Calling Chiang Mai home for the moment. It's a city in the far north of Thailand--fairly large, but much much smaller than Bangkok, making it a LOT easier to navigate on foot (yay!). On my way to my current guesthouse, I came upon the annual Flower Festival Parade. Lots of traditional dresses, floats made of flowers, high school marching bands (way more disciplined than the ol' Southwestern band, I should add). Pretty much just like a parade you might see in the US. Except maybe for the people whose job it was to run around and dab sweat from the faces of each person in the parade. Because of course, Thais do not sweat, and must always be beautiful.
Yesterday was also the "Saturday Walking Street". Every Saturday from 4pm till midnight, they close Wualai Street to traffic and vendors come and set up stalls. Lots of food, handicrafts, crappy souvenirs, nicer souvenirs, musicians, etc. Oooo, and lots of massage stalls. Got there around 5 and stayed until 9. At 6pm sharp, they play a song over the loudspeaker to honour the king and everyone FREEZES dead in their tracks. I knew it was going to happen, so I stood by watching. And yup, it was pretty freaky. People in Thailand are VERY serious about respecting the royal family. They are brainwashed to LOVE them. It is illegal to do anything that might disrespect them, including stepping on money (even if it's blowing away!) since it bears the image of the king. Yeah. Weird. So anyway, the market:
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| Local craftsman hammering out Buddha's footprint |
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| Jewelry is a big thing at the market |
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| It was a lovely night at the market until out from the murky depths came....MORMONS!!!! AHHHHHH!!!! |
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| My new favorite street food! Rice stuffed into sausage casings and grilled. Oh my god, you have no idea of the degree of deliciousness... |
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| After 5 hours of walking, I decided I deserved a foot massage (which actually turned out to be a leg and foot massage). 30 minutes for 60 Baht? Sign me up! (That's less than $2) |
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