8/7/10 (chiang mai)
Annie Lin
Chiang Mai
At one of the monk chats a monk suggested two temples for us to visit. We told them we were looking for quiet temples with not a lot of people. He said they were secret temples, which we thought would be perfect places to do Jon’s voice over of New Zealand. When we looked in the Lonely Planet guidebook we found out one of them was a forest temple and the other one was the most visited temple in the city. I guess there must have been a miscommunication.
We drove to Wat U Mong, the forest temple since it was the farthest one away. I can see how the monk called it a secret temple since we had gotten lost and it was really difficult to find compared to the other temples. The forest temple had tunnels leading to small shrines and above the temples was a large stupa. It was quiet and we considered recording an interview. As we were walking to the car to get our gear the monks started their chanting session over a loud speaker. Guess there goes that idea.
We then headed to the most visited temple, Wat Phra Singh. Inside the temple there was a monk sitting among the statues. He was sitting so still that he looked like the statue next to him. We had visited a lot of temples and by this time they were all starting to look alike. We needed an energy boost so stopped into a coffee shop for a caffeine fix.
We were ready for something different and decided to check out the Saturday walking street. They close down an entire street to vehicle traffic and vendors set up shop along the road. There were food, clothing, souvenir, and drinks stalls along with street performers. I bought two new shirts since we started traveling and was in need of new clothes. After some encouragement from Jon I spent $35 and walked home with a skirt, three tops, one pair of flip-flops and four tank tops. Not a bad deal and it felt good to splurge on myself. Jon bought a few Thai CD’s which he is hoping to use for his video. As we were heading back to our car we could feel a change in the wind, a sign that the rain was coming. Just as we got to our car there was a huge downpour.
Feeling lucky and adventurous we checked out a live band at the Good View, a restaurant along the river. The Thai cover band played classic and contemporary rock tunes. I ordered a Thai whiskey since I had heard that it is popular among the locals since it’s very inexpensive. A glass of whiskey was $2 but a bottle was only $5! After the Good View we walked to another bar right next door called Riverside. It was a rocking joint filled with young Thais on a Saturday night. As we walked in we felt two years too old and the band were taking a break so we headed home instead.
Nonetheless it felt good to have a night out in town.
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