Return of the Chedi

Feb. 8-9

February 8 was Chinese New Year’s Day. But in Chiang Mai it was just another Monday. I led Joanna outside the moat on foot for the first time, because I wanted to find Loi Kroh Road Soi 1. Larry had sent me the address of the Number 1 bar, which specializes in Belgian ale.

Going outside the moat takes some of the edge off the charm of the city. We walked a bit out of our way to use one of the two crossing lights on the eastern moat.

The light changed, and as we stepped off the curb, six or eight motorbikes ran through the crosswalk. I have come to expect young pricks to do that because they think it makes them cute. But one bastard driving some kind of delivery scooter with a huge basket as a side-car was old enough to know better. He actually stared right at us and threatened to take us out.

We found the Number 1 Bar, which was shuttered, but that was all right. Belgian brew that early in the day would have knocked me out.

We continued a short way down Soi 1, but when it started to turn and intersect with other alleys, we retraced our steps. I didn’t want to get lost on that side of the moat. It is a residential area and it can take a long time to find your way out.

On the way back, we stopped at a store and bought a Thai silk scarf. We got to cross one street because a lady with a whistle was directing traffic. Even then, some ass in a pickup is inching forward at us because he’s too impatient to wait 30 seconds.

For lunch, we tried meat pies at the U.N. Joanna had a Cornish pasty, and I had a beef pie with Guinness in the gravy. Both were delicious and we may have them again.

After a rest at the hotel, we walked in the northeastern corner of the old city. I remembered a park at the turning of the moat where you can get near the old wall. But traffic was too heavy to cross the road and get to it.

Later in the day, we were walking past a man who said something I don’t make out. Joanna did: Sun nin fai lok, Cantonese for “happy new year.”

Archer’s is closed on Monday, so there was no Speckled Hen today. We went to the Safe House for bottled beer instead. The menu looked good so we may try that some day.

Dinner was at Eden. Joanna ordered rice with fried egg on top, and “Chinese spinach” with no chili or salt. I had entrecote au poivre with the house red. The steak was cut thin, so it was done a little more than I’d hoped, but was good nonetheless.

Back at the hotel, I drank a couple of Singhas and watched part of “Machete.” Danny Trejo sounds completely different when he speaks Thai.

We explored a new quarter of the old city on Tuesday and resumed what Joanna calls “wat-hopping.”

We took Rachadamnone Road Soi 4 into the southeastern corner of the old city. In these narrow alleys the traffic noise drops off fast. Laundry shops dry clothes on racks. You step out of the way now and then for a tuk-tuk or a car.  Dogs sleep in the heat. Well, they do that everywhere, on the sidewalk, in doorways, outside and sometimes inside temples.

We found a Makerspace and went in. One young man was there and he let us into the members-only area where the equipment is. Joanna had never seen a 3-D printer, and there were at least a half-dozen MakerBots. I’m not sure what all they have. We saw a piece—a winged horse—made by laser cutting, and there is a traditional loom in the window.

A little farther along we came to Wat Pha Khao. The main temple includes lifelike effigies of monks, seated and looking either serene or angry, not sure which. I don’t know who they are because the signs identifying them are only in Thai.

There is a monumental Buddha seated at the altar and several smaller Buddha images in front of it. They are all lit from below by a light that changes color.  

Outside, a chedi covered in yellow metal looks for all the world like gold, but couldn’t be. Gold would have been stolen by now.

We stopped for lunch at Bodhi Tree Cafe, which is next to the temple grounds and is the photo of the day. It is shaded by a huge bodhi tree that grows inside the temple’s fence.

The bodhi tree has a trunk that seems to be a bundle of thick vines. This one was perhaps a dozen feet or more around. Tradition says that Siddhartha Gautama sat under this kind of tree when he became enlightened. Hence the name “bodhi,” for “awakening” or “enlightenment.”

The cafe is not associated with the wat, but is an independent business run by a group of ladies. It is strictly vegetarian and largely vegan. Joanna had a soup and a plate of vegetables, both ordered “not spicy.” My pad Thai came not spicy, too, but that was all right. The brown rice was several different shades and pleasantly chewy.

The cafe bills itself as providing organic, natural food for the body and a peaceful, friendly atmosphere for the soul. I get that. The food was great, the shade was cool, and the sense of being outdoors was refreshing. But after lunch, my legs were jumpy and I was ready to move on.

Not far from the cafe, we saw a sign for a yoga detox weekend. I guess you go to rid yourself of the residue of processed food and the effects of day-to-day living.

In the old city, you don’t walk far without coming to a temple. Wat Jetlin (aka Ched Lin and other variants) has two unusual features. One is an ancient Buddha head that looks like it has one eye open and the other shut. When you get up close, you see that it has been extensively repaired with concrete where stone has been lost. It’s Buddha with a replaced eye and a prosthetic nose.

A bridge covered by a rug of woven bamboo spans a pond. There are huge lily pads and other water plants. It reminded Joanna of the Great Swamp, one of her favorite places in New Jersey.

Up to this point, the day had been a cool enough—maybe in the low 80s—that I could comfortably wear a tie, but it was starting to heat up.

Across the street is Wat Muen Toom, where a man (not a monk) was washing a motorbike. We didn’t stay there long, and headed back to the street to find a bar.

We came to Chiang Mai Gate on the south moat, but of course, didn’t try to cross the traffic to get there. I saw two places that looked like promising locations for beer, but one was selling only tour tickets and the other was giving haircuts.

We found a place on Phra Pakklao Road about a block up from the gate. We went in for beer and tried to get Joanna a coconut, but they had none.

As I drank a Chang, we watched traffic build up. Groups of monks walked by. So did kids in various uniforms. There is a school up the street, next to the Temple of the Great Chedi, and class had been dismissed.

Kids were still pouring out of the school grounds when we got there a short while later. Food vendors were lined up at the curb, and Joanna found a coconut.

Thai coconuts are the best we have tasted, and they come in two varieties—the big, which are very good, and the small, whose milk is even better. Oddly, the flesh of the big ones is tastier than that of the little ones. But for a drink, you do better to go with the short pour.

Nourished by beer and coconut milk, we made it back to the hotel for a late nap.

We’ve been walking a lot, and so decided to have a foot massage before dinner, but we learned a foot massage lasts an hour. It was pushing seven already, so we decided to come back another time, at an earlier hour.

We wound up at Archer’s, where I had Old Speckled Hen and an English standard, ham, eggs, and chips. What better with an ESB, right? Joanna had rice and mixed vegetables off the Thai menu, but without chilis.

The bar was filling up for quiz night. Everybody in the place had a British accent. I am bad enough at American pop culture. I couldn’t imagine joining the fun with Brit trivia.

We went up to the U.N. for some apple pie with ice cream and a beer to go with it. It was Heineken, not an IPA, but much to my surprise, it did just fine.

After that, it was time to call it a good night. So good night, all.

Harry