Sunday 8 December 2024
Changklan Road and the Flood Area

Sunday walk to see remaining flood damage

Being not quite as hot this morning, I thought it would be interesting to walk down the two roads close to the Mae Ping River south and east of the old city. This area was more than 2 or 3 feet deep with water during the floods of late October and early November. I had seen this area during the flood in videos. When I walked along the river between Wat Ket Karam and the Iron Bridge, an area also flooded, the evidence of the flood was almost entirely gone, having been thoroughly cleaned up.

I had my camera with me but took very few pictures – I just walked along. The area was basically a long stretch of businesses with no temples or other particularly interesting spots to photograph. Even on a Sunday, there was plenty of traffic. As is the case in all of Chiang Mai, the sidewalks are challenging, so I was often focused on where my feet were going.

The sidewalks in Chiang Mai are quite a topic of their own. I’ll get photographs of the uneven, blocked, and difficult sidewalk infrastructure and make a blog post covering that subject alone. Stay tuned…

So here is a map of my walk and a summary of the “exercise.” Not a fast pace, but from the meandering path on the map, I was doing a bit of exploring and wandering.

I walked south along Chareon Prathet Road, explored several side streets, and started back up Changklan Road. I saw no evidence of the recent floods, and this area was 2-3 feet deep in water and mud. I’m impressed – the cleanup has been thorough, and it seems businesses are back operating normally.

Having never been on Chiang Mai Land Road, more typically shown as Chiangmailand Road, I turned there. It is a very busy road, connecting Changklan to Mahidol Road, a ring road around much of Chiang Mai. Chiangmailand Road, while a fairly busy thoroughfare, is nice. It is divided with trees down the middle median, making for a shaded and pleasant walk on this hot day.

Also note that down in this part of town, where there are very few tourists, there is no English on the signs. In the more heavy tourist areas, English on signs is commonplace.

A digression. When I was walking the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage routes in Spain, I occasionally saw stop signs. The signs are the international standard hexagonal red with white letters, but said STOP in English, not Spanish which I’m pretty sure is the native language in Spain. In Thailand, the stop signs are in Thai, and the lettering on the sign translates to STOP:

Massage?

Before I start this discussion & observation, I want to reiterate that Thai culture is very conservative. They are, however, very tolerant of many things about which we in the “west” are less open. I’m not judging, just observing.

I mentioned that in Bangkok when I passed the adult massage shops with the ladies sitting outside, they playfully called out, “Handsome man you want massage?” And I know that it’s my wallet that’s “handsome” more than me, but I love hearing it. In Chiang Mai, there are similar massage shops, but the ladies say “Welcome, massage?” So in Bangkok, I’m handsome, and in Chiang Mai, I’m not. Really?!?

There are some other types of shops that, I’m told, cater almost exclusively to Thai men (I’ve read that at these places, they speak Thai, no English).

When I got closer to Sridonchai Road on Changklan Road, I passed a couple of these places and was a little surprised at how obvious the signage was. [And, no, I did not go inside.]

The signs for Miyabi Massage:

Signs for Pink X Station massage:

I got back to my home away from home, The 3-Sis, did some work on a blog entry, and headed out for dinner. The days are still hot and humid, but winter is easing in slowly, and the days will cool a bit soon (I hope). Even being hot, it was another [of so many] very good day in Chiang Mai.

Next: Flowers along the way from The 3-Sis to Story 106