Day 304 of 400: Chiang Mai – Thailand
Today we continued exploring the streets of Chiang Mai. The very center of town was surrounded by a wall the way many old fortress towns were, and there is a bit of the wall left in some places. We walked by a portion which looked restored and read some of its history. We had fun shopping around and of course admiring all of the temples until we were hungry and found a place for lunch. As we were sitting looking at the menu…a big rat caught our eye in the kitchen scurrying along the floor under the equipment. And…believe it or not, we stayed and ate there! It had really good curry which is what it was known for…not a huge fan of rats running around but since everything is outdoors in Thailand, there are probably many more rats than we want to think about.
More shopping around and more sight-seeing lead to more eating, we found a cute authentic Thai place with a table sitting right on the edge of the street. The owner greeted us and pointed out which things she thought we would like the best. Giff found the kitchen with the one chef and took some pictures of her preparing our meal with fresh herbs from the garden. We gobbled up the delicious food and washed it down with a local beer.
As the day turned into night, we found ourselves at the night Bazaar which is a market full of local crafts. We walked through the many booths of t-shirts, jewelry, hand-made lanterns, soaps, chop-sticks etc. The bazaar is built around a main area where a stage holds entertainers and various food stalls sell street food. From there the craft stalls span out keeping everyone busy for hours. Giff and I sat down and watched the dancers for a bit while we munched on pizza and then Giff left to meet one of the tailors who needed to see if the suits that were custom-made for him fit. I stayed at the bazaar, slowly shopping around and enjoying the scene. Giff came back after about an hour and we finished up before walking back to our hotel room for the evening.
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