The night train to Chiang Mai was okay. I met a very paranoid Norwegian guy whose name I've already forgotten, but I think it was Steven, and we talked about all the different scams and cons in Bangkok. We agreed there is a lack of violent crime, but you have to watch your wallet at all times and be careful who you talk to.
In my case I don't think I was scammed so much as hussled into paying more money than I usually would. My train ticket and everything checked out okay, and I was met by the jungle tour guides at the Chiang Mai train station early this morning.
They drove me to their office where I officially signed up for the jungle trek and then onto my hotel, the Silver Place. My room is very spacious with a double bed, cable television, small veranda, and I have my own bathroom and shower. There's no air conditioner, but there is a fan that keeps the place fairly cool.
The hotel is located about 2min walk from the southern gate of the city. Chiang Mai is laid out in a neat square with moats and walls marking the boundaries and inside are numerous Buddhist temples.
I spent my morning walking around the back streets of the city, checking out a giant food market, enjoying not being harassed by everyone for my money, and going in and out of several temples. Nothing too special, and by about 12pm I decided to walk back to my hotel and take a nap.
After my nap I went back into the city with the intent to see Wat Chedi, a very old temple that partially crumbled during an earthquake hundreds of years ago. Along the way I stopped off at Wat Fonn Zoi which looked to be under construction. I walked behind the temple and saw several young Buddhist monks playing on small boat in the middle of a pond.
They waved me over to a bamboo pier and were very eager to speak English with me. One of them even asked me to check his English homework! We chatted for a bit about their schooling, took a couple pictures, gave them my email address, and then said goodbye.
Further down the road I came to Wat Chedi which was impressive by sheer size. It's like a pyramid atop a mountain of steps with the top broken off. There were many tourist around, so I headed to an adjacent elementary school to look around.
School must have just let out because all the kids were outside playing games like ping pong, basketball, and some strange version of bowling. The most exciting to watch was the Thai volleyball which is played with a small ball of wrapped bamboo and kicked over a shoulder high net. The older kids were really skilled, and it was cool to watch them spike the ball with great accuracy.
I hung out for a bit and talked to them because they thought it was fun to practice their English and they invited me to play ping pong. I declined because they were too good, but we took some group photos and had a laugh.
It was long day with a lot of walking and it shows no signs of letting up anytime soon. Tomorrow I venture into the jungle for three days of jungle trekking. I'll get back to this blog in a few days.
Happy birthday Granddad!
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