After our one day of adventures in Kuala Lumpur, we flew to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. This lovely young lady welcomed us while advertising some sort of cleaning product.
Our airbnb in Chiang Mai didn’t look like much from the outside; there were a couple of empty storefronts on the street level and the hallways were dimly lit, so I was a little apprehensive given our disastrous experience in Medan. However, the condo itself was very comfortable, the kitchen was fairly well equipped, the host was very responsive, and the a/c worked. It also had a lovely pool on the fifth floor with very few people using it.
We arrived too late to go food shopping so we were very happy that our host had provided ramen noodle packages — we made use of them for breakfast. They make them a little spicier over there, which we really liked, and there was an extra packet of chili powder if you wanted it even hotter. However, we didn’t have any real coffee so our first order of business was to go in search of a latte and then shopping for breakfast and lunch provisions. Our host had told us there was a mall with a supermarket and food stalls just down the street so we headed in that direction. And, lo and behold, the perfect little coffee shop was right next door to the mall — The Tiger Ted. It had a pretty little garden to sit in and a huge shade tree. There was even a little tree house platform where you could sip your latte if you wanted to climb the steep stairs, which I didn’t.
The mall had a variety of clothing stores, pharmacies, and home equipment stores on the upper levels, but the lower level was a shiny, modern, air-conditioned version of an old street market with a variety of food stalls, craft markets, and the general food market. We could get everything in one place.
This is where I scored my handmade batiked bandanna, which became extremely useful the rest of the trip.
This mall also had the spiffiest bathroom with E-Bidet toilet seats. They had a control panel on the side of the toilet and an instruction poster on the back of the bathroom door. I won’t try to explain how it worked — you can use your imagination.
After our big excursion to the shopping mall, we went for a refreshing swim in the condo pool.
That evening, we had a reservation for a traditional dinner and dance performance at the Old Chang Mai Cultural Center. It was a big tourist thing, of course, but still, the dinner was delicious and the music and dancing seemed to be quite authentic and educational about different historical periods and a variety of tribal cultures from the surrounding area.
Many people sat on the floor in traditional Thai style, but they also had tables with chairs for older folks and invalids like me.
The food came in a variety of little dishes with sauces and condiments that we could nibble to our heart’s content.
The main troupe of dancers was a group of young women who all had double jointed fingers that they could bend way backwards. They performed a number of dances from different historical periods with elegant costumes. It was all very slow and dignified.
Interspersed throughout the program were representatives from various regional tribes performing their dances in traditional costumes. I don’t remember all of them but I know the Karen and Hmong hill tribes were represented. In the last picture, you can see a baby hitching a ride on mama's back.
There were also two young men who did a martial arts dance with real knives.
On the way out, there was also a fire dancer to finish off the festivities.
The next day we were signed up for a Thai Cooking Class and that turned out to be so much fun (and delicious)!
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