Chiang Mai (1)

I have always wanted to go to Southeast Asia for a while, and it seems that there are very few friends around me who have never been to a Southeast Asian country. I originally planned to go to Taiwan first in October and then go to Southeast Asia, but because I took over the temporary two-month job in Nanjing, I postponed it, and escaped the winter and smog in Beijing by the way. I bought a one-way ticket from Beijing to Chiang Mai, and transited in Kuala Lumpur. When I was changing planes, I saw the little brother sitting next to me in the aisle when we flew over together. I remembered him because he gave me a hand when I put the big backpack on the luggage rack. I used to ask him if he was going to Chiang Mai too. Like me, he was traveling alone. Our companion and I ordered nasi lemak nasi lemak at Kuala Lumpur Airport, and chatted while eating. He is also a native of Beijing. He is a freelance photographer. He likes to take pictures with a film camera. As he spoke, he took out the film camera and the film he brought with him from his shoulders. I haven’t seen a film for a long time. Now everyone Take pictures with your cell phone or digital camera. He resigned a month ago, and this time he came to Chiang Mai alone for about a month, and would go to the local handmade market to take pictures. When we got off the plane in Chiang Mai, we planned to take a taxi together to go to the city. As a result, he was very airsick, and he usually suffers from motion sickness, so he decided to take a break and walk to the city alone, so I carpooled to the city with a 19-year-old girl from Germany outside the airport. When I arrived at the hostel, I found that the environment of this hostel is very good. Not to mention neat and clean, it has a sense of design and a lot of space. In addition to the bed, each person has an extra small table.

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Settle your luggage and plan to go to the night market. Going to the night market is an essential item in Chiang Mai. There is a night market every day. I went to the most famous Chang Klan Road Halare Night Bazaar and the Kalare Food Night Market next to it. They are located in the ancient city of Tha Pae Gate. Changkang Road at Phae Gate. On the way there, I was very excited to see Mobike on the side of the road, thinking that the previous monthly card could also be used here, but it cost 8 yuan to ride for a quarter of an hour, haha. Tuk-tuks, songthaews and foreign tourists can be seen everywhere. Changkang Road Night Market is a relatively large tourist night market with many tourists. Sell Thai traditional clothing, handicrafts, snacks, fruits and vegetables, etc. The general feeling is that the Thai people are as enthusiastic as the weather here, there are signs in Chinese everywhere, and the prices are quite low. But the Ploen Ruedee night market has a lot of foreign tourists and the prices are relatively expensive. The Kalare Night Bazaar food night market has a variety of Thai cuisine desserts and snacks, and I tried a rotee banana cake.

Afraid that shopping alone would be boring, so for the first time, I used the "find people around me" function of the sofa-surfing software to meet a Japanese girl at the night market and go shopping together for dinner. She has been working in Germany for several years, and the company has recently laid off staff, so she feels like traveling for a while. We were then joined by two of her Iranian friends who lived in Southern California for dinner. After dinner, I went to the night market next door. There were many painters who bought paintings. I also saw a very interesting fish therapy/foot bath with small fish. Customers put their feet into the fish tank with small fish, and the small fish will eat the feet. Dead skin, what a street scene. In the evening, take a tuk tuk back to the youth hostel.

The next day I was going to Doi Suthep, Wat Phra That (Temple of the Golden Mountain), Doi Suthep. I left too early, and I couldn’t find anyone to carpool with the Beijing brother who came all the way on the plane. Shuanglong Temple is a famous Buddhist summer resort in Thailand. It is located on Suthep Mountain at an altitude of more than 3,000 feet. Looking down from the mountain, you can overlook Chiang Mai. The scenery on the top of the mountain is very comfortable. The temples are all golden, and it's even topped with gold paint.

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After the visit, I saw a girl riding a bicycle fell off the car, her knees were covered with blood, and then I happened to carpool with me and sit next to me while going down the mountain and chatting. The British girl and her Swedish boyfriend quit their jobs and came to Thailand with a backpack for a few months. After arriving, they bought a bicycle and rode everywhere. Then we talked about veganism, both of them vegans, and then we talked about animal environmental issues, and then we talked about Trump. I found that nine out of ten people I met in the past two days resigned from their jobs and came to Thailand to play.

Take a tuk-tuk to Chiang Mai University. Tourists are not allowed to enter on foot here. You must buy tickets and take a minibus sightseeing bus. It leaves every 30 minutes. The audio explanation on the bus is still in Chinese and English. The sightseeing car will only stop at Jingxin Lake for about 15 minutes for tourists to get off and walk around and take pictures, and they cannot get off at will during the rest of the time. There were a few girls from Hanoi, Vietnam in the same car, and one of them was pretty good at Chinese. She taught herself Chinese in class and watched TV dramas. She passed the HSK Level 5 test and said that she would take me to play when I went to Hanoi. After coming out of Chiang Mai University, we had lunch at a small shop on the side of the street. We ordered Pad Kee Mao (Drunken Noodle, Thai-style fried wide noodles), Khao Soi curry noodles and two other foods whose names I forgot.

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Afterwards, we went for a stroll on Nimmanhaemin Road in the west of the ancient city. This is a gathering place for fresh literature and art, a popular photo spot on the Internet, and many leisurely and comfortable cafes, dessert shops, handicraft workshops, bars, and homestays. Chinese is close to our ears. One after another. Afterwards, I went to Warorot Market, where I met an American grandfather on the double-jump bus. He taught computer classes at a university and lived in Japan and Thailand for many years. Having lived in Chiang Mai for 12 years, he decided to move here because he thought it was very free, but he didn't speak Thai. Warorot Market is famous for its specialties in Chiang Mai, and it is the oldest market in Chiang Mai with a history of more than 100 years. I like to visit this kind of local market. There are all kinds of dried fruits, spices, nuts, desserts, and snacks here, and the prices are super affordable. The practical Chinese of many peddlers' basic business is quite slippery, and it is still necessary to learn a foreign language in order to do a good job in business! Tasted coconut sticky rice, coconut peanut dumplings and coconut balls here.

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After that, I went to Lila Thai Massage to experience the Thai massage of the former women's prison inmates. I thought I would get back the feeling of watching Orange is the New Black, but the Thai aunt who gave me the massage looked like a good citizen, and her Chinese communication skills were much better than English. At that time, I really wanted to ask my aunt how you got in, but I didn't ask because I was afraid of reminding my aunt of sad memories or being impolite. After the massage, I was asked to fill out a feedback form, which is a professional attitude.

When I came back, I went to the Beimen Night Market in the ancient city with my little brother in Beijing, and saw the internet celebrity Feng Fei Fei Pig Knuckle Rice. We ordered durian glutinous rice. Because the seats in the street stalls are limited, we shared a table with a girl from Shangrao, Jiangxi who ordered mango glutinous rice and was traveling alone with a backpack. I found out that everyone is the same age. It is not easy to meet people who are not born in the 1990s in this era! After eating the glutinous rice, the girl I met took us to a stall in the Nanmen Night Market in the ancient city to drink freshly squeezed juice. She said that it was the price when she came here two years ago, a conscientious merchant! Prices in Thailand are really low, and this big glass of freshly squeezed juice will be a reference for measuring happiness index in the future. No matter what kind of fruit (passion fruit, mango, avocado, etc.) is only 20 baht, which is more than four yuan. Then we ate green papaya salad and fried rice together.

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