Welcome to Chiang Rai

We took off from Bangkok early this morning on a flight to Chiang Rai.  We were eager to see the difference between a big, cosmopolitan city and a smaller Thai town.  

Once we had checked into our resort, we set off to explore the town on foot.  Since it was Sunday, the streets were quiet and many businesses were closed.  We visited the Hilltribe Museum, which provided interesting background to the culture and lifestyles of local tribes and the history of opium trade in the Golden Triangle.  We are looking forward to trekking to see tribes and the Golden Triangle in a couple of days.  After the museum we enjoyed lunch al fresco at a local restaurant that opened recently.  We learned from the cook that she had just returned to Thailand from the US, where she had owned a Thai restaurant and worked as a dealer in Las Vegas.  It was interesting hearing about her perspective on the two countries, and how she missed Thailand and its people too much to stay in the US.  She told the girls that working as a dealer is quite lucrative, and they should move to Las Vegas to work there.  (We all found that to be quite amusing.)

After a walk through a local park to see a monument and gold clock tower, we broke up the heat of the afternoon with a float in the resort pool.  The cool water felt wonderful after the sticky walk through town.  One of the benefits of travelling in the off season is that there are few tourists here.  We’ve encountered French, German and Spanish travellers in our hotel, but only a few other Americans.  It was fun to identify the different languages we heard at the pool.

A wat we saw on the way to the Hilltribe museum (Photo credit: Sarah)

We spent our evening walking through the Happy Market, which occurs each Sunday evening.  It was fun to see the locals browsing, eating and chatting.  We enjoyed some local entertainment, including an umbrella dance by a troupe of young girls, and a folk singer.  The variety of street food was amazing -- including many foods and aromas we did not recognize.  Some of the more interesting choices included eggs on a stick (still in the shell), dried cuttlefish on a stick and friend insects of various sizes and crunch levels.  We opted for phad thai cooked up fresh in a huge wok as we watched.  Mark tried some fried squid that he ate from a plastic bag with a toothpick.  We haven’t been as adventurous with the street food as we expected, but I think we’ll acclimate after a few more days.  The sights, smells and sounds are all consuming and make the thought of walking and eating a little daunting.

The trip to the market was a reminder of the opportunity that travel brings -- to try new things, get out of your comfort zone, and test the limits of your tolerance for the unknown.

-Michelle