This entry will be a collection of things Rob and I, or just me by myself, have done during the last two weeks in Chiang May. I explored the old town, went to the district of the night bazars, tried different stores with bubble tea – without bubbles for me – and went to the spa another time.
The old town of Chiang Mai is beautiful, I already told you that. It is a wonderful fusion of Buddhist temples, modern society and jungle. At one evening; I decided to visit two temples. Wat Phra Sing and Wat Jediluang are two major temples in Chiang Mai. Don’t be confused, if there are several ways to write the names of those temples. Wat Phra Sing is located in the west of the old town and it was the first temple I visited on that evening. It was quite far and I treated myself with some cold honey-lime-tea that burned on my lips, because I had tried a new toothpaste. It was the last time I used it, because it was so aggressive. However, as I entered the temple I recognised several temples and that the area was big. In the back of the area there was a huge golden stupa. In frnt of it was a small pavilion with some people praying. The whole setting was lovely and calming. I went around the stupa and came across a closed temple with a young woman before its doors. She prayed in complete silence and it is one of the most beautiful things I have seen. I hope she is well and her prayers helped.
After that I went through the old town to Wat Jediluang that had a lot of young monks in training and a huge, ancient stupa. On my city map it was called city pillar. Slowly, I made my way around the pillar, took a bunch of photos and came across a stray dog, a guy who was also taking pictures and some young monks carrying big bags with vegetables. I asked if I could help them. In the following minutes I carried a lot of bags from a pavilion with a huge bowl or offerings for monks and what seemed like a kitchen. I was the only woman. The monks gave me one cucumber and something to drink. And the guy I had seen before took pictures of me. Because, “pics or it didn’t happen”. Check them out on my insta under the tagged pictures.
As you might have guessed form the title, I went for another treat at the Fah Lanna Spa. I booked a facial treatment and the Siam package, which included a Thai massage and a foot massage. I decided to go with the strong massage. If you want to feel tortured and pay something for it, do it. If you are more into relaxing, go for medium or soft. The foot massage was … something new. At one point the masseuse was using a kind of staff to press on certain points at my feet. I felt a strange, warm sensation in my body. And then she was rubbing the top over my soles. The pain was horror. At the end of the massage the masseuse popped the joints of my toes. What the hell! The facial treatment was a kind of risk for my skin, it worked out partially. Still, I wanted to try it, just to know what it would be like. But, I know how to take care for my skin and what products to use.
Another evening I decided to go to the district of night bazars. A few days prior I had found the market of the local people, which was packed with stores and people. Take away the masks and it would have been a normal day. However, the quarter with night bazars was dead. The driver of my tuk-tuk seemed confused, that I wanted to go there. The only thing that changed compared to the rest of the city was the amount of older, white guys. Well, not what I wanted. What I enjoyed very well was some opportunities to take pictures and the one store I found. It had a lot of stuff from Nepal. About a week later I returned with Rob and he was so happy and bought himself small figurines of Ganesh. On my way back, I found another temple – no surprise, though. As I was looking at the stupa a monk came up to me. I laid my folded hands on my forehead and made a bow as Rob had told me. The monk knew a little bit of English and at the end of our conversation he tossed me a lime. I was so happy about that. I ended the evening with a Butterfly Honey Lime tea. Delicious!
Rob had caught a nasty – we didn’t know it – tonsillitis in Ayutthaya that got worse in Chiang Mai. And we probably waited too long until we went to see a physician. However, during the time we thought we could help ourselves, I explored the city on my own. One time I came back, I found Rob sobbing at the bed. At first, I thought someone had died back at home and he got the call. But it was something completely different. His depression was kicking in. I asked him how long he was crying and why he didn’t tried to call me. He didn’t want to interfere my exploring. Crying he told me how he felt, that him being sick would ruin the whole travel. I assured him, it didn’t. I convinced him to take a shower with me, so we could cuddle and go to the pool afterwards. We already had talked about it before, but I knew, that he needed to leave the room, to see something else, then the room. Together we cried about him being sick and that it was not easy, but that we would get through this like we have gotten through everything before. It helped, that I had brought him something from my trip and that we went to the pool. We fooled around like we used to, when he wasn’t sick. It helped. And for a few days we went every second day to the pool. Unfortunately, it was pure poison for my skin.
The third week brought a shock. Rob’s tonsillitis has gotten worse. Not only had he white spots on his tonsils, but they were growing. We went to a hospital nearby. I expected a lot of people and long waiting hours and the risk of Covid-19, but there were barely ten patients. The physician asked Rob a lot of question which I had to answer, because the tonsillitis was affecting Robs voice heavily. In the end the physician sent Rob down to the emergency room to get an infusion and gave him a bunch of medications. The hard stuff. In the end Rob got three infusions and two sets of antibiotics and the rest I don’t even know, what it was. Most important to us was, that it worked. It worked, that Rob could leave the hotel and go to the Nepal-store with me. It worked, so we could even do, what we wanted to do all along.
In the last days in Chiang Mai I talked to our receptionist, because I wanted to book a tour to an Elephant sanctuary. Due to Covid-19 and no tourists she couldn’t find a sanctuary that was open for tours. I was sad. At one occasion Rob and I left a taxi at Wat Chiang Man, the oldest temple of Chiang Mai, that was only a few minutes from our hotel. I was in this corner several times before, because of the temple and because of the 7-eleven. Rob stopped me and pointed at a banner that I had ignored. Elephant tours! We went to the lady sitting at her desk. Within half an hour we had booked a tour to the Elephant sanctuary of her family/friends. She made clear, that there would be no riding and was happy as we agreed, that we didn’t want to ride an Elephant. We were the first customers in over six months! Just for her and her guest house. For the sanctuary it was way more. They were short on tourists for almost two years.
The day at the sanctuary was lovely. We were greeted by the Elephants and sprayed with mud by their trunks. We both wore white shirts. The guide was telling us, that every Elephant was rescued from some kind of harsh labour, except the youngest. The baby-elephant, four years old, was rescued, but its mother was still in captivity. One cow was stepping up as mother, but the baby was loved by all cows, except one. She was the oldest and had worked in a logging camp, it had worn her out. She was 45 years and felt best by herself. After we changed into traditional clothes we were shown a short movie how Elephants were treated. It was not beautiful. If you are thinking about riding an Elephant, don’t do it. It damages the back until they have herniated disks like us humans. And a lot of them are trained with hooks, that are leaving horrible wounds and scars. Next point was feeding the Elephants. It was intimidating to see those huge animals running towards us. In the end, the old lady and I were standing side by side and I was only feeding her and Rob had the rest of the group. I was a little worried about him, because he cannot stand being cornered, but since those weren’t humans, only Elephants, he enjoyed it. I was still intimidated. Of course, they are cute, but they are also very big and gentle with each other, but less worried about us humans. After the feeding we went on to follow the Elephants to another spot for feeding. There they ate mangos, grass and even broke a branch from a tree to eat it. I didn’t know, that they ate wood as well. Suddenly, the baby made loud noises. The Elephants were moving in a rush, so did we, to not be stuck between them. Apparently, the baby had hit its trunk at the fence and almost all Elephants were checking on it. Five minutes later everything was quite again. And the guide went on to tell us, that they had two cows that were close friends and homosexuality was a common thing with Elephants. Next stop was the mud pit. Rob and I refused to go into the mud and just sat nearby watching the Elephants. After the mud pit the Elephants would go to a nearby water stream to bathe. Rob said, that he would stay in the camp, because he felt tired. The way was about one kilometre, but even I was exhausted afterwards, so it was good, that he stayed behind. Since my skin was already a mess, I sat down by the water and ate a fresh mango, still warm from the sun. I knew mango back from Germany, but it is something completely different to eat a fruit where it was home. Back at the camp Rob introduced me to a dog and I gave her belly rubs. Rob felt better, because he had slept a little bit. We took a quick shower and went in the pool of the camp. While we swam the Elephants returned from their bath into the camp and I just realized then, that there were fences, but they were for the tourists. If the Elephants liked it, they could leave the camp and never return. Our half day ended with Pad Thai and a see-through of the pictures one of the guys of the camp had made. At first, I didn’t want to buy them, but they were very beautiful and we had pictures together. Rob and I paid another 800 Bhat for them. It helped the camp and made us happy.
To get another PCR-test is the last step to start another trip between countries. We couldn’t get one at the hospital where Rob had gotten help, we needed to go to a big, private clinic. It was way more modern and very popular at the foreigners. Our receptionist told us this and we could see it as we were there. We waited several hours to get our test done. And as we were sitting and waiting I was glad, that Rob had been to a small, unpopular clinic, because it was way faster and also cheaper. If you are ever in Chiang Mai, don’t go to the Chiang Mai Ram Hospital, go somewhere else, where the locals go.
The farewell from the Sri Pat Guest House was an emotional one. The owners gave us gifts as we were leaving and not only them and the receptionist were saying goodbye, but also the grandma that lived there. We had talked to her as good as we could, but she had hearing aids and English wasn’t her best language. Still, she was interested in us. We are now in Mexico and we are missing Thailand, missing the hotel. Despite what happened there we loved the time we had in Chiang Mai.
This was a long one, I hope you stayed until the end and had a good time reading. Have a nice week!
-Toni
TAKE YOUR SHOES OFF 