Jersey Devil and a Tuk-Tuk Convention

February 17

Wednesday we decided to go to the west side of the old city, where we hadn’t wandered yet.

Joanna was ready for lunch first. We could eat somewhere familiar in the hotel neighborhood or go to Wat Phra Singh, on the west side, and walk into the first likely looking place. We took the second option.

When we got there, we saw a place identified as a Thai restaurant (sign in English and Chinese) and shared a steamed fish covered with ginger and lemon grass. It was very good. Not as tasty, though, as the grilled fish at Lert Ros, but then in my limited experience, no other fish ever has been quite that good.

We walked through some of the sois in the neighborhood.  Narrow streets with guest houses, homes, a cart grilling food.

We came to the west moat and were able to cross the road to reach the park by the water. The plantings include bodhi trees and others I couldn’t guess at. They have bark almost like sycamores, white and peeling, but the leaves seem to be compound, like a locust.

The roots of other trees made fantastic patterns on the ground.

It was getting hot, so we hired a tuk-tuk back for a late nap.

Every morning and evening we hear a bell at one of the wats. It may be waking the monks. There are so many wats in the neighborhood that we couldn’t be sure which one did the ringing.

When I went out to buy a mango and beer, the evening bell rang. Joanna had guessed that it was Wat Dok Eung, which faces the moat. I had thought it might be Wat Pan Ping, which is also close, but in the other direction. Joanna was right.

When I got back, it was time for supper. We decided to try another highly rated place in our soi. Cooking Love (which we originally thought was one of the many Thai cooking schools) is ranked by TripAdvisor at No.14 out of the 26 million restaurants in Chiang Mai.

I tried the Panang curry with chicken. Joanna had fried pumpkin, which was mixed with egg, scallion, chive, basil, and lots of other good things. Best meal so far, she said. I think so too. This is one hell of a soi.

We walked around the long block to Archer’s where I had a couple of Old Speckled Hens, and bought a bottle of Fuller’s London Pride to go.

Don’t know when I woke up the next morning. Joanna was already out for a massage at Lavender. She told me later that it wasn’t the proprietor, but a specialist in deep massage that tended her.

She was so relaxed when she came back that she fell asleep.

I was finally ready to go out sometime in the afternoon. We went to the market in the yard of Wat Pan On. Joanna bought seven Thai silk scarves for her daughters-in-law and her sisters. I think they came to less than 12 bucks a piece. Even if they’re rayon, that’s an OK price.

We walked down the road for a while and stopped at Wat Pan Tao.

There was a food stand and a fruit stand in one side of the yard. It was damned hot already, and we got a welcome coconut to share.

The yard is full of interesting things. It has a small pond, and behind that, a lawn with a Buddha under a bodhi tree and dozens of kneeling terra cotta devotees. A giant bronze Buddha sits under an array of red parasols.

There were also cherry trees in bloom in February. No big deal here, I guess, but for some reason it surprised me.

When we entered the temple itself, we realized that we had been here a few days ago. The first time, we came through the little arch in front went straight into the temple. We didn’t look at the grounds.

Today we entered by way of the wider gate that goes into the courtyard. Why we didn’t see that great stuff before, I don’t know. Maybe the food court wasn’t open.

This time it was like a completely different place, although we recognized the photos on the walls. In the back, behind the altar, are photographs of the young monks, who may be students at a school, either at this wat or next door, at Wat Chedi Luang where there is a branch of the Buddhist University.

There are banners hanging from the rafters with signs of the Chinese zodiac. There is also something else standing on the floor near the altar that we couldn’t ignore. It’s a structure maybe three feet high and shaped almost like an egg. It may be made of Styrofoam covered with aluminum foil.

You put a 20 into a forked stick, add an artificial flower on top to hold it closed, and then insert the end of the stick into the egg. You can bet 20 baht that we’re going to try that, for sure. I have no idea how much merit Joanna and I have gained on the wheel of karma.

We had lunch at a restaurant nearby called Thais That Bind. Yeah, a place with that kind of wise-ass name and we’re going to pass it up. Right.

I had pad Thai and of course it was damned good. From my experience so far, it seems there are only two kinds of food in Chiang Mai, damned good and damned better.

The place follows the prohibition rules (no sale if alcohol between 2 and 5), so I had to have water with lunch.

While we were eating our lunch, tuk-tuks in great numbers started to congregate in front of Wat Pan Tao. Some of them had passengers, but most of them had only the driver. The uncanny thing about it is that all the drivers were clearly headed for the temple, but it seemed to be spontaneous. This was too much. I had to step outside and watch.

A guy in a beret was directing traffic. Some of the tuk-tuks went into the temple yard and turned around to come out. Others sat at the curb. Still others were coming out of the soi by the restaurant and from up and down the road, Prapokklao. Some were double-parked. It was a bona fide tuk-tuk jam.

What’s more, a line of people had formed on the sidewalk. I don’t know where they came from. There hadn’t been nearly that many people at the temple when we were there only minutes earlier. Maybe it’s proof of the adage: Drive there and they will come.

I don’t know how long I was outside. When I came back, Joanna had nearly finished her lunch.

The servings were much larger than I expected–immense by Thai standards–but I was hungrier than I expected, so I ate everything. It didn’t matter much that I had let the food sit. As Joanna pointed out, in this climate food can’t get very cold.

After lunch, it was around four, the hottest hour of the day, so we went to the hotel for an air conditioned rest.

Another curious sight in our wanderings was a red figure and I’m not sure what it was. It could have been an elephant in clay gone terribly awry, but more likely it is a Thai take on the Jersey Devil. I’m sending it as the photo of the day to see if anyone has another suggestion.

Hey, more than three hours out in the heat of the day and getting all the way back home on foot? Hell, I felt like superman.

Around six, we went to the market to buy a papaya and then to the U.N. After that huge plate of pad Thai, all I wanted was beer for dinner. Joanna had coconut and pumpkin soup. I had a taste of it, and it was fun, a little sweet, but not overly so.

We got to see part of the Welsh Open on television. There are lots of opens for golf, tennis, and a few other wholesome sports, but this was better. The guys were playing pool. It wasn’t eight ball or rotation ball, so I have no idea what the rules are, but it was fun to watch. [Editor’s note: Harry failed to identify the game of snooker.]

One of the guys who manages the bar came up to us and apologized because he was going to have to change the program to a soccer game at eight.

Pool is an amazing exhibition of eye-hand coordination. The players seem to  know exactly how hard to hit the cue ball so after this shot it will roll where they want it for the next shot. How do they calculate that?

One of the rules seems to forbid a show of emotion. One player, Neil Robertson, ran the table to win a round and looked bored. His opponent, Marco Fu, was trying to keep a poker face, but seemed to be thinking about all the years he spent hanging around pool rooms in Macau and this is all he has to show for it.

I finished my third Heineken and we went to 7-Eleven for supplies, some Tiger and Chang and yogurt.

Then it was home, where we watched a live-action “Cinderella.”

So far, so good, gang. I may live to get back. Who knows?

Love to all and to all a good night.

Harry