December 28, 2022
A Week of Movement but not by Bicycle - Day 3
Day 3 Chiang Mai
No matter how many times I come to Chiang Mai I always feel good to be back. Even if the town is filled with tourists I'm still glad to be here. There is something special about Chiang Mai and most travelers feel that.
As soon as we woke up we walked to the nearby Ming Muang Market where an amazing coffee woman has her cart. She offers all sorts of versions of coffee and tea and even foofy drinks too. She's so quick making the drinks that people waiting for their drinks (and there is always a group waiting) all watch mesmerized. She quickly flicks small spoonsful of this powder in that large plastic container or that powder from another large plastic container and we never have much of an idea what those substances are. She slaps the lid on the containers after each spoonful flick lightening fast. She knows exactly what she's doing and she can do several drinks at once if ingredients overlap. It's fun that besides getting a delicious coffee drink you are entertained while waiting. We have always sat on stools right next to her while we drink our coffees so we can continue watching the show but those two stools were taken by two elderly women. There were stools further inside the market but they were in front of stalls where food was being prepared. They are essentially restaurants inside the old wood market. Of course, we were waved over to sit on the stools even though we were not going to eat there. Thais are so friendly and accomodating.
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Then our attention was on the cooking that was going on in front of us. It looked so good and the two-woman team were so organized and fun to watch that we decided we would return for lunch. While we sipped our Cafe Boulan coffees we decided to leave The Shire Guest House and find another, quieter place to sleep. On the way out of the market we picked up an enormous and ripe papaya for tomorrow's breakfast.
We checked out and in to a guest house called Awana Guest House for $21. It seemed really nice , a huge upgrade from The Shire, and the person at the desk was too.
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There are certain things we always do when in Chiang Mai and we made a list. We had things like places we wanted to eat, things we wanted to buy such as little spoons, a butcher knife, Thai farmer pants, a little tiny Buddha and incense. One of the things on the list (you are going to think we are completely obsessed with coffee now) was to find the raw stuff to make Cafe Boulan at home upon our return. We had asked the master coffee maker where we could buy the powder and she told us a specific market near the U.S. Embassy, the Muang Mai Market. I was thrilled.
For lunch we returned to Ming Muang Market and sat for a long time at the old wood 'L' shaped counter watching the two women make dish after dish. It was very busy but that only means that it's popular and it's popular for good reasons. I love being in places like this incredibly grungy market with years and years worth of black grease coating the wood rafters. Everything above was black. The cement floor was caked black. It smelled bad but none of that deterred me from believing the food was going to be fantastic. And it was. Well worth the long wait.
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We changed money at Super Rich Money Exchange because they have the best rates.
We went back to our new room to check out the entire guest house including the rooftop. After that we thought about dinner. Tough life, right! Andrea suggested going to Aroon Rai again, as we had when we were in Chiang Mai just a few weeks ago. We walked to nearby Tha Phae Gate, the main ancient entrance to Chiang Mai from the east and the nearby Ping River. The plaza in front of Tha Phae Gate has become a surreal place for international travelers to take selfies. Also, strangely, there is a big deal with the pigeons. Someone scatters food on the ground and of course the pigeons come to eat it and then a person slams down a long bamboo pole with an empty plastic water bottle attached to the end. The action and sound makes all the pigeons fly up and a large group of tourists surrounding the scene takes slow exposures with their phones and cameras. It's a bizarre new thing happening in Chiang Mai that I took one look at and wondered many thoughts that I probably shouldn't express here. Over and over the pigeons are fed and then scared away! What?! Just because there are ancient bricks in the background and a brass plaque which says, "Tha Phae Gate." I guess it proves the tourist was there, had made it to the famous Tha Phae Gate and the pigeons, well, pigeons are so colorful especially when blurred! Sorry, I didn't photograph the scene.
Aroon Rai Restaurant is near to this insanity and unlike the new phenomenon of scaring pigeons it has been there forever, unchanged forever. There is one dish that we always end up getting; Gaeng Heng Ley (Chiang Mai Curry). It's the best Gaeng Heng Ley I've ever found. It's rare because it takes so long to make and you probably won't find it anyplace other than Chiang Mai and the northern parts of Thailand. Originally it's from Burma - a complex pork curry using lots of ingredients.
Aroon Rai Restaurant is a family-run restaurant I first ate at in 1974 and it has not changed. For about 30 years the full whiskey bottles on the upper shelves (out of reach of everyone) were the very same bottles but now there are newer ones and they have even been dusted. Everything else is the same. I guess if it all worked well a half century ago then why change anything! And the curry also tastes exactly the same. At the front of the restaurant there are a few trays full of other curries and I always salivate at any one of them and I think about ordering one of them but in the end I always order the same one, the Chiang Mai pork curry, and a basket full of sticky rice. I guess after nearly a half century I don't yet desire anything else at Aroon Rai; I too don't desire change. Funny how things go!
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After dinner at Aroon Rai we walked across the moat and I even had a fried roti with drizzled sweetened condensed milk over it. It, too, is a flavor from long ago for me to savor. I used to eat them every night when I was in my 20's but now I don't need more than one per trip - a taste treat to joggle memories. As I ate it we walked along the ancient brick walls and suddenly a light show lit them up from the other side. Obviously things were heating up in preparation for the big show on New Year's Eve. It and all the tourists that had packed into Chiang Mai made us start thinking about where exactly we wanted to be in only three days.
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lovebruce
Today's ride: 2 miles (3 km)
Total: 769 miles (1,238 km)
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