Chiang Mai

Nestled in a valley among the forested hills of northern Thailand, Chiang Mai is a city you either love or hate, and for probably the same reason: it's bursting with tourists. A good base for exploring northern Thailand, the city is overrun with farangs, or Westerners, and practically every street caters to some form of trekking excursion, Thai massage, or cooking class. Not that there's anything wrong with these experiences. In fact, we would seek out all three. For those seeking an authentic northern Thai town, however, Chiang Mai is not it.
Northern Thai cuisine is a unique blend of Burmese curries, Chinese stir-fry, and Thai flavors. So it was only fitting that, while in Chiang Mai, we should try our hand in making the dishes we have come to love. On a recommendation from a friend, we signed up for Gap's cooking class, a 6 hour food extravaganza which included a trip to the local market to source our ingredients. Our instruction began with an introduction to the four main Thai flavors: salty, sweet, sour, and spicy. A good, authentic Thai meal will incorporate all of these flavors and finding the right balance is a matter of taste, experience, and in our case, a little luck. We were given cookbooks with detailed recipes, but our instructor, Joe (probably not his real name), emphasized that real balance comes from constantly tasting your food and adjusting appropriately. As he told us time and again: "Too sweet, add more fish (or soy) sauce. Too sour or salty, add more sugar. Too spicy, too bad." Our first task was to make the backbone of many Thai dishes: curry paste. With a mortar and pestle, we dug right in, literally. After we completed our base, we moved onto a green curry dish, each of the 6 of us in our group cooking on a separate stove, while Joe moved among us shouting instructions and encouragement. In the next few hours, we would also successfully complete a fish souffle, stir-fried chicken with cashew nut (our favorite!), fish cakes, and tom yum soup, each to our specific tastes and spice level. Starving, of course, we sat down and enjoyed the fruits of our labor. Full and proud of ourselves, we let the food digest while Joe showed us some neat culinary tricks of turning shallots and tomatoes into lotus flowers. Ready for more, we learned to make a pumpkin coconut custard, roll our own spring rolls, and stir up our own pad thai, taking these dishes home for dinner. Our experience at the cooking school left us full, proud, and excited to bring our new skills home to share with others.

Picking out our ingredients for the day.

Fortunately, eel was not on the menu.

Grinding the curry paste.

Some good looking fish souffles.

Laura inspecting the ingredients for stir-fried chicken with cashew nut.

Not bad for our first time.

Mmm..spring rolls.

Laura making her very first pad thai.

In Chiang Mai, it is impossible to throw a rock without hitting some parlor offering Thai massage, foot massage, oil massage, head massage, and yes, even that massage. Seeking something a little more authentic and special, we sought out the Thai Massage Conservation Club, which employs only blind masseuses. With their heightened sense of touch, hearing, and memory, we each received an hour-long alternation of pain and pleasure for the price of a beer back home. A benefit to the masseuses being blind is that they couldn't see our wincing and gasps, though Oliver's masseuse had to ask if he was okay at one point. Nonetheless, the experience left us feeling renewed and relaxed and gave us one more thing to check off our bucket list. We spent the next two days at Baan-Chang Elephant Camp (next post!) before returning to Chiang Mai to wander the night market, indulge in the cuisine, and watch the interesting mix of farangs and Thais. In the end, we didn't really love or hate Chiang Mai, but rather recognized it for what it is: a good place to start.

Yet another wat.

108 bowls, a sacred number in Buddhism. Dropping coins into each bowl is a form of merit-making in Thai Buddhism.

At the old city gate of Chiang Mai. Not much of this ancient wall remains.

Sukhothai

After a full two days in hectic Bangkok, we went in search of quieter culture and history by heading north to the ruined city of Sukhothai.  Our journey would consist of seven hours of travel by train, tuk-tuk, bus, and the back of a pick-up truck, through small frontier towns and rice-paddy fields, to finally arrive at the ancient capital of the once great Sukhothai Kingdom. Among the first empires of Thailand, the Sukhothai dynasty spanned 200 years and 9 kings and is viewed as the "golden age" of Thai civilization, giving rise to the Thai alphabet as well as classical Thai religious art and architecture. The remnants of this kingdom are now a World Heritage Site, an historic park of temple ruins scattered throughout a 45 sq km area of manicured lawns, spindly bodhi trees and lily-filled ponds. Basically, its Disneyland for history buffs.
We woke up early to beat the midday sun, snagged a couple of bicycles and a map from our hotel, and headed out to the park. We spent the next few hours in awe as we rode from one temple site to the next, trying to imagine life here as it was 800 years ago. The expansiveness of the park allowed us to explore many sites in solitude, adding to the already powerful effect of ancient sanctity. Eventually, after all day riding in an attempt to see them all, we succumbed to sore butts and tired legs. We reluctantly took our last few glimpses of this great lost city and wearily pedaled away. Though the world may have forgotten Sukhothai at one point, we know we never will.

Bangkok

Our journey began on a wet, frigid morning in Portland where we excitedly boarded a plane for warmer weather. After an unexpected interrogation by customs (Oliver seemed to fit the profile for a drug smuggler), we started our first 11 hour leg across the Pacific. A quick layover in Tokyo gave us the opportunity to stretch our legs and experience some technologically advanced toilets before settling in for another 7 hour flight. Amazingly, in a mere 18 hours, we found ourselves on the other side of the globe, some 7500 miles from our comfort zones. Exhausted, we stepped out into Bangkok, greeted by the sweet smell of warm tropical humidity, a far cry from the windy chill of home. Though we didn't arrive at our hotel until 2am, we were so excited we could hardly sleep.
We awoke the next morning, our bodies lethargic from jet-lag but our minds ready to tackle a new city, country, and culture. Since our hotel was centrally located in the old capitol, we were poised to explore the more prominent sights of Bangkok, such as the Grand Palace and many spectacular wats, or temples, sprinkled throughout the city.  Exploring on foot also gave us the opportunity to get lost in the back-alleys and side-streets and experience the real heart of Bangkok. Within hours, we realized that Bangkok isn't just a city; it is an assault on the senses. Delicious aromas wafting from food carts fight a losing battle against the malodorous mixture of sewage, people and pollution. Amulet, trinket, and clothing vendors struggle to hawk their wares over the ever-present din of tuk-tuks and motorcycle taxis. Gleaming, intricate temples with tiled floors tower above one-room shanty houses connected by wooden planks. Yet, even among these stark contrasts, the famous Thai smile is a comforting constant and a reminder of why Thailand is known as "The Land of Smiles."

Wat Rajapradit

Pretty lady with the Grand Palace in the background.

While we found the Grand Palace to be beautiful, it was extremely overcrowded with tourists, so we found peace in exploring the nooks and crannies of Wat Pho, an amazing complex housing a massive reclining gold Buddha as well as the largest collection of Buddha images in Thailand. To add to our delight, Wat Pho is also the headquarters for the conservation and education of traditional Thai massage, a fact we all too happily took advantage of. Equally agonizing and pleasurable, depending on your threshold for pain, our Thai masseuses worked out all the kinks and knots from our long journey. By this time, the sun was at its zenith and we were feeling pretty loose so we took a page from our South American travels and headed back to the hotel for a little siesta in some much appreciated air conditioning. After cooling down we felt refreshed but hungry, so we headed down the street to Bangkok's "oldest restaurant" and dined on some delicious recipes passed down from a former palace cook. Even this "expensive" meal came out to only around $8 US. We may be budget travelers but we still know how to splurge!

The guardians of Wat Pho.

The world's largest reclining Buddha at 140 ft long and 45ft tall.

No shoes in the temple!

One of the many beautiful sights in Wat Pho.

A few of the 394 gilded Buddhas at Wat Pho.

All the tourists were at the Grand Palace and we had Wat Pho to ourselves.

Hearing about an early morning market near our hotel, we set out before sunrise the next day to take in an authentic Thai market. Our early rising was rewarded by a market flush with unique foods and sights: a smorgasbord of fruits and vegetables, many completely foreign to us; monks in saffron robes gathering their daily alms; whole fish frying in vats of oil heating over wood stoves; old women weaving multi-colored flowers into necklaces and bracelets; and best of all, not a single other tourist! We feasted on chicken satay, a delicious noodle dish, a sausage wrapped in a waffle, egg rolls and barbecued chicken, with fresh pineapple and sponge cake for dessert. All this set us back a whole $3 US. Our bellies spoiled and full, we next indulged our eyes and ears at a huge flower market, waded through sarees in Little India, and came upon the incredibly impressive, and deserted, Wat Suthat. This was the first wat that actually had more Thais than tourists and we had the pleasure of sitting in during a Buddhist prayer ceremony. We spent the rest of the day wandering the streets of Old Bangkok, which is far easier said than done. There are few rules guiding the flow of traffic and sidewalks are almost non-existent so we stuck to the more pedestrian-friendly, and more interesting, side-streets and alleys. Plus, these nooks are where one finds strange and often wonderful street food. Laura has developed a taste for Thai soups, even though its sweltering out, and Oliver loves any sort of meat on a stick. Fair warning: there will probably be a lot of talk about food in this blog.

The sun rising on the morning market.

Dodging tuk-tuks and taxis on the streets of Bangkok.

You know you're in Bangkok when...

The impressive Wat Suthat. We had this temple pretty much to ourselves also.

One of the many khlongs, or canals, which runs through the "Venice of the East".

Giving alms to our Chinese Zodiac animals.

What a pig.

Delicious street food is everywhere!

While we spent two fantastic days in Bangkok, we barely sampled it's many delights. Luckily, we still have a couple more days here near the end of our trip. But first, we head north to revel in the history and culture of ancient Thailand.