Viva la Chiang Mai

The water poured over each ledge like grain out of a silo, flowing and cascading generously into pools that lie beneath the mossy terraces. The further you followed the river, the further it went, winding up and up through the density of Mount Doisuthep on the western outskirts of Chiang Mai. In some places the sound was a light trickle, like filling a water glass at your kitchen sink, a slight, high-pitched pour. In others, the water created a deep, guttural resonance, like standing next to a dam when you can’t hear your friend calling your name from a few feet away. Gripping my camera tightly in one hand, I plunged my sandals into the water, slowly plodding my way through the pools and up the stream. The further we trekked away from our motorbikes at the bottom of the mountain, the further we knew we would have to make it to get back down before the grey rain clouds that were looming overhead decided to unleash on top of us. But there was something so intriguing about this river, tucked quietly, almost secretly, back into the side of this mammoth mountain that made us continue, onwards and upwards.


We did get caught in the rain on the way down, it hitting out faces like pins as we shot down on our bikes, luckily finding a small shelter in which to wait out the worst of the rain. I had made the trip up with two new friends. One is a professional photojournalist named Chris Sinclair whom I was put into contact with before I came. I’m staying at his apartment in Chiang Mai for a while with he and his friend who is passing through town. I’ve added a link on the right side of the blog to Chris Sinclair’s Web site if you would like to see some of his work. He is quite talented. A far, far better photographer than I am likely to be anytime soon.

My stay in Chiang Mai has been great thus far. It is a bit odd, though, going from living at the orphanage without even showers to this apartment with Internet access. I think I am going to use my time here to work on a couple of stories. I have some sources that I need to get into contact with here in Chiang Mai, so hopefully that can happen soon. Chris has told me that, of all the places he has been in Aisa (which is substantial), Chiang Mai is probably his favorite city. And I can understand why. It has everything that he needs as a professional right here (there is a Macintosh store a few streets over) but still has the feel of a Southeast Asian city (the prices are still cheap). And, within a motorbike ride of a couple hours, he can be in the northern Thai hills, cruising past rice paddies and the grass huts of village farmers. I’m looking forward to exploring Chiang Mai bit more over the next week. The following is a photo of Chiang Mai from above.


I was on a bus a couple of weeks ago having a quasi-English / Thai conversation with a Thai university student when I made the observation that there just didn’t seem to be very many gas stations as we drove down the highway, and told him about how there seems to be one every mile in the states. He agreed and sat there for a while as the bus lurched down the road. I could tell that he was putting an English sentence together in his mind because he was staring at the ceiling, his lips moving without words, then retracing those words adding new ones and so on, a tactic that I am already all too familiar with in my pursuance of Thai. When he had finally gathered his thoughts, he turned to me and said, with his smile on his face, “In America, you have many gas station, but in Thailand, we have many temple.” As he said this, I could see one of the pointed peaks, encrusted with golden dragons and Buddha images move past the window behind him.

He was right. I don’t have any official statistics on it, but just in my short travels thus far, I have been amazed by how many Buddhist temples there are in this country. They do line the streets, literally, in the frequency of gas stations in the U.S. And so, we made another visit to another temple, this one sitting at about 3,400 feet up 5,500 foot Mount Doisuthep, having a huge hill of stairs one must ascend to reach the main building. I’ve included a couple of photos below.


Thanks for all of your comments. I’ve really enjoyed reading them, and it makes me feel good that people are reading about what I’m doing over here this summer. I’ll be sure to keep you all up to date on any stories I write as they happen. So for now, keep enjoying your summers, and do yourself a favor by taking some time out every day to read a book. It’s been great for me so far.