Stellaaaaaaaa

Beside a middle of the night wake-up to deal with Nick and Chris' malaria hysteria (apparently we were all covered with mosquitoes because we left the window open for a breeze), the night on the train passed quite peacefully.  The morning began with new excitement for our arrival in Chiang Mai, but as the morning wore on and we realized that our train had somehow been delayed (apparently it stopped in the middle of the night several times for stretches of time - I missed a lot while sleeping) and the car became hotter, we grew restless.  We passed the time by reading, eating, and observing the monk seated across from us with a gigantic, fancy camera.  Finally, two hours late (for a grand total of 17 hours on the train), we pulled into the Chiang Mai station.  A parade of backpackers of all shapes, sizes, and nationalities streamed from the doors.

When we reached the station, we were confronts by aggressive taxi drivers haggling for prices.  A bit overwhelmed after so many hours of calm, we sorted through the shouting and learned two things: (1) there aren't taxis in Chiang Mai, only tuk tuks and trucks with covered bench seating in back, and (2) there are no meters.  Getting ripped off was a minor concern compared to our intense desire to shower, so we found a "cab" and got in.  It ended up being an interesting experience: we shared the taxi with two female monks, and the taxi service worked like the Chiang Mai version of CT limo.  People were dropped off and picked up all sorts of places on our ride to the hostel.  When at last we were alone, the aggressive haggler reappeared and tried to convince us to book our tours through her (since the bookers all get a very nice commission) using binders and binders full of testimonials.  We decided that more Internet research was in order, so we declined.

Finally, we arrived at our hostel (The Green Tulip House) and met Stella.  Rail thin, painted on makeup, megawatt smile and dramatic facial expression changes to rival the kitschiest theater, Stella was a piece of work.  She wanted to be everyone's best friend, because it was good business.  Again, she and her accomplice started pushing various tours and telling us to book.  We escaped upstairs to our room to regroup.  After a bit of discussion, we settled on the activities we wanted to book: Muay Thai match that night, elephant riding all day Tuesday, and a cooking class (recommended personally by my friend Chrissy - thanks, girl) all day Wednesday.  I was sad that we wouldn't get to explore Chiang Mai as a town instead of just using it for its activities, but we will be seeing so many temples at Angkor Wat that we didn't want to burn out our curiosity.  I do wish that we had been able to do some trekking in Chiang Mai, though.  It is so beautiful up in the mountains of the national parks.  Next time, I guess.

Tours booked, we walked to dinner at a place that we had found online.  We passed markets on the way, ate tentacles grilled on sticks, and met two pilots (recreationally, apparently their profession is garden hose salesmen) who are taking a trip around the world right now for fun.

When we arrived at Paak Dang, we knew it was a gem.  Right on the water with adorable candlelit tables and a live band, the food was delicious and - somehow - quite cheap.  Our nervous waiter recommended dishes and drinks, and the chef came out to talk to us.  They brought over an extra fan for our table at our request, and we all had a grand time.  It was a touch of class that we needed after the long, hot train ride.  If you're ever in Chiang Mai, Paak Dang is definitely worth the walk (or tuk tuk ride).  Since we had enjoyed ourselves for so long, the restaurant even called a tuk tuk and negotiated down the price for us.

What were we late for, you might ask? Only our first Muay Thai match! We had hoped to take a lesson, but many of them included two training sessions (one morning, one evening) and would have prevented us from doing the other activities that interested us.  So instead, we went to a match.  I decided not to mention the basically free matches in the go go bars, so instead we went to Thaephae Boxing Stadium.  While this is predominantly frequented by foreigners, it was a nice introduction to the sport.  We decided to each try a sip of Red Bull, originally a Thai drink, and settled in for the fights.  During the matches, which started out with fairly tame rights between the younger kids and ended with more skilled fights between adults, we met our fellow audience members.  One, a man from Texas who hasn't been home in years, travels the world and picks up odd jobs where he can, switching location every few months or years.  He was most recently in Italy working on boats.  Our group later discussed this lifestyle and decided that while it sounds fairly romantic and adventurous, it isn't suited for any of us.  The other Americans we met were two recent college graduates from California, one of whom had trained in Muay Thai as a kid and was a great resource for explaining the matches.

A Muay Thai match is very different from boxing.  For starters, it is the fight of eight limbs, since knees and elbows are used in addition to fists and feet.  You size people up based on their quads - who can deliver the most powerful kick to the head?  Each fight starts with a ceremony to show respect to elders.  The coaches then pray with the fighters and remove their headdresses.  Between rounds (which appeared to be timed) people are washed down with water and massaged. The child fighters are hoisted aloft and told to kick their legs, apparently to prevent their legs from wobbling in the ring.  It was really interesting.  There was only one non-Thai fighter, a girl from Spain who won her round, causing all the foreigners to go crazy.  In the middle of the evening there was also a "special round", which involved 6 blindfolded fighters in the ring trying to fight each other.  I had read about this online and heard that the referee inevitably got wailed on, and this came to pass.  Fortunately, the referee was a more advanced Muay Thai fighter and, when one kid wouldn't stop, he got rid of him with a flying kick to the chest.  Our favorite fighter was a guy who seemed to only have one move: find a fighter who was slightly bent over and just whap down with both fists a la Whack a Mole or Donkey Kong trying to get bananas out of a tree.  Anyway, it was an interesting night learning what to look for, which fighters were stronger and which were more skilled, and what all the different ceremonies were.

On our walk home, we stopped by the same market and wandered it with more patience.  We tried little creamy meringues in tiny folded crispy wrappers, like sweet dessert tacos.  We found a tiny little carnival, where Nicolas and I took the mini Ferris wheel and then weren't allowed off by the attendant.  We must have gone about 30 times, each time trying to get the man's attention or unlock our cage.  But in true Team Travel fashion, we just laughed and enjoyed the next revolution.

Spotted: Angry Bird kebabs.  Unsure if they were meat or what, but a fascinating penetration of American culture into the local markets of northern Thailand.