Am I Corn or Kale?

After 14 hours on a train, we finally arrived in Chiang Mai late Monday night. The next morning we set out to respectively get to know the city (me) and reacquaint oneself with it (Norika, who lived here for a semester). A couple of things were quickly noticeable: although Chiang Mai is Thailand’s second biggest city, it is A LOT smaller than Bangkok, and thus much more navigable, friendly, and charming. It has become more and more a tourist destination because of its insane temple-to-area ratio (it’s hard to walk more than 5 minutes without bumping into one), but the locals will for the most part address farangs like us in Thai, which has in turn helped Norika remember a bit more of the language.

The second thing we noticed is that the city is covered in a thick layer of smog. As more than one person has put it, “Chiang Mai has a pollution problem.” The city essentially lies on a valley and is surrounded by mountains; a natural bowl. The primary source of the issue is the smoke emanating from farmers burning down fields before the next growing season (we are currently in the dry season), and what we got is a permanent, faint smell of smoke and a hazy atmosphere. Despite the meteorological report saying the weather would be clear (as in, no clouds of evaporated water), for all senses and purposes all days have been cloudy. And hot.

Nevertheless, we have been indulging in the amazing edible items Thailand has to offer. Meals have been exquisite (noodle dishes, noodle soups, fried noodle soups, coconut milk soups, green curry, red curry, sticky rice, fried fish, fried pumpkin, fried rice, fried rice ball crumbled with cilantro, onions, garlic, lemon juice, basil and raw ground pork and eaten on lettuce leaves as if it was a taco), desserts have been even better and more surprising (coconut ice cream on white bread bun? Mini crepes filled with coconut milk/creamed corn mixture? Shaved ice topped with mango, condensed and coconut milks? Yes, do sign me up), and drinks have not lagged too far behind (iced Japanese green tea with wheat, soy milk in a juice box, etc.). In other words, we have been immersed in Thai cuisine, breaking from it for the first time last night when we went out for some great Japanese food with Norika’s friend Som.

We also spent a whole day with Norika’s main host family during her stay here 4 years ago. Before lunch, her host dad showed us a couple of still-under-work, new-school temples made primarily of aluminum sheets (instead of gold). We saw monks and craftsmen and women working on the intricate panels that leave little to be desired in terms of technique when compared to the old temples. It’s neat to see people still dedicating time to these works of art/places of devotion, keeping the culture of the past alive yet giving it a modern twist.

Though our initial plan was to watch “Alice in the Wonderland” with Norika’s host siblings, the mall was crowded with teenagers and the tickets sold out. Instead, we let curiosity guide us to the mall’s fish spa. The concept of the fish spa is relatively simple: there are booth-type seats but in between them, instead of a table, is a large fish tank full tiny little fish eager to eat any dead skin off the customers feet, swarming the latter as they are dipped in the water. It tickles a lot at first, but after a while the feeling is quite blissful — though the whole thing never ceases to be funny, especially as mall-goers walk by and stare at your feet…

…which, by the way, have never felt cleaner. After that bizarre experience we headed over to the Sankampaeng Hot Springs. Before indulging in the Springs’ swimming pool, we walked over to a section of the park where the really hot water was contained: an elevated pool, with metal hooks on the inside for us to hang baskets of eggs underwater; the eggs were then naturally hard-boiled in a matter of 10 minutes. Then we fished them out and ate them as a picnic. Later, we had an excellent Thai feast with the whole host family and their friends (who owned a restaurant at the Springs) where I was encouraged to eat most of a whole fried fish, including its tiny and gooey eyeball.

We’ve been walking a lot, dedicating a whole day to circumnavigating the old city walls and checking out a few temples within. Overall, we’ve been seeing and taking in the good and the bad, the new and the old: temples next to gas stations, monks hunching over laptops… Thailand is crazy and sweet.

Before I forget: add “Get a Thai massage” to your bucket list. I was skeptical (though I’ve tried acupuncture more than once, I had never had paid massage) but very, very surprised. It turns out that a masseuse’s feet, elbows, and knees are a great addition to his/her mere hands. We only did 1 hour yesterday, but next week we’re going back for 2 — at least once.

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