Walkabout through South East Asia, continued
First Stop, Chiang Mai
Our flight to Chiang Mai was rescheduled, and we became concerned about arriving too late to go out looking for dinner. Since neither of us know the languages of any of the Asian countries we were visiting, we had arranged to be met at each airport by an English-speaking guide with a driver. This was particularly useful in Thailand, where we don’t even understand the alphabet.
The flight itself was uneventful. The only thing worth mentioning is that they played cheezy Christmas music, in English, the whole way. Did I mention the date was January 23d?
As far as dinner was concerned, Mary was proactive: She emailed our agent and asked if we could perhaps swing by Chiang Mai’s Night Market to get a bite to eat. As a result, the guide who met us at the airport was ready. She asked us what we wanted. Pad thai. What protein? Chicken. Then she phoned ahead to her favorite pad thai stand and had the driver detour to the night market. We were provided with two freshly made orders of pad thai to take with us to the hotel.
Our hotel, Na Nirand, was beautiful and our room had a great view over the courtyard, the river, and a hundred-year-old rain tree. If you are familiar with the species you would notice in my drawing that this tree does not have the luxurious canopy they are noted for. It is seriously ill and is under intensive care, but is is still beautiful.
The Pantawan Cooking School
The next day we took a private cooking class, where we were able to choose the dishes. Our teacher, Gun, was very articulate; excellent in explaining the fundamental ingredients of Thai cuisine, and had a great teaching technique. First he demonstrated a dish, then helped each of us cook it.
The Lunar New Year
After our cooking lesson Mary went walkabout and I rested my knee and caught up on my drawing and updating my journal. That night we walked to the market Mary had scoped out earlier. New Year celebrations were underway: roaming dragons, a few firecrackers, and best of all a talent/fashion contest for Chinese kids.
By now we were well aware of the coronavirus, and being a bit wary of close contact with people. Some people were wearing face masks, but no more than usual, I think. True to Chiang Mai tradition a troupe of drag queens showed up from a cabaret, to pose for selfies with the crowd. I wondered what they would do once everybody started wearing facemasks.
Saturday morning we awoke to a group of Chinese preparing for celebrations in the hotel’s courtyard. They had their own costumes: the unicorns that look like tigers, the Buddha/Mandarin. A very pretty young woman in a red and gold dress handed out oranges wrapped in red gauze. They set up a table for offerings at the base of the rain tree.
During her walkabout Mary discovered the Wat Chai Mongkol, a famous temple complex, and suggested I check it out. The place was a beehive of activity. Nominally a Buddhist temple, it also has a fully active Chinese temple on site, and worshippers there were signing tiles, burning offerings, and draping its statues with huge strings of beads. I explored the complex, making pencil sketches as I went.
Meanwhile the abbot was blessing offerings to the monks in the central, Buddhist temple.
Leaving Chiang Mai
Thai donuts are savory affairs, usually shaped as two inch-long lozenges making a V. On the drive out of Chiang Mai on Sunday morning we stopped at Dinosaur Donuts, a shop that made an Internet sensation by making them in fanciful shapes. A teenage boy fried the donuts in a huge wok full of bubbling oil as two men cut out the shapes.
Next: 1864 Curves
