Chiang Mai

Ah...Chiang Mai. This city definitely feels more 'grounded' than Bangkok, yet still quite busy. It's not as polluted or loud as Bangkok either.

We were about to leave our guest house this morning to move to another cheaper guest house when we noticed a loud leaf blower like noise outside, and then a huge plume of smoke entering our room. As we walked away from the guest house the whole street was filled with this smoke that smelled of diesel fuel. We asked a man behind the counter of a cafe what was going on, and he said "oh, mosquito spraying." We were like "oh great...time for a sauna to help detox these chemicals." I guess I always took for granted how clean the cities are in the States particularly along the West Coast.

We have spent the last 2-3 days here in Chiang Mai eating undoubtedly some of the best food in all of Thailand according to Lonely Planet and foreigners we've met along the way. I cannot begin to describe how rich the meals are with local and imported spices, and the love that goes into creating them. We actually took a cooking class this morning at Mai Kaidee's Vegitarian cooking school (actually her sister Duan was our teacher). Briana and I were accompanied by another American and Canadian, and since we were a team of 4 we got plenty of attention and one on one instruction. BTW: these two are on their own traveling for a full year...brave souls!
We started gathering the herbs, spices, vegetables, noodles, tofu, and mushrooms from a narrow alleyway, while Duan explained in her beautiful English how and why to use all these ingredients. Next, we went back to her home, which included the cafe and cooking center all on separate floorsr, and began making 10 different dishes. The whole afternoon lasted around 4 hours, and we were completely stuffed after all the tastings and feast afterward! But there is always room for sticky rice with mango...:)

Besides offering some of the best food in Thailand, this city has over 300 temples with a population of 1.6 million people. The temples seem to pop up on every corner, and most of them are in pretty good shape considering that some are over 700 years old!
We took a taxi (rather a 4X4 truck w/ a baggage rack and open rear door...luckily we didn't get sick) up a windy and steep 13 Km road to Doi Su Thep temple. Here we witnessed many locals lighting incense and candles, and saying prayers while they knelt down in front of a buddha or chanting monk. I am still trying to understand how the people incorporate Buddhism into their lives in such a busy city (including those living in Bangkok), but Buddhist practice IS their life!

Tomorrow we head north to Pai, and Northern Thailand in general. We plan to spend another week in N. Thailand, then fly south to Phuket for 10 days, then on to Bali on the 16th of Dec. to meet up with my brother and Jacob.

Alright, I'll post some pictures of Chiang Mai on a separate post.
Cheers!