rage and the fact that we go overboard with everything and it would be a disaster waiting to happen. Kind of sad. Anyway – after getting away from the falang we headed back in the direction of our hotel and ate at the same place where we had met Ole a little over a week ago. It was decidedly mediocre (I figured that I would be safe and go for a burger – but it tasted like sausage – ugh). I am still waiting for my killer western meal!

Last Day in Vientiane – A Nice Walk, Soaking it All Up on the Banks of the Mekong and One Last New Year’s Wish!
We had one more day in Vientiane as we had a late evening flight home. We walked around the city and enjoyed the last day of the New Year’s celebration. We got hit with water a few times, but had planned ahead and didn’t have any bags with us, so it was fine. Plus it was much warmer out and the water felt pretty good. It was a little crazier in Vientiane – tons of people riding around in the back of pickups and dousing each other. And check out this cute family celebrating! I had wanted to go back to this café we had gone to before for breakfast, but it was closed for New Year’s. Sigh. Instead we ended up eating at a local spot – and I got a baguette sammich – although not a breakfast one, but one with pork and a ton of toppings in it. Other than the pork being a little iffy it was a great sammich. I gotta get these baguette sammich recipes man! We did a little shopping – Margaret got a cool bracelet and I thought I found a cool ring – but it was $125 – I guess I have expensive taste even in Laos! And we go tons of tee-shirts. We also made it to the Patuxai monument - a cool monument, with some good views. It is part of a park and there were tons of people (and military) out. As we were leaving this lady came up to us and doused us with water – it felt so good!

We then slowly headed towards the Mekong, for one last meal and a few last Beer Laos in my favorite spot. We managed to avoid any more water attacks on the way and settled down for a few hours of relaxing. There must have been a big festival down on the Mekong, as it was crowded with people and motorbikes. We stayed at our favorite place though and enjoyed our food, Beer Lao and the atmosphere. Before we knew it, it was time to go. We headed back to the hotel to grab our bags and only got doused once. We got in a tuk-tuk for the airport just after dusk. And had we thought better of it we would have gotten a taxi and not been exposed as our tuk-tuk went through some areas full of people partying. We are in a tuk-tuk at night on the way to the airport with our luggage – you can probably see where this is going. As we head down some main streets there are tons of people out partying. But they seem to have pity on us as no one douses us with water. At one stop light I think we are dead, but the partiers just come over and shake our hands and say Sah Bah Dee Bee Mai and dance in the streets. And then we are outside of town and I think we are fine and Margaret and I smile at each other. But then I see one guy on the road with water and I know it is over. And he just kills me – soaked head to toe – and he got me right on the side of the face so the water basically destroyed my ear drum for a few minutes. I had to chuckle, and continued to chuckle as we got nailed once more before we got to the airport. When our tuk-tuk driver dropped us off we got out and he smiled and said Sah Bah Dee Bee Mai, as did everyone at the airport who saw us soaked from head to toe. We were early for our flight and got through baggage check and customs super early (never been in an airport with more mosquitos – they were everywhere!) so we had time to dry out before our flight. Happy New Year!

Just thought I would end with a quote from the LP that I just love. This is from a Lao person who returned to Laos after being gone for over 20 years: “This is one of the last quiet countries on earth.”