8/9/10 (chiang mai)

Chiang Mai

Jon took the opportunity to have Miguel’s again for lunch since it’s hard to find good Mexican food in Asia. The food is really spicy to cater to the Thais though we usually see more foreigners than locals. I ventured to a local noodle shop nearby. It’s always an adventure ordering since most noodle shop owners don’t speak English. One of the monks taught me how to order noodle soup in Thai. I tried it once but the people were still confused so instead I use a lot of facial expressions and finger pointing. Luckily they only have a few items on the menu and you can’t go too wrong if you just point to a sign.

After lunch we ran errands to we prepare for our trip to Chiang Rai. We bought our bus ticket and decided to splurge on the VIP tickets, which was $8 per person. It was worth the extra three dollars for a direct route to Chiang Rai and no Thai music. Then we headed to the post office and bank.

Since we walked away from the night market yesterday empty handed we went to the night bazaar today to find a gift for Mr. Sak. It is amazing how much shopping you can do since the night bazaar happens every night and then on the weekends there is a special night market. All the markets sell the same things and my guess is the vendors are at all the various locations. As soon as we arrived at the bazaar we saw the same shirt we were going to buy for Mr. Sak. It was a different lady than the day before and after some friendly negotiation I saved thirty cents. I could’ve bargained harder but with time running out we needed to get something.

With all our errands done we returned to Mr. Sak’s place. Jon worked until the wee hours of the night to put the final touches on the video.