Chaing Mai is Thailand's second city, though it is remarkably more hospitable than its bigger brother Bangkok. The city center lies inside of a square canal, and the ancient brick gates still stand at the major entry points. Chiang Mai is far more pleasant than Bangkok, due primarily to two factors. 1) It has Thailands best municipal waste management program, so the trash is taken care of. and 2.) It has a very high proportion of expatriots from European countries, and so has many restaurants and businesses with menus in Latin script. What this all boils down to is likely much higher rents, which creates a noticeably more wealthy city. In other words, they keep the poor outside the city walls, probably much like in ancient times.
The city within the canals is quite small and I walked extensively around it, not necessarily by choice. The city was clearly built before any sense of logical city planning was in vogue, so finding the right street is difficult, and there are many winding alleys. I found myself walking along the canal edge trying to guess which street into the center would bring me to where I wanted to go, only to end up on the other side of the city at the opposite canal, quite frustrating at times.
The city is also known for its high proportion of temples. Wandering around, it was inevitable that I would happen upon some. The guest house I was staying at was near the largest temple in the city, the name of which I forget. But as I was trying to find my way back to the guest house I decided to walk around the temple grounds. I gazed up at the crumbling temple, and took photos of the four golden Buddhas still sitting at the top. I wandered around and saw the monks in their saffron robes sitting under the trees studying. As I was walking past them, one called out to me. I'd read in the guide book that at certain places there were rooms set aside for "monk chat," where you can sit and have a conversation with monks. They get to practice their english, and you can find out about monk life. So here I was apparently being solicited for an impromptu "monk chat" session. I sat with the monk for maybe a half an hour. He asked me questions, and I answered as honestly and as thoughrouly as I could, and he responded similarly to my inquiries. It was very interesting, as I came to understand that buddhist monks don't just sit around meditating all day in search of enlightenment. Rather, I found out that they study nearly everything, certainly a form of enlightenment, but of a far more material variety. For example, as we were sitting there, he was doing korean homework: practicing writing in the korean script. And I asked him why he was learning Korean, expecting that he was planning on teaching in Korea, or some other reasonable answer. But his reply was simply, "I study all languages." And he proceeded to name the many languages that he was studying. He answered similarly when I asked him about what form of Buddhism he was studying. "All of them," he replied. As I came to find out the reason for a young man becoming a monk was really quite practical, and though I'm sure the spritual aspect is shouldn't be underestimated, the reason was that becoming a monk was cheaper than attending a University.
That was perhaps the most interesting event that took place in Chiang Mai. I had thought that the next day I would go back to see talk with the monk again, but I didn't know that things would be different the next day.
That night I headed out to Chiang Mai's famous night bazaar. The night bazaar is located well out of the inner city, and as I passed bars full of eager thai women, I found myself questioning whether I were going in the right direction. Soon though I had found my destination. The Chiang Mai night bazaar is apparently a relic of the past glory of Chiang Mai. Throughout antiquity, Chiang Mai was a major trading destination, situated as it were between China to the north, and harbors throughout Thailand and Burma to the south. Ancient caravans used to converge here to trade goods, and that tradition lives on in the Chiang Mai night bazaar. The market is quite extensive, and you get the feeling that the asian import stores get their goods from here, or places like it. There are many things to buy, and it is all quite cheap, and it gets cheaper if you are good at bargaining, but nobody pays full price for anything. I wandered around for a while, and bought some hanging lantern ball things, mostly because of how nice they looked all dangling from the umbrella, like an electric rainbow glowing at night. On my way back I saw one of the german couples I'd met in Ayuthya. Clearly on the path marked, "Tourist."
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