January 27, 2014 Monday

This is my last Monday in Chiang Mai for this trip. As I did almost every morning before breakfast, I walked around Wat Chedi Luang.

When one enters the temple grounds, the large viharn (worship or prayer hall) is right there in front of you. This is a very large hall, although at first it does not seem all too large, but it is.

The main viharn at Wat Chedi Luang opens to the east, as do most.

Behind the main viharn is the large, very large chedi. Built in the late 1400s, the top was extended in the early 1500s, and then an earthquake in 1545 destroyed parts of the chedi, including the top and many of the elephant sculptures on the sides. There have been several restorations, but the top is left alone, as there is no documentation of how it was originally built, and to restore it improperly would dishonor it.

This is one of my favorite places in Chiang Mai. This picture was taken from the bench I sat on for a little while almost every morning, just being there with the chedi and its good energy and reverance.

Warorot Market

After breakfast, Linda wanted to return to Warorot Market and to the shops along the road to Wat Kate for some more shopping. She had very specific things in mind, so off we went. One of the items se was interested in finding was a tamarind wood cutting board. All of the restaurants and food vendors we saw in markets use these. They are extremely dense wood and will almost seal itself when you cut against them. being very dense, they are also very heavy, making is not practical to buy a large one.

We did find in the market a large kitchen supply store – almost everything is at Warorot MArket, but this is not really a market for the tourists, and almost nobody here speaks English.Linda bought one that was about 10 inches in diameter and about two inches thick, and even though small, it was heavy.

Muang Mai Market

Since we were close, but knowing that we were already a little tired from walking around Warorot Market, we headed up the road to see part of Muang Mai Market. This is a very large fruit, vegetable, and meat market. Even seeing just a bit is interesting. The farmers bring in their produce in small pickup trucks, drive right into the market, and some people are buying before they can unload. We were there late morning, and the busiest time is early morning, so while busy, it was calm compared to the busy period.

Here is a line of trucks in a part of the market, and while produce is being unloaded, it is also being bought.

And there are many vendors selling limes and other citrus. Here is a lime/citrus vendor.

There are many, many chili vendors, and  the different types of chilies are beautiful.

This vendor is selling bags of tomatoes, and more peppers or chilies. The green bag on the lower right is long beans, they look like our string beans, but are two feet or longer.

And another chili vendor, also with purple shallots in the upper center, and cauliflower in the lower right.

And pineapple. This is a whole truckload of pineapple that just arrived.

Every type of produce can be found at Muang Mai Market, but we were too tired and parched to explore long. We headed back for a short, relaxing rest in the afternoon at our hotels.

Pad Thai

The 3-Sis staff had a little surprise for us. We met Tine and Boom (Tine manages the front desk during the day, and Boom works at the front desk afternoons and evenings) and another repeat guest Doug at 3-Sis, and we drove to a little restaurant, down a Soi off Chang Moi Road (the main road from the old city to Warorot Market). This is one of the Thai people’s favorite restaurants for Pad Thai. The owner makes Pad Thai fresh every day, they open at 5:00, and close when they run out. Nothing fancy, just good food, and no tourists (except us). I am not a Pad Thai aficionado, but I could tell that this was very good Pad Thai. They do not sell beer, so if you want a beer, you go across the street, buy a beer at the convenience store, and bring it back. Linda and Doug opted for beer, and I had a Coke. This was a very good meal, a fitting meal on which to start the close of my adventure in Chiang Mai.

Next: My last day in Chiang Mai