Two days ago I left Portland to spend a month in Phnom Penh teaching
at Sihanouk Hospital. When I
travel this far away from the Pacific Time Zone I have many days of jet lag,
about a day for every hour of time difference. Trying to care for patients and teach when I am jet lagged
is hard; when I go to Japan and Cambodia I spend a few days as a tourist, with
no fixed timetables or lists or responsibilities.
Now I am in Chiang Mai; I have been awake since 4:30 am.
Chiang Mai downtown near the old city is deserted at this hour, except
for a rat or two policing the gutters.
The cats and dogs that wander everywhere seem to have better things to
do than harass an earnest rat—some of them outweigh the skinnier cats. I
went in search of coffee and bought the first- ever anything from a Burger
King, open 24 hours a day—the staff in Burger King seemed as startled to see me
as I was to see them. Their
cappuccino wasn’t bad, but at this hour my standards may have slipped. 45 baht, about $1.50. . I passed on the croissant with cheese,
bacon, and ham (about $3.00). There
was one other customer there, a student who seemed to be spending the night
studying.
My trip went smoothly in spite of the enormous demonstrations now
occurring in Bangkok. A
substantial portion of the Thai population wants to unseat the long-standing
ruling Pheu Thai party that has been in power for about 30 years in spite of
repeatedly being found in the courts to have been corrupt. The Pheu Thai
have controlled Thailand in spite of numerous coups that threw party leaders
out. The demonstrations in 2008
shut down the Bangkok International Airport for 8 days, with a devastating
impact on tourism that echoed for several years. The overturned prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, fled, but
he has continued to rule through his sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, also a member
of the parliament, in a caretaker
government.
Yingluck tried to pass a blanket amnesty that would have allowed her
brother and many others to return to Thailand, throwing out the court cases
against them. This led the main opposition parties to resign
en masse from parliament. With supporters pouring in from the
south, mass demonstrations have shut down major streets and business and
government areas. Yingluck called elections for 2 February to
refill the empty seats, but the opposition knows it will lose because a
majority of the voters are northern rice farmers and others who benefit from
the policies of the Shinawatra government.
The standoff has being going on for more than a month. In the most recent demonstrations there have been killings of
some protesters and government supporters, and bombs thrown into crowds with
injuries to dozens.
I had been concerned that the protests might again shut down the
international airport and abort my trip. In central Bangkok there were substantial delays for people going to and from downtown
hotels or their homes to the airport, but the blockades were mostly in the
busiest business streets and mass transit exchanges. The government
persuaded the demonstrators to let those taxis licensed only to operate at
the airport to pass—but the US and British government are advising that
tourists and business people arriving and leaving the airport allow four hours
for the trip.
To avoid the protests and possible violence I decided to spend a few
days in Chiangmai rather than Bangkok.
On arrival at the Bangkok airport on Monday I stayed at the hotel at the
airport--checked in at midnight and left the following morning at 8 AM for the 5
minute shuttle ride. There were huge crowds in the airport: I could see no apparent effect on air
travel for people going to other parts of Asia, to the beach destinations in
the south of Thailand, or north to Chiang Mai.
Once in Chiangmai I spent Tuesday afternoon walking around the Old
City near my hotel. The only
evidence of the protests in Chiangmai was a small noisy demonstration outside
the Tha Phae Gate when I came back from the Ping River after dinner. Two bored men were parked in a truck in
front of a Starbucks, smoking, while a recording announced the “Red Shirts’” support
for the government and civil war to death if there is an attempt to overthrow
it.
Two days later the Red Shirts’ leader in Chiangmai was shot but not
killed.
Chiangmai is not so much nestled among Thailand’s highest mountains as it is metastasizing
aggressively into them. It was In
Chiangmai in 1296 that three kings agreed to stop their fighting and merge
their kingdoms into the Lanna kingdom that ecompassed all of northern
Thailand. At that time Bangkok controlled
the lands to the south, from which they gradually pushed out the Burmese, but Bangkok
had no influence in the north. The
northern hills were the home of many tribes and cultures, now substantially mingled;
the pre-tourist economy was largely rice, trees (teak especially), fruits, and
fiber. Like much of SE Asia, in
the rural areas people could forage subsistence from what grew naturally around
them or could be easily cultivated.
Now the Old City area of Chiangmai is heavily focused on tourism,
mostly tourism outside of the city on the mountains and rivers. The Old City is a square 3 km on a
side, richly dusted with Buddhist temples, guest houses, and businesses. In three days I walked through about
half the streets and my incomplete survey tallied:
182 shops devoted to bus and tuk tuk and truck transport to tourist
sites (elephants, washing elephants, riding on working elephants, looking at monkeys,
rafting rivers with rapids, cruising rivers in long-tail boats, bungee jumping,
zip lines zipping, treks in the woods of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 days, visiting hill
tribes and farms and orchards.
These shops were also renting taxis to visit surrounding small towns,
arranging flights to the beaches to the south, selling helicopter flights, and
arranging authentic home visits to authentic homes where you could talk with,
eat with, and sleep with authentic Thai people, with the fulltime assistance of
an interpreter.
Over 400 shops for Thai, oil, body, foot, head, and spine massage
(Thai massage about $3 for an hour).
Nails and make and hair—111.
Small shops selling local dishes, mostly along the streets, or open
but under cover—over 200.
Restaurants with names and cuisine and posted menus accessible to the farang—about 150.
Coffee shops, also about 150, and they mostly sell food as well.
Temples with historic relics or important roles in northern Thai
history—32.
Temples with Monk Chat—1.
“Talk to a monk and ask about the meaning of life; what it feels like to
be a monk; why you chose to become a monk; monk daily life; why monks’ robes are
saffron”.
67 shops for repairing bikes, motor bikes, cars, machines of all
kinds, and selling gas.
Supermarkets—zero
Large street markets selling fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, cooking
equipment—14.
Convenience stores—2
Pharmacies—over 40
Burger King—1.
Shops selling clothes, cloth wares, shoes, watches, suitcases, back
packs, fabrics—too numerous to count.
There is nothing “fixed up” about the Old City. It is just that, an old city—the
buildings and streets are old, there are few expansive houses, and only the
corporate restaurants have gloss and shine. The sidewalks, where they exist, are filled with everything
that will not fit on the street.
People are friendly and talkative. The vast majority seem to work and live there. About 2-3 % of the western farangs appear to be expats, their skin
brown as roasted coffee beans, their dress and hair indifferent, and they make
their rounds speaking fluent Thai (or at least they are quickly
understood).
My hotel is in the Old City.
Three quarters of the other guests are Asian, and most of the
Caucasian’s are northern Europeans.
Although nearly every tourist speaks at least some English, I heard far
more Danish and German and Norwegian and Swedish than Australian or British or
American English. Spanish and
French were uncommon.
There were lots of backpackers, mostly moving through the streets in
twos and threes, large pack behind, small pack in front, hair sometimes so
profuse that it covered the top of their packs, on their feet everything from
hiking boots to flipflops.
Chiangmai food is amazing.
The common dishes, sold in the simplest restaurants, are best. No meal cost be more than 6 or 7
dollars with a beer. As in many
places, the more upscale restaurants with a view and comfortable seats had
mediocre food. I ate four meals a
day.
Pork boiling in a market
Dinner 15 January Lert Ra, grilled tillapia with steamed
rice and green papaya salad. The experts pick the tilapia clean except for the
bones
Breakfast on 16 January, khao ski with
a chicken drumstick. Wonderful. 50 baht, about $1.50
Lunch 16 January, Cooking Love, green papaya salad
And wide northern Thai noodles with fried rice and chicken, cashews and vegetables
190baht with mango lassi, about $5.50
Dinner 16 January, again
Cooking Love, vegetable spring rolls
with a main course of shrimp and vegetables, with a
Leo beer, 290 baht about $9
Chiangmai served its purpose.
My jetlag peaked and began to ebb, I had the luxury of two afternoon
naps (my last nap was in 1946 and then only under protest and I am pretty sure
I faked it so that my grandmother would leave me alone: she believed in lots of sleep, a daily
bowel movement, and clean fingernails and she regularly checked on all
three).
The time was too short to arrange a day away in the mountains. Having already seen two people’s
lifetime quota of temples, if I go again I will focus on trekking. With trekking you don’t have to keep
taking your shoes off and putting them on and worrying about where your toes
are pointing.
I skipped “Monk Chat.”
The one on duty was asleep and I hesitated to wake him. I don’t often pass on opportunities to
learn the meaning of life, and I am curious. It may have been my last chance.
Now I am off to Phnom Penh.
