Exploring Chiang Mai

First off, I apologize for not posting for awhile. I had a MAJOR glitch that consumed my attention for about 36 hours but all is well now, more or less.

view of Chiang Mai from my room

I mentioned how the Empress Hotel really knows how to treat its customers with a goodie bag, fruit plate, and chandelier. Not surprisingly their customer service is top notch. I needed to take a Covid test the next day and enquired about places. They knew of one place nearby for about 3500 baht. I indicated that Lanna Hospital (hey, the same name as my favorite Thai restaurant!) could do the test for 3000 baht. She said she would arrange a taxi for me so I went upstairs to get my passport and stuff. When I returned, she not only had a taxi waiting, she had called the hospital to confirm costs and that they could take me plus get instructions on what I should do when I got there. Wow! That’s impressive service. The paperwork and waiting took awhile, and they kept trying to make my birthyear 2511. I know I look young for my age, but not that young!

I also panicked because as I sat trying to figure out if I needed to pay extra for a doctor signed PCR test certificate to get into India, I discovered that sometime in the last week or so they imposed a 7-day home quarantine for ALL international arrivals, not just those from at risk countries. I immediately chatted with my rush visa service in LA (yes, I screwed up and missed the 4 day in advance evisa application costing myself another hundred bucks, but with so many things constantly changing it’s hard to stay on top of it all). Anyways, they are expensive for a reason. They would my rush evisa in a day and were very responsive online. They said it was no problem, I would have a quick test at the airport then had no restrictions and confirmed I could fly to Kerala two days after arrival. I later read more evidence of the restrictions and chatted with them again. This time she consulted with her manager who checked on things and reassured me no issues. Foreshadowing, anyone?

view from inside my red truck group taxi

After my test I tried an ATM with no luck. Uh oh, I only had 230 baht left and I did not bring any USD to exchange either! Today was the only day to check out the Cat Brothers Café and I didn’t want to waste time so I took a red truck, called Songtaew, which is basically a shared taxi that drives around picking up people going in similar directions and dropping them off. It been pretty slow for them too so when I offered 60 baht for the trip he instantly agreed. That left me 100 for the café and 70 for a ride home if needed.

my red truck taxi leaving after dropping me off

Cat Brothers Cafe menu

cat curled up sleeping on wall

This cat café had you pay 100 baht ($3) for a drink and then you could go upstairs and spend time with a dozen or so cats while enjoying your drink, up to 2 hours I think. When I got there the cats were all sleeping. I petted a few of them and took some pictures of them. Then my drink arrived and they indicated where I should sit and also pointed out the rules which stated I should not bother the sleeping cats. Ooops! At least I knew to turn off my camera’s flash so I didn’t break that rule. After a few minutes watching sleeping cats, it got pretty boring. I was getting ready to head out when the attendant cracked open the window. Instantly all cat eyes snapped open!

cat sleeping by window

catnip time

the only cat who gave me the time of day

She took a catnip plant from the windowsill and placed it on the floor. Soon most of them were putting on a show, elbowing in for their access to the plant. So this did get them up, but did not make them more friendly. They must get petted all day long so they were not much interested except one that was receptive for a few minutes before giving a gentle bite to indicate he was done. I finished my drink and left. Right outside I spotted a mangy black cat trotting towards me up an alley. He LOVED my pets. I got way more attention from him than all the ones in the café. He was clearly starved for affection. In the end, I got my “cat fix.”

alley cat who loved me

Night Market Entrance

The Chiang Mai Night Market is amazing! There are lots of handmade items, many actually made by the vendors! I honed in on a booth with two knitting/crocheting (I’m not sure what the difference is) items. They had many really cute animals and also some hemp coin purses. My other favorite stall was run by a woman who was hand painting ceramic elephants to be fired into the beautiful pieces below. There are also many other nifty items like these hand painted onto paper lamps with wooden frames, cute keychains, coconut bowls that can be used for cold food or snacks. There were also a lot of clothes including cool tie dyed ones, but I was not in the market for that.

Night Market Entrance 2

women busy crocheting at booth

cute crocheted animals

lady painting elephants

tiny painted elephants

painted coconut bowls

beautiful lamps

pork with eggs and rice I accidentally requested mild no spicy

One day I also had dinner at the market. I approached a stall and asked if the stir fry with rice and egg was spicy. I said I wanted "no spicy" and a fellow customer assured me it was not spicy and communicated to the lady cooking. I then got cute and used my google translate to say "mild, no spicy" which I showed the customer and she had me show the vendor. I think I but myself in the butt with that one because they must have interpreted it as "mild no" "spicy" and that's what I got. But I was able to eat most of it once I picked off the red chili parts. I should have put them on separate lines. Live and learn!

spicy not spicy food stall in night market

elephant paintings

Right when I walked in I was drawn to colorful paintings of elephants (painted with real paint with texture and everything. Along the outside of the gallery a few artists were sitting and painting. The small size of the style I liked was only 250 baht, $8? Larger ones ranged from 350 to 3000 baht for a roghly 30” x 24.” The lady in charge of the gallery said she could take the canvas off the frame and roll it up if I wanted to pack it. Definitely something to consider. Later, as I was walking back to the hotel I saw almost the exact same large one in a different shop on the street. So maybe it’s not a local artist or maybe this place sells for the gallery inside?

art gallery in night market

The next day I asked who painted them and the gallery lady said her husband did and she offered to make a good deal. She also had postcards of the paintings she was selling. The back of the postcard said Naga Gallery. I didn’t want to ask if she was Naga Gallery so I just asked for a business card but she had none. I said I’d consider it since I wanted to check the outside store’s story first, but I got caught up buying things and she closed before I was able to. The outside store was still open and wanted more than double for the same large painting. I asked who painted it and she said her sister. Hah!

cool dual face painting

Okay, so these are clearly churned out somewhere in a factory or something. I checked online and apparently these are sold as “hand painted reproductions” which I am okay with. The next night almost everyone was closed or at the huge Sunday Market. I stopped off quickly to get one item and saw that the gallery was open though the lady wasn’t there. I decided $7 for a real painting of a picture I loved was worth it even if it was assembly line painted. More importantly I thought I could fit it into my luggage!

many dogs were stylishly outfitted

They are busy prepping for Chinese (or Thai) New Years with decorations being sold everywhere

waterway in Chiang Mai

rock shop I avoided since they are too heavy to haul around with me