After the hecticness, heat and humidity of Bangkok, we flew up to the more relaxed Chiang Mai, in the North of Thailand. Rightly or wrongly, we decided to stay in the one location for longer periods of time, than we did in Australia, as too much daily travel is too much for the kids.
Thus begins our two weeks in Chiang Mai, where we will radiate out of, and explore from. We are new to AirB’nB on this trip, but booked an apartment for the duration of our stay.
The view down from our 14th floor apartment. The Rincome night bazaar is under the roofs of the collection of buildings on the mid left of the picture:
The regal view out from our apartment, up to one of the most sacred temples Wat Suthep. The light changes by the hour, and it is pretty and spectacular:
The apartment is comfortable and spacious, especially after the restrictiveness and feeling of being caged or cramped in our last accommodation in a hotel (a throw back to my student days when I worked in many hotels during Summer break, on various continents and so I never forget how they all uniformly operate and how staff are treated and self organise into their own pecking order!).
In Bangkok we defaulted back to eating inside……..we were not shy of trying different Thai food, but did so indoors! As we become more comfortable in figuring out how things roll here, how society functions, we have embraced street food. What a feast we are having. There is a night market next to where we are staying – Rincome – which has excellent food. We have tried the food at each of the gates to old Chiang Mai city, feeling more comfortable each day (there was a bit of trepidation at first, and resistance especially from Ilona, when she refused to eat on the street, proclaiming that the seats and tables were “disgusting”. It didn’t help that it was pouring rain, and the build up of water in the clothes-pegged together umbrellas and awnings intermittently dumped down on our table!). Hunger is a good sauce though, so the next time/day she just ate! She hasn’t declined food since, although with the heat, I think all our appetites are diminished slightly.
The food is so tasty though! Tadhg is loving Pad Thai, so that is his staple at the moment. Daniel has befriended one of the street cooks in Rincome, and adventurously asks for different dishes each time we return to her, despite complete loss of (verbal) translation, he manages to buy all manner of different curries, soups, and pork specialities that are characteristic of the region.
We get around the city using the red sorngtaaou, which are shared taxis. You flag them down, state your destination (or in our case, point to it on a map!), to determine whether the driver is going that general direction (with other passengers), or whether (s)he won’t take you.
At night, we have had to negotiate from the standard 20baht per person, and have been flatly refused to have a lift! Economics 101, price adjusting relative to demand. There are two bench seats facing eachother in the back; open back to hop on and off; ne’er sight of a safety belt, which initially challenged my sense of protection, protection for kids (in booster seats etc!). Anyhow, very exhilarating initially to travel around in.
We have had a lot of quiet downtime. The kids have a preference for staying out of the tropical heat, and a tendency to object to any proposed new adventure or exploratory trip. I hope they become acclimatised soon! That has given us the opportunity to relax and read though. I read “A year of runaways” by Sunjeev Sahota, which again is apt given our trek across the world, but more so given that the plight of refugees has been in the news, with the washing up of Aylan, the 3 year old Syrian boy, on a Turkish beach.
In light of this, a quote from Sahota, with two of the migrants/refugees in England talking to eachother: “he said it’s not work that makes us leave home and come here. It’s love. Love for our families”….. To which the curt retort came: “that’s sentimental crap….it’s duty, we’re doing our duty (to family). And it’s shit.”
Sahota describes the “bold dreams, daily struggles” throughout the book, which resonates with me on a different level, when facing the challenges of parenting the kids when there are changing routines and structures.
For us, I think this journey is about satiation of curiosity, while also realising how we all share basic needs (Maslow’s hierarchy of needs or Ignatieff’s needs of strangers), in our daily adventure (for us) of finding accommodation and food as we travel. We also get to enjoy and experience new culture, a luxury afforded to being a tourist.
Next up on my Booker prize nominations downloaded to Kindle is James Marlon’s “A brief history of seven killings”.