One has to appreciate how easy travel has become with technology. A good camera, e-wallet, translator app and your Navigatrix, all exist in your pocket, cheerfully guiding you around. A dual SIM keeps your current number and WhatsApp intact and uses a Thai SIM for calls and data. Forgot your passport? Simply pull up a copy from your phone. I decided to take a long stroll after my Confident Smile No.1 appointment to see what I might stumble across.
It’s great to properly view Chiang Mai during the daytime. I passed many of the places we had enjoyed in the evenings, which totally transform when nightlife sets in. I just can’t believe how the multitude of food and massage outlets all manage to stay in business. This farang must have been offered 14 massages by 20+ women during my two-hour stroll. I did however pass some boarded-up places that likely died of Covid…
Then something stopped me in my tracks – an entrance to a temple area! There was a big sign with some DO NOT images. The ones I could understand were No Smoking, No Cellphones, No Pets and No Being Naked. The only text in English was “Be Polite”. I tip-toed in and poked my head around a few corners. There were beautiful shrines and Buddha statues everywhere with offerings of flowers and nibbles for the Buddhist birds. There was an entrance into the main temple, but I couldn’t find anyone to clarify the rules, so I didn’t risk an offensive entry.
Sticking with spirituality, weed shops have popped up everywhere since the herb got legalized, but I understand that the royal governing powers wished to make it illegal again. Quite a weird move for a country that is fueled by tourism. Vaping (of e-cigarettes) is supposedly illegal, but available, usually behind a curtain or sliding door, with signs such as “Dance Studio”. Coffee shops are also aplenty. My friend tells me that there was a huge heroin problem in the 60’s until the Americans came in and converted the poppy plantations into coffee fields.
The locals love a good nap. I saw many taking a kip on benches or with heads plonked down on tabletops after a meal. By the riverside were some women sleeping in hammocks while the dads were teaching their kids to fish. Another observation is that 50-60% of locals still chose to wear masks – constantly. It wasn’t mandatory, but was perhaps encouraged. Was this a case of civil obedience?
With the amount of motorised transport, there is also no hooting! Perhaps that’s rude? Thailand does however have a very high accident rate, so I do hope they hoot before a possible prang. Tourists (or “farangs”) are often seen bandaged up or hobbling around on crutches. It’s quite obvious how they earned their scars. I call them “meringues” as they are mostly white folk.
At nightfall, we enjoyed some pleasant stops at various places along the lit-up riverside, with Chinese-like lanterns, bobbing boats and night paddlers gliding passed. I met an American woman from Wyoming at a jazz club, who had similarly cleansed herself of all her possessions and embarked on a journey to see where the wind might take her. She had cleverly arranged to house and pet-sit for a couple of weeks through Trusted Housesitters, which paid with free accommodation and a scooter. One photo a day of happy dog-walking was all that was required.
A final (temporary) goodbye, was at our original spot (from night one) playing UNO with the PR girls. They had a new recruit and I just have to share this. “Meow” (and she swears that this is what her parents named her when she exited the womb) was 22 and confessed to having had some work done to both her nose and eyes. A photo revealed that she actually had parts of her eyelids cut off in the name of beauty! She was in a healthy-sounding, one-year-long relationship with a Thai man, but “what kind Meow?!” Quite unbelievable…
Next stop, Krabi!
Next: Thailand #10 – Crab Man in Krabi
Previously: Thailand #8 – Confident Smile No.1!
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