Impressions of Chiang Mai: Shopaholics and Nightlife

Barbara Klein restaurant, Thailand, travel 2 Comments

Wake up at 6.30 (only shortly past midnight in Switzerland), make myself a cup of coffee and sit outside on terrace. Watch the day slowly ununcurling, the sun rising over the river, birds, a lonely gardener collecting the fallen leaves, highly enjoyable, meditative, the noise level slowly starting to rise.

sunrise

Sunrise on Ping River

Sifting through pictures and writing my diary, collecting my thoughts.

Lovely breakfast: freshly pressed tangerine juice, more coffee, fruit, glass noodle salad, capsicum salad, fried egg, toast and cheese!

We rent a sprinter for the day and set out at 10 am. We go shopping, i.e. we accompany Kittipon on his shopping trip to Ban Tawai outside Chiang Mai. It’s the woodcarvers hometurf but you find anything there: paintings (the main reason we came for as Kittipon wants to decorate the new house).

rhino

Anything goes!

It is a pleasure to see Thailand through his eyes.

shadows

Shadows

car's notice

Notice in the car

We laugh a lot, Walti is an unbelievable source of never ending jokes, some quite below the belt, on the other hand he is the first to admonish us in advance. Best bonmot on the way: Being thirsty is worse than being homesick.

colourful bottles

sweet sweet sweet

spirit house

A spirit house, I will forego buying one this time!

dog

Irresistible!

We spent quite some time browsing through the stalls (it is like Kensington Market in the 70ies, only much warmer). We buy fans for 25 Baht each, and I fall in love with this wonderful bowl of mango tree wood which Kittipon buys for me.

bowl

My beautiful bowl

We have cold drinks at this makeshift bar which we name „The Drivein“ as there are Thai men on motor cycles who will not get off their bikes to order something, motor running, it is very funny. Sweet lady of the drivein, she takes very good care of us: fetching an ashtray, installing an electrical fan for us, all the time watching us closely and laughing with us.

We then continue to the impressive Airport Plaza, specially with the hundreds of food stalls in the basement. We have some delicious vegetarian dish for 25 Baht each.

foodstalls in the Airport Plaza

Foodstalls in the Airport Plaza

We find everything we want, MAC makeup for Rebecca, shoes for all of us: although Rebecca needs another pair she can use every day, she was smitten with some Barbie pumps, very nice but highly inefficient!

We return to the hotel and rest some.

Dinner with Kittipon, Walti, Marianne, Silvia and Deng at the Good View Restaurant, a rather lively outdoor restaurant on the river with live music. Kittipon orders for us, for starters we have an assortment of Northern Thai delicacies, sausages and pickles amongst them. Interesting it reminds me of Pejing, the further you go in these countries the more pork, sausages, cabbage and pickles are served. In my eyes Chiang Mai has become more „global“ in the last twelve years: there is seafood to be had in all restaurants and food stalls.

Good View Restaurant

A platter of fresh fruit and parsley for dessert!

Lovely scenery, sometimes there is an advantage to smoking, you get to see more of your immediate surroundings, get closer to strange people. Rebecca takes pictures of the river shore, the bridge, it looks similar to the Rhine and Johanitterbrücke.

Nightly impression

sign

Did I mention that it is forbidden to carry arms inside?

Nightcap at the Riverside, a lovely place next door. We enjoy the live music of a very dedicated band with a woman lead singer. We meet our new friend, Emmy from Australia. The world would be a better place if we were to shake hands (or more) with everybody.

Walk back at 1 am over the bridge, turn to the right, pass Kittipon’s hairdresser and Rasta Café.

Rasta

Rasta? Rasta!

Comments 2

  1. I was completely drawn into this post, Barbara! I love the idea of waking up to a beautiful sunrise to write and ponder. It reminds me of a lucky all-expenses paid trip I had to San Pedro de Atacama for a neuroscience conference. I couldn’t believe my ears when they said that I had the room to myself — it was absolutely beautiful and I often woke up early in the mornings just to set on my porch and reflect.

    You are such a talented photographer! I thoroughly enjoyed your glimpses of Chiang Mai,especially the veggies and the fanta, and hope I can make it out there one day. =)

    1. Barbara
      08/27/2011
      Your comment is awaiting moderation.

      Ah, you are right: what bliss it is to have a room for yourself on a business trip, again it is creating a niche of solitude in the hustle and bustle.
      Most of the photographic tribute goes to my daughter (the mosquito bitten beauty to be found @ http://www.dentdelait.net), though I did take the shots early in the morning while she was still sleeping, I love sunrises and sunsets, hopeful romatic that I am!
      Thanks so much for your thoughts, they mean a lot to me.
      And you will make it to Chiang Mai one day, it is too beautiful to be missed. 😉

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