This city is great. I met so many people in the last week who said, yeah, CM is something else, and it is. Tons of westerners just come to hang out. It is hard to say what is so special. There are just so many restaurants, markets, bars, massage spas, etc. There are also a lot of activities going on: trekking into the jungle, "zip-lining" (I think it is called), elephant or tiger interactions, cooking courses, massage courses, etc, etc.
Today I walked around, saw yet more temples, stopped for a couple meals. Later I went to the Sunday Walking Market (similar to yesterday's Saturday one but hardly any rain this time). There is so much great stuff on sale. I wanted to buy lots, but only spent a few dollars. I don't really want to haul a bunch of stuff around just yet. A lot of the handicrafts are made by tribes people in the jungle to the north and come to the market. A funny thing about the market is that there are a million people bustling about, and then the Thai National Anthem comes on and everyone stops dead in their tracks facing in random directions as if God pressed the pause button.
I ended the day with a one-hour foot massage for about $7. They sat me in a big plush chair in between an Asian fellow and a European woman. It was so relaxing I almost fell asleep. I could sure get used to that.
It is funny sitting in a cafe watching the world go by because the Thais never walk anywhere. They all hop on scooters. Every person walking is a westerner. And little tuk tuks (three wheeled taxis) race around honking their horns trying to convince the white people that they shouldn't be walking. So far I've seen families of four on one scooter. (I'm looking for five.) They ride around holding babies, no helmets, driver talking on the cell phone, weaving in and out of traffic. Utter mayhem. The drivers all have a little buddha on the dash. He protects them. And if they happen to crash, well, it was meant to be anyway. Basically it's a big excuse to drive crazy.
I hopped in one tuk tuk and as we were driving the guy says to me, "You like Thai girls". I said "Umm, I'm a good boy." After some confusion he let me out at my stop and pointed to a picture of tigers. He said again, "You want to see tigers" Not Thai girls! (But that's what his accent was saying.) Ha!
The Thais, due to the Buddhist influence, dress very moderately. It is extremely hot every day, but you never see a shirtless Thai man. You never even see them go with a sleeveless shirt. The women wear even more: often trousers and/or long sleeves. And everyone is very friendly. They have a good sense of humour. The Dutch guy last night has a good one: When someone asks him if he wants a massage, he says no, and asks them if they want a massage. He says they crack up laughing about this. I'll have to try it.
I booked a plane ticket out of CM back to Bangkok for Wednesday in order to meet Papasito, and take the Thai adventure to the south! The cost was about $65 for the airfare. I also booked an all-day cooking course for tomorrow for less than thirty.
I hope we don't cook what I saw from the bus a few days back. We're driving from Ayutthaya to Sukhotai, and in the middle of nowhere the driver stops and jumps out. I'm not sure if he was hungry or what. There was just one house with a little BBQ grill out front. And I'm not sure if the blackened things on the grill were mice or frogs. They didn't give me an appetite anyway. But, I'm just kidding: I know what we'll cook tomorrow and it'll be great.
