Thailand: Day 3: A Three Hour Tour

We wake and have breakfast at the same place we first went to when we arrived in Chaing Mai, a few blocks from our hotel. The breakfast was not as good as the meal I had gotten when we arrived, but I ate my eggs and a banana wrapped in a pancake.

We start walking to finish our walking tour of the Wats we started yesterday, but come across one of the motorcycle rental places recommended in our book, so we stop and inquire about renting a bike, our goal for the day. We agree to rent a bike and after filling out the paperwork, I inquire what bike we are getting, before signing, because we are planning on doing a loop in the mountains.

She points to a small aqua step through scooter. "125 cc" she says. We pantimime our way into a bigger, 250 cc dirt bike. After stalling the bike a few times, and with much trepidation on the face of the sales lady, we sputter off down the street.

We head off into the mountains, guided by our map. What fun it is to cruize around on a bike! We drive on the wrong side of the road, weaving in and out of trucks and scooters and tuk tuks, out of the city and up the rural highway. We stop at a waterfall sign in a national park and hike for moment, before returning to the bike.

This bike is not really made for two, and I must sit very far up on the seat so that Lucy is not sitting on the metal rack at the back. Both our legs are very cramped and squished towards our chests. My knees are killing me by the end, and we are both rattled badly. We have fun though, weaving through the mountains.

We come back to the city, only to speed through it again, heading out north again to dive into another mountain area headed for a Wat. We weave our way up a mountain again and find the Wat. We climb many, many stairs to a beautiful and spralling Wat. We separate and explore for a while. We are looking for monks that should be chanting at 6 pm. It is now 6:10, no chanting. I am slightly disheatened, and then I hear a bell chime and a monk slams a gong to the right of me. The chanting begins. I sit just outside the temple proper, and listen intently as the monks continue chanting for at least 15 minutes. Somewhere in the middle Lucy approaches and sits just inside the temple door. She was busy getting blessed by a monk apparently. We decide to leave early becuase it will be dark soon, and then proceed to explore the Wat some more, to my discontent. We finally leave and get back on the knee mobile, only to have dark set in immediately. It really was not a big deal though and we enjoy our peaceful return to the city of Chaing Mai.

We leave the hotel to go find the Sunday night bazaar. Wow, that was intense. Throngs and throngs of people, all milling about. Entire streets are dedicated to this bazaar with thousands of stands, stretching in every direction, and thousands more people shuffling by. There is more or less a flow to it all, as everyone walks down the street on the left side, just like they drive. We buy me a pair of linen pants to go with my shirt, both of which I am enjoying right now, and a shirt for a gift, and a set of worry beads.

We return to the hotel and go to bed.