2014, Day 311 - Sassy

This morning I woke up early wide away well before the sun was up.  That time, waiting for everyone else to return to consciousness, was used to catch up on a bit of work.  It's hard to believe we're already a week in to our trip.

Once everyone was up and about we went out to pick up pastries for a light breakfast.  Today we were headed off to cooking classes so we figured something light as we would be eating what we cooked.  Our quick snack out of the way we were picked up by the cooking school where we met up with the other students in our group and headed out to the Mae Jo Market.

That's not really the name of the market but it is what everyone calls it because Mae Jo is the name of the neighborhood where it is located.  Mae Jo's university also happens to be the site of the mass lantern release as it is far enough away from the city so as not to negatively impact all the people that live in the area.

Personally, I like the market near our hotel better, it is much bigger although a bit more dingy and I like that kind of grittiness.  The vendors at this market were nice and one lady offered me a sample of the fruit she was selling.  It was small, about the size of a grape, bright green with flesh a bit like an apple.  The flavor was quite sour and the juices a bit astringent but it leaves a sweet aftertaste.  I think we had something similar in Cambodia served with salt and chillies.  Anyway, she got a chuckle although I don't think my reaction was severe as she had expected.

Once we had finished our market tour we headed out to the farm.  Here we had a tour of their facilities and then selected the food we were going to make.  The dish I was most excited about was khao soi which is a northern Thai curry served with noodles.  I've actually had it at home but I think they try too hard to make it fashionable as I like it better the way it is prepared here which is a lot more simple.  Otherwise a lot of what we made is similar to the Thai food that I've learned to cook before except maybe for larb which is typically a minced meat salad but I've had it before with tofu and mushrooms although this time it was just tofu.

Our class covered seven dishes and ended up taking longer than expected and advertised.  By the time we got back to our hotel the sun was beginning to set.  Tonight is the Saturday Walking Street on Wua Lai Road which is pretty close to our hotel.  Unfortunately I have some incredible congestion so my plan for the evening is to relax with a hot compress although I'm happy to say that my travel companions are taking advantage of the opportunity even though I didn't feel like going.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Chiang Mai but fortunately we will have much of Monday as well in case there is anything we don't get to before we set off for the next leg of our adventure.

Fuji X-T1, Fujinon 56/f1.2R
56mm, f2, 1/125 sec @ 320 ISO

2014, Day 310 - Crafts and consumers

We helped stimulate Thailand's economy today.  This morning we work up early, as per usual, and headed out for breakfast but not before making a stop for coffee.  There was a restaurant we scoped out yesterday but, unfortunately, it wasn't opened early enough to accommodate our plans for the rest of the morning.  Slightly disappointed we headed back to the local vegetarian place and has another great meal for less than a dollar per person.

Bellies full, we returned briefly to our hotel to finish getting ready in preparation for a day out with our driver.  Josh, the name he gave us, was the taxi driver who took us from the airport to our hotel when we arrive.  One the ride he seemed like a nice guy, he spoke English well, and had a sense of humor.  So we had arranged for him to drive us around to explore and do a little shopping.

He started off on the right foot by showing up early and when we showed him the list of places we wanted to visit he nodded at each and off we went.  First we went to Khamtieng Market, the city's plant market.  It was amazing, lots of little shops with all manner of beautiful tropical plants, water lilies, and gardening supplies.  The sheer variety and the riot of color was almost overwhelming.  It made me wish I had a tropical garden to plant but we contented ourselves with admiring all the plants.  Especially impressive were the orchids that came in all manner of shapes, sizes, and colors with prices as low as a dollar per plant.

Next we headed in search of a teak spirit house for Francene so Josh took us to a sprawling teak furniture place.  I will admit that their offerings were impressive, especially some of the furniture, but they didn't have any large spirit houses and while their prices were fair for teak they were still extremely expensive.

Coming up short we decided to go to Francene's tried and true celadon place.  They make all of their pottery on site and have an extensive variety of traditional and contemporary celadon available for purchase.  What's more, they also ship, so that took a huge obstacle from our path.  In the end we all made a purchase or two and we should be seeing them again in two to three months; given the exorbitant cost for air shipping we all felt that we could be patient.

At this point we had been such good consumers that we were getting hungry so Josh took us to his second choice place; the first was closed.  We had a nice lunch and were soon off to see how they make umbrellas from bamboo and paper.  The women working on cutting and shaping the bamboo were rather spectacular; they made it look so easy but it was clear that long experience with those razor sharp blades that our initial impression was completely erroneous.

Next we went to a shop that sold locally produced home decor.  The majority of their large showroom was devoted to rugs.  Originally the owner and his family came from Kashmir almost two decades ago to expand their business and found that they could make better rugs at a lower cost because of the availability of high quality and, relatively, inexpensive Thai silk.  There is something extremely impressive about the was the light shimmers off of a silk rug and the temptation was too much for Melissa who had them unrolling rug upon rug.  I will freely admit I looked at a few myself in the process.

By now it was getting rather late in the afternoon so we stopped to snack on fried pumpkin and decided to make one last stop of a shop renown for their silk.  It was in an really pretty old teak house and while their offering were attractive there was none of the Thai style that you would expect.

At this point Josh had proved himself invaluable and extremely competent.  He had drive us all over the city, found everything without difficulty, and told us silly jokes that made him laugh more than we did.  But it good-natured demeanor won us over and we had a great time.  So, before dropping us back at our hotel, we made plans to have him drive us around again on Sunday and paid him a very reasonable amount for all his time today.

Once we got ourselves refreshed we headed out to dinner.  I suggested a restaurant I had eaten at the last time we were in Chiang Mai.  It was on the other side of town so we caught a ride and ended up having a very nice meal.  In fact we ate so much that none of us was all that thrilled to go out this evening so we headed back to the hotel to rest and relax.

Fuji X-T1, Fujinon 35/f1.4R
35mm, f1.4, 1/125 sec @ 1000 ISO

2014, Day 309 - Take to the skies

True to form we were up before five o'clock this morning and, when we couldn't wait any longer, we left our hotel in search of food.  They provide a light breakfast of fresh fruit, coffee, and toast but that is not enough to fuel us for a whole morning.  So we headed out with laundry in hand to drop off which was easily sorted.

Food is always a bit more of challenge because we have to find a place that we either trust or where we can communicate with the proprietors and those places that open early carter to locals.  Fortunately we found a vegetarian place that served a cafeteria style breakfast.  So we filed in, pointed to what we wanted, dressed our food with condiments, and had a very satisfying breakfast.  And the grand total for this feast?  Less than four dollars for everyone!

Contented with our food we made our way back to the market.  I never tire of markets so I am always game.  Araceli wanted spicy nuts and I wanted some bananas.  The fruit was easily sorted but the spicy nuts were impossible to find so she had to settle for fresh roasted peanuts.  Melissa found little rice dumplings with sweetened coconut cream filling sold by sweet little old lady who I noticed sampling her own wares.  Given that she could have bought just about anything else I take it as a good sign that she likes what she sells and they were indeed delicious.

The next couple of hours we spent wandering the streets of the Old City visiting temples.  Most were totally decked out for Yi Peng and almost all were crowded.  Having seen all these temples before it was still amazing and even more so for all the work that has been done in the past four years since I last visited.

Soon we had to make our way back to the hotel as we had booked massages for the early afternoon.  At the appointed time a car came and whisked us away to be pampered for a couple of hours.  First we had a massage and then a second time over with hot herbal compresses.  I found it incredibly relaxing and the compresses were totally new and rather intense and amazing.  It was a blissful couple of hours which ended with transportation back to the hotel.

After resting for about an hour we left in search of dinner.  We took a couple wrong turns but eventually found the place we were looking for that served a variety of vegetarian Thai dishes.  All of the food was excellent and by the time we finished lanterns were dotting the night sky.  First we went to Wat Chedi Luang where we found a few monks launching their sky lanterns.  After taking a few pictures we waded through the crowds to the river where the waterfront park hosts masses of people launching their own sky lanterns.

We found a vendor and purchased a few to release and had a great time adding to the masses that were filling the sky.  After a while we were starting to feel the day catch up with us so we headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up, peruse our pictures, and call it a night.

Fuji X-T1, Fujinon 23/f1.4R
23mm, f1.4, 1/125 sec @ 1250 ISO

2014, Day 308 - Barter

Today, our first full day in Thailand, was not especially exciting.  When we got in to Chiang Mai last night we got settled into our rooms, went out to get dinner, came back, got cleaned up, and went to bed.  It was early but we were exhausted.  Consequently we got up similarly early; we gave up trying to sleep at about four o'clock in the morning but, in fairness, that was after getting eight hours of sleep.

So we spent the early morning doing a little research and planning out the rest of our time in Thailand.  When our plans had more-or-less taken shape we decided to go out in search of food and caffeine.  There was a place close by that came highly recommended but they didn't open for a while but a nice gentleman pointed up to another establishment and suggested we go to the market afterwards.

The food at the little cafe was excellent and we did indeed head to the market.  I love markets, they are the bustling hub of local life and I really like the idea of eating only fresh foods, produce that is immediately ripe and recently harvested, and animals that have been locally raise, treated well, and honored in the lack of waste.  We didn't buy anything which I rather regret because it would be nice to have a bunch of bananas back in our room.

Our market exploration completed, we decided to head back to our hotel to actually put our plans into action and make what arrangements we could.  On the way I pointed out the street famous for all their silver smiths and it was instantly decided that we should take a look.  What followed was a couple hours of popping in and out of various places looking for the pieces that were just right.  Our strategy was to find what we liked going one way and make our purchases on the return.

As it turned out we switched back the way we came after visiting Wat Srisuphan, the famous Silver Temple.  Originally constructed in the 16th century the Silver Temple is not actually silver but aluminum with silver panels.  Unfortunately women are not allowed to enter the temple so I had to go in alone and take pictures to share.  The silver panels are impressively detailed while the interior is not significantly different from most other temples.  In addition to the temple the grounds also house a silver smithing school and meditation classes.

When we finished at the temple we made our way back down the road stopping every block to buy a piece of jewelry here and another there.  In the end a number of bargains were struck and I think everyone felt as though they came out on top.

By this time we had been wandering for a while and the light breakfast we had at the cafe was a distant memory so we thought to find food on the way back to the hotel.  Eventually we settled on and Indian/Thai place and had a reasonable lunch albeit with somewhat slow service.

When we finally made it back to the hotel we stopped off at the front desk to make reservations for the next few days.  Full of pride in our own productivity it was decided that we should at least treat ourselves to a foot massage.  How can you not for less than seven dollars for an hour?  I struggled to stay away throughout.

Feeling refreshed we decided to take an hour break at the hotel and then we would head out in search of dinner and the Loi Krathong festivities.  It was suggested that the best place to see the celebrations would be by the river so we opted to take a cab to the Night Market knowing that we would be able to find food in that area.  As it turned out we had an excellent eight course Thai dinner in the Night Market.

When we finished eating it had started to rain in earnest.  It was coming down so hard that it wasn't a patter on the corrugated steel roof but a constant droning.  Although we expected it would dampen the celebrations we still slowly made our way to the river.  As suspected there were plenty of vendors and few other people.  The rain hard washed out the festivities.  So we made our offerings and decided to come back for an early-ish night.

Fuji X-T1, Fujinon 56/f1.2R
56mm, f2, 1/340 sec @ 200 ISO

2014, Day 307 - Conundrum

I am somewhat befuddled, well, more than usual.  I've dozed on and off for about three of the last forty hours and much makes no sense.  For years I've posted a photo of the day but, admittedly, it always gets a little confused when I cross the international date line.  At home it is Monday the 3rd but in Thailand it is Tuesday the 4th.  How do I transition from one to the other?  It has to be done and, the thing that makes sense in my sleep-deprived head, is to post once for the two days and double post on the way back.  I like this because it is less work now, always good, and I should have a much more expansive library to choose from in a few weeks.  So that's the plan, criticism should be gentle because my brain can't understand a whole lot at the moment...

Fuji X-E2, Fujinon 10-24/f4R OIS
24mm, f5.6, 1/125 sec @ 250 ISO

2014, Day 306 - Farewell to fall

Well, we're just about to get some fall color.  It started a few weeks ago but has not yet hit its peak.  Sadly, like most years, I'm headed out of the country and by the time I get back the trees will be bare.  I keep doing this and I rather miss fall but it is the most convenient time for me to travel.  Perhaps next year I'll stay home for the autumn color.

Fuji X-E2, Fujinon 10-24/f4R OIS
24mm, f5.6, 1/125 sec @ 1600 ISO

2014, Day 305 - Parting

Missing my Frank this evening.  He's off with my friends Paul and Karen and they are lavishing attention on him while I'm on my trip.  Frankie left a couple days early because it's been all go here and it makes life just a little easier having one less dog but you would think in house with four remaining dogs it wouldn't be super noticeable but it is.

Fuji X-E2, Fujinon 60/f2.4R
60mm, f4, 1/125 sec @ 1600 ISO