First day in Chiang Mai
I hopped on my 10 am flight to Chiang Mai the next day and made it there in an hour (it felt like we just boarded, when the captain came on the speaker saying we were making our descent approach so fasten you belts again). I got out and was starving for something to be put in my belly, so I went to a coffee shop in the airport and had a yogurt shake and a apple turnover-type thing. Then after being rejuvinated, I decided to walk the 2 K into Chiang Mai and save the 80-120 baht it would cost for a tuk tuk or a cab, much to the shagrin of many a driver trying to make a buck.
Chiang Mai had a strange vibe to it when I arrived, but I think for me it was a personal reason mostly, as one of Matt's collegues lives here for part of the year and my "big brain"(Galapagos ref.) was trying to protect me from a chance encounter with the negative-vibe himself(Matt, not his friend), not that I ever would. Just the human brain working its overpowered magic.
As I was using a really old copy of Lonely Planet 'Thailand' most of the places that I searched out were either gone or had upgraded their status to a higher price range. One place suggested I try the place next door which was rated in my book as noisy, high foot traffic, rundown. But, upon inspection, I realized it was mostly to do with the perception of the writers. Coming from Cambodia this place would've been on the higher end of the accomodation scale. The room was clean, I had my own fan, window, bathroom and desk, the restaurant downstairs is in a plant covered shaded area and serves inexpensive tasty dishes and shakes, and the price was 150baht/night(in my price range).
Last night I went to the legendary Chiang mai night market and scoped out the goods. There are enormous amounts of everything you could possibly want(and lots of stuff you don't), a lot of tourist stuff. This is also where a lot of the tribes people(Shan, Lanna, Karen etc.) will come every weekend to sell their silversmithed goods and intricately hand embroidered goods(they are exquisite, if only I had some extra funds I would get something) It's sort of sad because half of the goods at the market are authentic and the other half not. Seeing first hand the traditional styles are slowly being infiltrated by western influences and soon the locals, who take weeks to make a single finished piece, will be pushed out by the tourist cheap- made to order knockoffs created by machines. But that seems to be the way it works these days.
Here are some photos from the night market:
Chiang Mai had a strange vibe to it when I arrived, but I think for me it was a personal reason mostly, as one of Matt's collegues lives here for part of the year and my "big brain"(Galapagos ref.) was trying to protect me from a chance encounter with the negative-vibe himself(Matt, not his friend), not that I ever would. Just the human brain working its overpowered magic.
As I was using a really old copy of Lonely Planet 'Thailand' most of the places that I searched out were either gone or had upgraded their status to a higher price range. One place suggested I try the place next door which was rated in my book as noisy, high foot traffic, rundown. But, upon inspection, I realized it was mostly to do with the perception of the writers. Coming from Cambodia this place would've been on the higher end of the accomodation scale. The room was clean, I had my own fan, window, bathroom and desk, the restaurant downstairs is in a plant covered shaded area and serves inexpensive tasty dishes and shakes, and the price was 150baht/night(in my price range).
Last night I went to the legendary Chiang mai night market and scoped out the goods. There are enormous amounts of everything you could possibly want(and lots of stuff you don't), a lot of tourist stuff. This is also where a lot of the tribes people(Shan, Lanna, Karen etc.) will come every weekend to sell their silversmithed goods and intricately hand embroidered goods(they are exquisite, if only I had some extra funds I would get something) It's sort of sad because half of the goods at the market are authentic and the other half not. Seeing first hand the traditional styles are slowly being infiltrated by western influences and soon the locals, who take weeks to make a single finished piece, will be pushed out by the tourist cheap- made to order knockoffs created by machines. But that seems to be the way it works these days.
Here are some photos from the night market:
posted by jannahsworld at 4:52 am
2 Comments:
Ohhhhh what gorgious colours in the market...would we 'faint' at the prices Jannah?
For those particular silk scarves, the prices range from 350-900(for big ones) baht, which is $12.50-$32.00 CDN, why do you want one?
-Jannah
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