Its Friday and the end of a camp the MEP kids were doing. I spend the working day helping them to make presentations along with some of the other teachers. This gets them more used to my presence and voice and gradually become less scared of me (because im such a threatening figure). After all this is done and i have changed out of my workclothes i meet up with Reya and Goy who are bringing me to Chiang Mai for the weekend. First of all though we are staying in Goy's parents house for the night before heading on to CM in the morning. Its roughly halfway between Li and CM and i forget the name. Now her parents dont have great english but the dad is delighted to meet me and is constantly practising the few bits of english he has. They welcome me and show me around their home. Its quite a humble little place except for the 32" flat screen tv and the giant pickup truck. Oh and the snooker table.... They seem pretty content anyway.
The highlight of the stay for me is the crazy cat they have, called Suthee (or something to that effect). This cat had no fear and would attack anything that moved or was stationary so...anything. I try to pet him and he chews on my hand, i walk around and he attacks my feet. All in all good clean fun as he doesnt really have sharp teeth or claws so it wasnt sore. So while everyone else is babbling away in thai and doing their own thing im tormenting the cat. After a while we go outside and let some lanterns off in the garden. This is some kind of ritual to ward off spirits and you are supposed to make a wish as you release it. You light the candle at the bottom of the bag and wait till the lantern fills with hot air, then release and it floats away. Ive had a few discussions about what happens when the candle goes out but we dont know.
After this we go for some food but along the way we stop to look at the local parade. This consists of several small villages together parading through them all with their kathrongs that are going to be in a competition. Each village makes a special large one and there is a competition for the best. After watching this we get some food and then venture down to the fair where the parade ended. We sit down and watch a few things on the stage before letting off a lantern with the rest of the crowd. This was really pretty watching all the lanterns going up together. Soon after this we head home and i sleep like a log, its been a long week.
Up for 7am with the two girls we head off for Chiang Mai. The reason we are up so early is because Goy is working so myslef and Reya have the day to ourselves. I arrange to meet the two gang off the programme who i met in Bangkok and who are working in CM later in the day but first we head off to the guesthouse and nap for an hour. Reya is Filipino and has been working in Li for 3 years and knows CM pretty well so she leads us to a cheap (180 baht a night) but nice hostel. She shows me the bookstores where i stock up on some reading materials (english naturally). I get a call from Pez to say he has something to do so cant meet us till the evening so now we have a few hours free to do whatever. Reya is quite laidback so not really forthcoming with exciting ideas and i know nothing about what is here so we are at a bit of a loss really. Then i decide i want to get speakers for my creative so i can listen to music in my room and she brings me to a massive shopping centre (or mall for the americans) and i pick up a cool set for less than 1000 baht. We wander around here for the day and get tired so as the afternoon drags on we decide to go back to the hostel and relax for a bit before we meet Pez and Cindy later for food and drinks.
We meet Pez for dinner a while later and get Italian as i was craving western food. Just as we are finishing we get a call from Cindy who meets us near the Tha Pae gate (where we are and a lot of western style shops, hostels and restaurants are located). Now we go to a rooftop bar which is a bizarre little place. Situated looking down on the square beside the gate it is a hippy looking joint with no seats and tiny tables. The idea is that you sit on cushions on the floor at your tables. We have a few relaxing Leos here and head back down to the square to let off a lantern. Pez and Cindy hadnt done this yet so were excited to try it. Afterwards we head for the Ping river and float a few Kathrongs which is the main part of the festival. All of this, by the way, is with the sound of fireworks being let off left, right and centre around us. They love them over here and they are constantly being let off. Down by the river was the worst as we had people right beside us letting off screaming things. We head back to the gate slightly deafened for a nightcap before going our separate ways.
The next day i wander around a bit again before catching a 3 hour bus ride back to Li. Overall CM is a lovely city with a nice mix of Thai and Western culture without being as crazy as BKK. It helps that it is much smaller of course. There is plenty to do and see as i learn when wandering around and i think i will be back soon to do more of the touristy things but for now it was nice to have a relaxing weekend!
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